LVMH Announces 9 Finalists for the 2021 LVMH Prize

The Public Helps Select 9 Finalists of The 2021 LVMH Prize For Young Fashion Designers From A Digital Platform

LVMH Announces the finalists who will be competing for the 8th edition of the LVMH Prize for young fashion designers. The committee of Experts of the Prize and, and for the first time, the public as a new Expert, have selected 9 brands for the final. The date of the award ceremony will be announced at a later time, but is expected to take place in September 2021. Another new twist to the semi-finalists completion, is that the twenty young designers selected from among 1,900 candidates from all over the world, presented their collections for the first time solely on a digital platform.

Delphine Arnault executive vice president of Louis Vuitton and founder of the LVMH Prize stated, “The all-digital semi-final this year, in the context of the health crisis, was a new opportunity to showcase the work of the designers. I would like to salute their creativity, optimism and reactivity, and congratulate them all. I would like to thank the 66 Experts for their involvement, as well as the public, who for the first time took part in the semi-final: 32,000 people voted for their favourite candidate! This year, 9 designers (including 2 equally ranked semi-finalists) will go on to compete in the final of the LVMH Prize.”

The finalists come from China, France, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States and, for the first time, from Albania and Colombia. I particularly appreciated their great know-how and their strong environmental awareness. All the members of the Jury and I look forward to welcoming them for the final in September at the Louis Vuitton Foundation.
— Delphine Arnault, Executive Vice President of Louis Vuitton and Founder of the LVMH Prize

The 9 finalists are:

BIANCA SAUNDERS by Bianca Saunders (British designer based in London), menswear
CHARLES DE VILMORIN by Charles de Vilmorin (French designer based in Paris) genderless collections
CHRISTOPHER JOHN ROGERS by Christopher John Rogers (American designer based in New York), womenswear
CONNER IVES by Conner Ives (American designer based in London), womenswear
KIDSUPER by Colm Dillane (American designer based in New York), menswear
KIKA VARGAS by Kika Vargas (Colombian designer based in Bogota), womenswear
LUKHANYO MDINGI by Lukhanyo Mdingi (South African designer based in Cape Town), womenswear and menswear
NENSI DOJAKA by Nensi Dojaka (Albanian designer based in London), womenswear
RUI by Rui Zhou (Chinese designer based in Shanghai), genderless collections

These nine finalists will now be asked to design a capsule collection with 24S, the LVMH-owned retailer. Also, the e-commerce site Ssense, which is joining the Prize for the first time, will partner with some of the designers on exclusive pieces.

Previous winners of the prize include a list of notable designers, including Peter Do, Marine Serre, Marques Almeida, Jacquemus, and Hood by Air.

This year’s Jury is composed of 66 Experts that includes an illustrious list of personalities that hail from both inside and outside of the fashion industry. The Experts of the 2021 LVMH Prize include:

