LMVH Prize 2020 Shortlist Announced
The nominees for 2020's LVMH Prize have been announced, with a strong showing for sustainability-focused design in the line-up. Since 2013, the LMVH Prize has been scouring the industry to find the most promising fashion talents, who are then offered €300,000 and personalised mentorship from the LMVH Group for a year. The prize has previously heralded success for designers including Grace Wales Bonner, A-COLD-WALL* , Martine Rose and 2019's recipient Thebe Magugu.
The wide geographical reach of the designers in this year’s shortlist presents a variety of influences drawing from nationality and upbringing to create a diverse symposium of creativity. Ahluwalia, Chopova Lowena, Kaushik Velendra, Nicholas Daley, Piero D’Angelo, Samuel Gui Yang, Supriya Lele and Yuhan Wang are all London-based designers who have been nominated for this year's award. They are joined on the shortlist by the French/Moroccan menswear brand Casablanca and Brussel based Ester Manas, Helmstedt who hail from Copenhagen, Barcelona's Alled-Martinez and Rave Review from Sweden. Also amongst the offering are designers based outside of Europe: Area, Commission and Peter Do all hailing from New York City are joined by Sindiso Khumalo from Cape Town, Nous Etudions from Buenos Aires, Tomo Koizumi from Japan and Iran's Vaqar. This year’s selection also epitomises fashion's slow awakening into sustainability, as many of the brands are making an active effort to include it in their business model. Piero D’Angelo explores how biotechnology influences fashion – he experiments with living systems, wearers grow their own couture and wear living organisms. Chopova Lowena recycles deadstock fabric and material to create clothes with a folkloric influence, resulting in loud outfits made using traditional techniques.
In March the twenty nominated brands will be whittled down to eight finalists, with the winner announced in June.