Twenty semifinalists have officially become eight in the race for the LVMH Prize for Young Designers. On April 23, the French luxury conglomerate announced the brands still in the running for its three prestigious awards: Aubero, Duran Lantink, Hodakova, Marie Adam-Leenaerdt, Niccolò Pasqualetti, Paolo Carzana, Pauline Dujancourt, and Standing Ground. Following a presentation of their collections to the Prize experts back in February, the list is now narrowed down to four men, three women, and one non-binary designer, all hailing from the United States and across Europe. Next, the designers will present their work at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in early September, where the Prize’s Jury—made up of industry experts including Jonathan Anderson, Nicolas Ghesquière, Marc Jacobs, and Stella McCartney—will determine who will take home the LVMH Prize, the Karl Lagerfeld Prize, and the inaugural Savoir-Faire Prize, as well as the money and benefits that come with each honor. If history has proven anything, that means soon, some of the names on this list will become significant players in the fashion world. Before that happens, get to know the eight finalists—and the work that got them to this point— below.
Aubero
Designer: Julian Louie
Location: United States
Specialty: Menswear
Aubero is actually designer Julian Louie’s sophomore brand. The first one, an eponymous label, came in 2009, and led New York magazine to dub Louie the “New Prince of Fashion.” Since then, California-based Louie has cut his teeth as a design director at J. Mendel and a womenswear design consultant at Amiri. Each Aubero collection is comprised of repurposed and vintage fabric, born from the idea that what is old and unusable can, in fact, be new and useful once more. Louie launched Aubero in 2022 after a stay in Tucson, where his friends—who are also the owners of NYC boutique Desert Vintage—allowed him to scavenge through their unsellable pieces. Inspired by the fabrics he found there (many of which were stained, ripped, and falling apart), he created an inaugural collection of one-off pieces. Much of Aubero remains comprised of those one-of-a-kind designs: simple silhouettes that boast unexpected textiles, reworked from vintage finds. More reproducible pieces round out the selection, and allow Louie to sell Aubero in select concept stores like Blake in Chicago and Just One Eye in Los Angeles.
Duran Lantink
Designer: Duran Lantink
Location: Netherlands
Specialty: Womenswear, menswear, and genderless
Fans: Beyoncé, Janelle Monáe
This isn’t Duran Lantink’s first tango with the LVMH Prize. The Dutch designer, known for his three-dimensional, amorphous garments, was shortlisted for the award back in 2019. Five years later—following a debut at Paris Fashion Week and a placement on Beyoncé—he has returned, and this time, made it to the finals. In the five years since, Lantink also became a bit of an editorial darling; the wild proportions and bright colors of his pieces are like candy for fashion spreads. And while Lantink boasts a genderless line, much of his work eschews the human form altogether in favor of otherworldly shapes. The designer uses mostly upcycled material to create his collections, choosing from existing garments and discarded fabrics. Padding brings another dimension (literally) to the pieces, though his more commercial offerings don’t come with extreme silhouettes—perhaps for those who don’t want to take up quite so much space on the sidewalk. Still, there’s a sense of whimsy in each of his designs, from sleeveless fair isle sweaters to tube-like miniskirts. “It’s always been really important for me to play like a child and see what comes out of it,” he told W.
Hodakova
Designer: Ellen Hodakova Larsson
Location: Sweden
Specialty: Womenswear
Fans: Julia Fox, Kylie Jenner, Maisie Williams
Ellen Hodakova Larsson, designer of the brand Hodakova, joins the well-represented ranks of those creating with sustainability in mind. Larsson is dedicated to using upcycled fabrics in her collections, and excels at taking existing materials and turning them into contemporary pieces with a tongue-in-cheek wink. Trousers become a coat or dress, but their previous life is still represented in the final garment. Classics like suiting are turned upside-down and inside-out, lining displayed—while an old attaché case transforms into a dress. To prove the point that any trash can become treasure, Larsson ends every collection with a dress comprised of just one object. A spoon dress ended the fall 2023 presentation, a Saran-wrapped model concluded the spring 2024 show, and her more recent collection featured a gown of prize ribbons—a reference to the designer’s equestrienne past.