Emmanuelle Alt, Editor-in-Chief Vogue Paris (Paris)
Imran Amed, Founder and Editor-in-Chief The Business of Fashion (London)
Sarah Andelman, Founder of Just an Idea (Paris)
Rami Atallah, Cofounder and CEO of the global platform SSENSE (Montreal)
Fabien Baron, Art director, Founder of Baron & Baron (New York)
Tim Blanks, Editor-at-Large for The Business of Fashion (London)
Derek Blasberg, Head of Fashion and Beauty partnerships for YouTube (New York)
Alexandre de Betak, Founder of Bureau Betak (Paris)
Frédéric Bodenes, Art Director of Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche (Paris) Carmen Busquets, Investor in BoF, Farfetch, Net-à-Porter, Lyst, Moda Operandi (Caracas)
Burak Cakmak, Dean of Fashion of Parsons School of Design (New York)
Marie Chaix, Fashion editor Double magazine (Paris)
Anne-Sophie von Claer, Deputy Editorial director Le Figaro (Paris)
Ronnie Cooke Newhouse, Artistic Director (London)
Caroline Daur, Digital entrepreneur (Hamburg)
Godfrey Deeny, International Editor-in-Chief Fashion Network (Paris)
Babeth Djian, Editor-in-Chief Numéro (Paris)
Jo Ellison, Editor How to Spend It and Deputy Editor Financial Times Weekend (London)
Edward Enninful, Editor-in-Chief British Vogue and European editorial director (London)
Linda Fargo, Senior Vice-President Bergdorf Goodman (New York)
Angelo Flaccavento, Fashion journalist (Ragusa)
Jo-Ann Furniss, Journalist and Creative Director (London)
Chantal Gaemperle, LVMH Group Executive Vice President for Human Resources and Synergies (Paris)
Stephen Gan, Editor-in-Chief of V Magazine, V Man and creative director of Elle USA (New York)
Michel Gaubert, Sound Designer (Paris)
Julie Gilhart, Consultant (New York)
Ikram Goldman, Founder of ikram (Chicago)
Elizabeth Von Guttman, Cofounder of the magazine System and of Fashion in Tech – ADA (Paris)
Jefferson Hack, Co-founder and editorial director of Dazed Group (London)
Bella Hadid, Model (New York)
Amanda Harlech, Creative consultant (London)
Ashley Heath, Editorial director Pop and Arena Homme+ (London)
Laure Hériard Dubreuil, Founder and Creative Director of The Webster (Miami)
Adrian Joffe, Chief Executive Officer of Dover Street Market International (London)
Sylvia Jorif, Editorial Director of Vogue Paris (Paris)
Ibrahim Kamara, Stylist and Editor-in-Chief Dazed magazine (London)
Natalie Kingham, Fashion and buying director at Matches Fashion (London)
Karlie Kloss, Model and Philanthropist (New York)
Suzanne Koller, Fashion director M Le Monde magazine (Paris)
Hirofumi Kurino, Creative Director of United Arrows (Tokyo)
Susie Lau, Founder of StyleBubble.com and journalist (London) Linda Loppa, Adviser Strategy & Vision at Polimoda Paris Platform (Florence)
Pat McGrath, Makeup Artist (New York)
Kevin Ma, Founder and CEO of the Hypebeast (Hong Kong)
Sara Maino, Deputy Editor-in-Chief Vogue Italia and Head of Vogue Talents (Milan)
Suzy Menkes, Journalist (London)
Sarah Mower, Contributing Editor Vogue US (London)
Samira Nasr, Editor-in-Chief Harper’s Bazaar US (New York) Alexia Niedzielski, Cofounder of the magazine System and of Fashion in Tech – ADA (London)
Ezra Petronio, Editor and Creative director Self Service, photographer (Paris)
Fabio Piras, Course Director of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (London)
Peter Philips, Creative and Image Director of Christian Dior Makeup (Antwerp)
Loïc Prigent, Filmmaker (Paris)
Gaia Repossi, Creative Director of Repossi (Paris)
Carine Roitfeld, Owner of CR Fashion Book (Paris)
Lauren Santo Domingo, Co-founder & Chief Brand Officer Moda Operandi (New York)
Marie-Amélie Sauvé, Stylist, Co-founder and creative director Mastermind (Paris)
Anne-Florence Schmitt, Director Madame Figaro (Paris)
Léa Seydoux, Actress (Paris) Aimee Song, Influencer and founder of Song of Style (Los Angeles)
Carla Sozzani, Founder of 10 Corso Como (Milan)
Stefano Tonchi, Global Chief Creative Officer L’Officiel (New York)
Aizel Trudel, Founder of the fashion platform Aizel (Moscow)
Natalia Vodianova, Model and Philanthropist (Paris)
Aleksandra Woroniecka, Fashion director Vogue Paris (Paris)
Margaret Zhang, Editor-in-Chief Vogue China, (Shanghai)