Flanked by the designer Karl Lagerfeld and the fashion ingénue and rap behemoth Kanye West, Louis Vuitton director Delphine Arnault’s reception for the finalists for the second LVMH Young Fashion Designer prize was never going to be a quiet affair. Last year’s winner of the €300,000 grant, and a year’s mentorship, was the Canadian-born, London-based womenswear designer Thomas Tait. It must have seemed strange for him to watch the proceedings as the outgoing appointed one — like a beauty queen having to graciously pass on the crown, the wiry Tait was doing a round of the 26 finalists on show alongside some of the most influential figures in fashion.
As for the finalists, they were all on their best behaviour, answering again and again the same questions about process, provenance and manufacture. “They were selected from a thousand designers who applied,” said Ms Arnault of the nominees. “It’s a great achievement for the ones who are here — it shows great performance.”
Staged at the company’s Avenue Montaigne headquarters, the opportunities presented by the prize to designers (many of whom are still in their design infancy) are without precedent. “To have such a platform before the world’s most influential fashion editors, stylists and buyers in the middle of Paris Fashion Week is completely unique,” said the editor Jefferson Hack, who has sat on the judging panel since its launch. “The money is a major factor in why this prize is so important,” he continued, “but more than that, it’s an extraordinary exposure for labels who, in some cases, may have only done very few collections, or who operate out of the Far East, where it’s hard to get the same attention.”