LVMH names Rihanna, Stella McCartney and Virgil Abloh to its Prize jury; as it announces finalists for 2020

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Mar 10, 2020

Rihanna, Stella McCartney and Virgil Abloh  have joined the jury of the LVMH Prize, which today revealed the names of the eight finalists of the 2020 edition.

The trio joins a further nine members of the ensemble, bringing it to a now more classical jury with a dozen jurists in total.

LVMH also announced the names of this year’s finalists: Ahluwalia; Casablanca; Chopova Lowena; Nicholas Daley; Peter Do; Sindiso Khumalo; Supriya Lele and Tomo Koizumi. They were chosen from 20 semi-finalists by a panel of 68 experts during a two-day showroom presentation inside the LVMH headquarters on Avenue Montaigne, on the occasion of last month’s Paris Fashion Week.

The new trio of jurists “will be joining our prestigious panel, which includes Jonathan Anderson, Kris Van Assche, Nicolas Ghesquière, Maria Grazia Chiuri, Marc Jacobs, Clare Waight Keller as well as Sidney Toledano, Jean-Paul Claverie and I. I wish to thank them for their involvement and their support to young creation. The Prize is an incredible opportunity for these young designers to be appraised by them and to enjoy their advice,” said Delphine Arnault, the conceptualizer and driving force behind the LVMH Prize. Her family controls the group, the largest worldwide in both fashion and luxury, which includes Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Fendi, Marc Jacobs and scores of other international prestige marques.

All three new arrivals on the jury work within the LVMH empire. Superstar singer and designer Rihanna launched her Fenty fashion label last May in a joint venture with LVMH. McCartney entered the group last year when she sold a minority stake in her fashion house to LVMH. Abloh, the designer of uber hip label Off-White, has been the menswear designer of  Louis Vuitton since the spring of 2018, although he was not a member of the 2019 edition of the Prize.

Collectively, the new jury of a dozen will pick the next winner of the LVMH Prize 2020 and the winner of the Karl Lagerfeld Prize from these eight finalists on June 5.

“This year, once more, the semi-finalists impressed us with their creativity and their commitment to creating clothes that are respectful of the environment. I would like to congratulate all of them!” Delphine added in a release.

“Five of the finalists design womenswear. The three other finalists appropriate the staples of menswear. For the first time, we will be welcoming a Bulgarian designer at this stage of the competition. Furthermore, following the success of Thebe Magugu, the winner of the 2019 edition, we are pleased to welcome another South African designer among the finalists. The eight finalists all have in common to be very talented in their respective fields and to aspire to enhance know-how,” said Delphine, who is also the executive vice president of Louis Vuitton.

Five of the finalists are based in London, while the rest are in New York, Tokyo and Cape Town.

The best known to date is probably Tomo Koizumi, who caused a sensation last year with his insider fashion show, staged inside the Marc Jacobs store on the Upper East Side, that featured his hyper-color, mega-ruffle designs . Since then, two of his outfits have been included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Show “Camp: Notes on Fashion.”

One probable favorite is Peter Do, who won the graduate honours at the LVMH Prize 2014, the debut edition of the award. Mirroring Martin Margiela, Do does not like to be photographed and therefore insisted on showing only the back of his head for all photos at the showroom last month.

Sindiso Khumalo also impressed with her subtle use of her chosen inspiration, African princess Sara Forbes Bonetta, who was liberated from slavery in the 19th century and went on to become the goddaughter of Queen Victoria.

Daley, of Scottish and Jamaican origin, is a former International Woolmark Finalist, who often references his own parents and their Reggae Klub - which they ran from 1978-1982.

Casablanca is a brand by Charaf Tajer. The French designer of Moroccan origin, who has developed a cult following among French hip hop and rock stars, staged a runway show on the official menswear calendar of Paris Fashion Week in January.

Priya Ahluwalia, of Indian and Nigerian origin, is a graduate of the University of Westminster, who uses deadstock and recycled fabrics to give new life to textiles.

Another British designer of Indian origin, Supriya Lele,  uses archival Indian fabrics to create elegantly sculpted ready-to-wear in mixes of vinyl, mohair, mesh and Madras plaid.

And, underlining the current obsession with recycling and upcycling, the duo formed by Bulgarian-American Emma Chopova and her British partner Laura Lowena employ everything from old carpets to tapestries to create collector’s item kilts, funky tops and mobile phone cases.
 
Last year, the online retailer 24S, a division of LVMH,  began selling a capsule collection of outfits designed by the eight finalists, alongside a capsule of ideas from the winner Magugu.

“This year, 24S and Matchesfashion.com will support the finalists of the LVMH Prize and help them gain international exposure,” LVMH added, without providing exact details.