This year's LVMH Prize semi-finalists “are resolutely turned towards the future,” according to Delphine Arnault, the executive vice president of LouisVuitton. Meet them here:
too. “They’re resolutely turned towards the future,” said Delphine Arnault, the executive vice president of Louis Vuitton and founder of the prize, in an email exchange. A “constant of this edition,” she added, is “their sincere and deep commitment to the major issues of our society: ecology, social, and environmental responsibility. They are all very committed.”
This year’s competition hasn’t been unaffected by the pandemic. The Avenue Montaigne showroom where the semi-finalists typically display their work during Paris Fashion Week was forced to go digital, and the serendipitous conversations you can count on happening there took place over Zoom, if they happened at all. But it’s not all negatives.
Even when the event is IRL again, the public element isn’t likely to go away. “The success of the digital platform and the number of connections since April 6 [when it launched] is a great encouragement for all designers. It shows the interest of the public to discover, share, and engage with the young creators. This will of course be taken into account for the years to come,” Arnault said.
Bigger picture, the COVID crisis seems to be shaping adaptable, well-rounded, refreshingly uncossetted young designers. “I was very impressed by the maturity of all the semi-finalists,” Arnault said.
Here, the LVMH Prize semi-finalists share selects looks from their latest collections alongside their impressions of the competition.Alicia Robinson of AGR: This honor means everything to me and I definitely cried when I found out we had got through. As a brand we have also only been going for two years so it’s definitely a great feeling to know that we are going in the right direction. I hope that anyone looking at the brand can see how much we embrace diversity and are for the people.