Earlier this year the LVMH Prize announced the top twenty designers selected since it’s worldwide open call for their sixth edition in running. The batch was a diverse group of creatives including London based talents Kiko Kostadinov, Richard Malone and Paria Farzaneh. Kenneth Ize from Nigeria, New York based Caroline Hu among several others who presented their collections last month in Paris at the LVMH HQ for industry insiders.
Since then, the Prize’s panel of experts including Naomi Campbell, Pat McGrath, Adrian Joffe and Jefferson Hack have narrowed down the list to 8 finalists. The revised list is as follows:
KENNETH IZE
“At Kenneth Ize we focus on reinterpreting examples of Nigerian craft to create an original perspective on luxury production within textile and fashion. We work with a community of weavers, and also with a variety of artisan and design groups across Nigeria. The label is devoted to the long established traditions of craft and local artisanship, merging a contemporary design aesthetic and new production skills with a specifically local handcraft practice. It is an approach we hope to expand upon to include other design cultures around Africa and abroad. There is the strong belief that in exploring and nurturing existing cultures, one opens up an exciting territory for creating and inspiring future traditions.”
STEFAN COOKE
The London-based Stefan Cooke brand is directed by Cooke and his partner Jake Burt. The pair are currently working on their Fourth Season, Spring/Summer 20. The combination of Cooke’s subversion of textile techniques and Burt’s skill for silhouette and design underpins the signature style of the pairs’ forthcoming looks. Original techniques and collaboration is at the heart of the process for their work and continues to be a force of innovation.
THEBE MAGUGU
Thebe Magugu is a young designer based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Originally from the small town of Kimberley, he moved to Johannesburg to study fashion design, fashion photography and fashion media from LISOF. After winning best graduate collection, he interned and worked for a selection of designers fashion institutions and retailers. After 2 years, he began his namesake label, THEBE MAGUGU – a South African fashion brand primarily operating within the field of women’s ready to wear.
Speaking about the brand, the designer says, “together with our pillar values of quality, novelty and culture, we constantly seek new ways of presenting women with clothing that both complies with and enhances the everyday. Sleek, forward-looking design intersects with motifs from our continent’s storied past, providing smart, multifaceted clothes as valuable as their woman”.
PHIPPS – by Spencer Phipps
Spencer Phipps was born and raised in San Francisco. He studied at Parsons School of Design in New York City graduating in 2008 with a nomination as “designer of the year” for his final year collection – an initial exploration of sustainable fashion. He started his career at Marc Jacobs as part of the menswear design team and after, relocated to Antwerp to work with Dries Van Noten as their first American menswear designer. He is currently based in Paris where he pursues his passion for rock climbing and other outdoor activities.
HED MAYNER
The sacred and the traditional are both part of Mayner’s world, as well as a passion for authentic menswear pieces, which he likes to twist and rework. His clothes can be passed on from father to son, escaping the transient nature of designer fashion. Focusing on a substantial and stylish wardrobe of everyday separates, his debut collection emphasizes comfort and self-expression, underlining the universal appeal of archetypal clothes. Addressing the essentials of a male wardrobe -from a sleeveless trench jacket and a pair of loose jeans to a roomy bomber or draped white t-shirt- he roots his sartorial vision within an appreciation of honesty and sincere clothing, as well as an interest in the finer details. Impeccably tailored and constructed, the designer’s clothes are as beautiful inside as they are on the outside, evoking a subtle sense of luxury which must be felt and experienced instead of being seen.
BODE – by Emily Adams Bode
Emily Adams Bode was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. After studying in Switzerland, she moved to New York and graduated from Parsons School of Design and Eugene Lang College with a BA/BFA dual-degree in menswear design and philosophy. Bode expresses a sentimentality for the past through the study of personal narratives and historical techniques. Modern workwear silhouettes united with female centric traditions of quilting, mending, and appliqué shape the collections. Each piece of clothing tells a story, and is tailor-made in New York and New Delhi.
BETHANY WILLIAMS
Bethany Williams is a pioneering British menswear designer committed to exploring social and environmental change within her work and working with marginalised parts of society to bring about positive change and social enterprise. At a time in which socio-politics are at the forefront of many designer’s minds, this pioneering designer isn’t just protesting bur rather offering solutions and call-to-actions. For her collection Women for Change, she has worked closely with female prisoners and the San Patrignano drug dependency program. Bethany Williams, a London-based sustainable fashion designer, focuses our attentions onto women’s rehabilitation for spring/summer 18. For Bethany’s most recent collection she has collaborated with Adelaide House, a women’s shelter based in Liverpool, one of only six such facilities in the country. Adelaide House provides a safe place for women leaving prison with various needs including domestic violence and homelessness.
ANREALAGE – by Kunihiko Morinaga
Born in Kunitachi, Tokyo Kunihiko Morinaga began making clothes in Vantan Design Academy while he was still in Waseda University and launched his own brand “ANREALAGE” in 2003.
ANREALAGE is a combination of the words ”REAL, UNREAL and AGE’’.
The name, ANREALAGE was born from a desire to create real clothes for everyday use while utilizing ultimate dimensions, original concepts, and unique elements. Our collections utilize three key elements. These are “hand craft work”, “conceptual shaping” and “technology” under the mantra of “God is in the details”. In 2005, ANREALAGE won the Design Vision Award For Avant Garde at Gen Art competition for new designer in New York. In 2011, we won the 29th Mainichi Fashion Grand Prix for the best new designer in Tokyo. In 2014, we participated in the Paris Fashion Week, starting with Spring/ Summer 2015. We held “A LIGHT UN LIGHT”, the exhibition with clothes of collections in Paris, in Japan.
The Prize’s winner , to be decided later this year will receive 300,000 euros and a one-year mentorship program facilitated by the LVMH team. The Prize also acknowledges three young graduates who have completed a course in fashion school by presenting them with an opportunity to join the creative team at one of the houses of the group for a year as well as a 10,000 euro grant.
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