Former LVMH CEO Toledano to Preside Over ANDAM Fashion Competition Jury; AMI Joins as Sponsor
ANDAM has announced that Sidney Toledano, the former CEO of LVMH Fashion Group and Dior, will be taking on the role of jury president for this year’s iteration. The competition, now in its 36th year, will also see fashion brand AMI come aboard as a sponsor.
Toledano, who is also an adviser to chairman and CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Bernard Arnault, and president of the Institut Français de la Mode fashion school, will act as a mentor for the competition’s top winners. “Continuing my commitment as IFM president to support the training of the future professionals in the fashion industry, I will be very happy to support the upcoming winners of the ANDAM Grand Prize and Special Prize and to share with them my passion and my experience which, I hope, will contribute to the development of their creative business,” stated Toledano.
A founding member of ANDAM, Toledano will be tutoring the competition’s two winners for a year, with a focus on honing both creative and strategic aspects of their businesses and helping them to establish their global profiles. “Sidney Toledano’s passion for creation combined with his experience and know-how in the fashion industry are inestimable and unique. As president of IFM, his commitment to transmit is important to him. It seems to me that the two winners of this edition will have the chance to hear wise advice from Sidney Toledano, which will be remarkable for them,” said ANDAM founder and managing director Nathalie Dufour.
The victor of the grand prize will walk away with 300,000 euros, while the second place contestant will bag 100,000 euros.
AMI’s founder and artistic director, Alexandre Mattiussi, having already won the grand prize in 2013 and claiming that it “changed [his] life and the history of the house”, will also serve as a mentor for the Pierre Bergé Prize. This award will bestow upon a French brand 100,000 euros and a year’s worth of guidance for growth. Nathalie Dufour expressed great excitement about AMI joining the ranks of the awards’ supporters, citing Mattiussi’s unique spirit and growth as a champion of human and ethical values.
Guillaume Houzé, the president of ANDAM, expressed similar sentiments, stating that, “Seeing Alexandre Mattiussi link the tremendous success of his brand AMI with ANDAM is both a symbol and a promise: symbol of a winner who, after being supported by our grand prize, is willing to share his success with the new generation; promise of the long-lasting impact of ANDAM, which reveals and supports the greatest talents of the fashion industry.”
In addition to the main prize, the finalists in the accessories category will receive resources from the French leather goods brand Longchamp for future projects. ANDAM is also known for its Innovation Prize, presented to a tech start-up in the fashion sector with a focus on sustainability. The jury, headed by Yann Gozlan, founder and president of Paris-based start-up incubator Creative Valley, will be announced in February. Finalists for the prize will be revealed in May, with the prize being awarded on June 30.