And finally, it’s out: LVMH’s shortlist of the 12 designers going through in the Young Fashion Designer Prize, with ethically-produced NY brand SUNO still in the running.
Exctingly, 12 labels have been put forward instead of 10, due to the sheer difficulty in narrowing down the contestants, from the talented 30 previously drafted out of the 1,221 applicants who entered the competition.
A representative of LVMH, Louis Vuitton’s executive vice president, told Style.com:
“When we compiled the votes, four designers all had the same amount, so we let twelve in. I think it’s good.”
30 designers were shortlisted to present their work in Paris last month – now 12 have been selected as finalists in the competition.
Among the finalists – Chris Gelinas, Gabriele Colangelo, Hood by Air’s Shayne Oliver, Jacquemus’ Simon Porte, Miuniku’s Nikita and Tina Sutradhar, Thomas Tait, Tillmann Lauterbach, Tim Coppens, Simone Rocha, Vika Gazinskaya and Julien Dossena of Atto – are SUNO’s Erin Beatty and Max Osterweis, designer and founder of the brand known for its use of African craftsmanship and for representing fair trade in fashion. They’d previously been joined by Orange Culture’s Adebayo Oke-Lawal and Amaka Osakwe of Maki Oh, who proudly made it into the competition’s top 30.
Erin Beatty and Max Osterweis – designer and founder of SUNO.
News to anticipate now is of who will win the overall prize, with our fingers firmly crossed for team SUNO. The remaining finalists will meet with a jury of top designers who will make the final selection, including Karl Lagerfeld, Raf Simons, Nicolas Ghesquière, Marc Jacobs and Riccardo Tisci.
For now, we wish SUNO good luck and our finest congratulations go out to Adebayo Oke-Lawal and Amaka Osakwe for making it so far into the competition. We can’t wait for what’s next from all three labels.
