LVMH launches first Young Fashion Designer Prize

“As a leader in our industry, we have a responsibility to discover young talents and to help them flourish,” said Delphine Arnault, daughter of Bernard Arnault and Deputy General Manager at Louis Vuitton in a press release send out today announcing

the start of LVMH Young Fashion Designer Prize. LVMH has launched its own namesake fashion prize to help cultivate young fashion designers around the world and was dreamed up by Delphine Arnault herself. She told WWD that “The aim of this prize is to try to discover talents that are unknown, and also to create a surprise.”

The first winner of the inaugural award ceremony is to be selected by the end of May 2014, by a elite fashion panel, which will consist of eight creative directors from LVMH Fashion Houses. The members of the jury include the likes of Marc Jacobs (Marc Jacobs), Karl Lagerfeld (Fendi), Raf Simons (Dior) and the newly appointed Nicolas Ghesquiére(Louis Vuitton). The jury members will be joined by Delphine Arnault, Jean-Paul Claverie who is advisor to Bernard Arnault and head of corporate philanthropy for LVMH and Pierre-Yves Roussel, chairman and CEO of the LVMH Fashion Group.

LVMH Young Fashion Designer award open to all international designers

The LVMH Young Fashion Designer Prize is open to all fashion designers under the age of 40, who have already shown and sold at least two men's or women's ready to wear lines. Any young budding designers who wish to apply can do so via the exclusive award site, www.lvmhprize.com, which was specifically designed to enable the award to be open to all international applications and uses social media outlets such as Instagram to help designers gather support and allow other fashion lovers to show which designers they think deserve the spotlight.

Designers have until the 2nd of February 2014 to apply and afterwards Delphine Arnault revealed to WWD that LVMH would send 30 semifinalists to Paris during Fashion Week next year March to show their collections. A specialist committee, consisting of stylists, buyers and editors will meet with the designers and help selected the 10 finalists, who will then be allowed to show a 20 minute presentation of their collection to the jury.

The winning designer will be awarded a grant of 300,000 Euros, as well as the aid of an internal team at LVMH to help develop their fashion company over the next coming twelve months. The team will support the designer in all areas that are 'critical to successfully building a nascent fashion brand.'

Along with the main prize, LVMH also decided launch another award to honor three young graduates who have completed a university program in fashion design. These three winners will be awarded 10,000 Euros each and the opportunity to join a design team at LVMH fashion brand for one year. Applications looking to apply for this side award can also do so via the LVMH prize website.

Delphine Arnault revealed in the press release that the “LVMH Prize has been created to support promising young fashion designers. This philanthropic initiative resonates powerfully with the core values of our Group. Our designers will recognize the talents of tomorrow, who will receive awards and support in developing their brand. Our goal is clearly to energize the vitality and creativity of the fashion world on a global scale.”

She also added that all participants, not just the winner, will gain something by entering the competition. “Even if they're not selected, it's going to help them grow,” she told WWD. The finalists who get the chance to meet the jury panel will have the opportunity to have “an experience that's quite unique and they won't forget.”

LVMH will continue to give its support to other fashion competitions the Group aids, such as the ANDAM Fashion Awards and the Hyres International Fashion and Photography Festival, which also take place in France. Since the founding of LVMH, over 25 years ago, the group has always looked to 'support creativity in every form.' With the addition of the Young Fashion Designer Prize, the Group hopes to encourage the 'momentum an emergence of fresh talent that are essential to the vitality and diversity of the fashion ecosystem.'

Photos: Delphine Arnault, Louis Vuitton Store, owned by LVMH, LVMH Prize