Marie Adam-Leenaerdt
Designer: Marie Adam-Leenaerdt
Location: Belgium
Specialty: Womenswear
Marie Adam-Leenaerdt’s goal is to bring the fashion world back to basics. Launched in 2022, the designer’s brand has explored the foundations of womenswear throughout each of its seasons, devoting one collection to officewear, another to holiday dressing, and her most recent—and likely most successful—to skirts. “Skirt skirt, dress skirt, coat skirt, bag skirt,” she wrote in her show notes, sending numerous versions that completely recontextualized the garment down the runway. And Adam-Leenaerdt’s craftsmanship kept the concept from feeling like a gimmick. These are real pieces women want to wear: a wool coat with exaggerated, rounded hips and an off-the-shoulder knotted lapel; or a column dress that likely started its life as a denim maxi; a plaid poncho-like mini that can be worn layered or on its own. Adam-Leenaerdt works in a world void of trends and predictable style codes. Instead, she explores the ideas that float around when we forget all about the accepted norms of fashion.
Niccolò Pasqualetti
Designer: Niccolò Pasqualetti
Location: Italy
Specialty: Genderless
Niccolò Pasqualetti’s work is motivated by a memory from their childhood in rural Tuscany. They were trying on their parents’ clothes, mixing and matching the traditional pieces to bring about something new and exciting. “It was always about trying to find an identity through fashion,” they told Cultured. Pasqualetti’s design ethos is informed by a knowledge of jewelry design and stints at The Row and Loewe; their latest collection celebrates artisans from their area, boasting texture and techniques of the highest Italian craftsmanship. A mostly muted color scheme leaves the focus on the silhouettes. Their work is wearable, but not boring—existing perfectly within the realm of the two brands at which Pasqualetti cut their teeth. Sometimes, the designer tends to fall more into the abstract. But an appreciation for the timeless Italian wardrobe cements Niccolò Pasqualetti in the present.
Paolo Carzana
Designer: Paolo Carzana
Location: United Kingdom
Specialty: Womenswear and menswear
Fans: Michaela Coel, Zendaya, FKA Twigs
Paolo Carzana’s collection names might summon visions of a Lana del Rey tracklist: “My Heart Is a River for You to Bend,” “Imagine We Could Be the Ones to Change It All,” and “The Boy Who Came Back to Life,” to name just a few. That emotional and poetic sentiment comes through in Carzana’s designs. They are raw and organic, comprised of pieces dyed with sappanwood and turmeric. The Welsh designer’s most recent collection represents the ails of the world today. “Melanchronic Mountain” details the uphill climb “through the storm, enduring the obstacles we face, carrying the pain in our bones we have inherited,” Carzana said in his show notes.
Pauline Dujancourt
Designer: Pauline Dujancourt
Location: France
Specialty: Womenswear
Standout knitwear this year comes from Pauline Dujancourt, a London-based brand that fills the girlish, coquette hole in the finalist list. Handmade by female knitters across Europe and South America, Dujancourt’s collection combines the age-old technique with a modern sensibility. There is a fragile femininity to Dujancourt’s work—one celebrated in a gauzy one-shoulder dress or ethereally draped skirt. The hues play into the romance of it all as well—peaches and muted blues combine with eggshells and a deep burgundy—colors one associates with a Jane Austen novel set during a springtime ball. And just when you’ve taken in the perfection, the unexpected roughness of an unfinished hem jumps out, a reminder of the duality of the feminine.
Standing Ground
Designer: Michael Stewart
Location: Ireland
Specialty: Womenswear
Fans: Florence Pugh, Salma Hayek, and Christina Aguilera
Likely one of the most known labels among the finalists is Michael Stewart’s Standing Ground, which has gained notice thanks to its placement on some of entertainment’s biggest names including actress Naomie Harris and models like Jourdan Dunn and Imaan Hammam. While some designers battle with textiles, Stewart sticks to one—jersey—rendered in bright hues and manipulated into dresses that touch on both the futuristic and the ancient, turning the wearer into a sort of Amazonian creature. The dresses are simple aside from one or two elements that will have you thinking twice. “It’s pretty and sexy, but it’s a little off, as well, and that pleases my eye,” Stewart told W. Balled fridge tumbles from a draped waistline or a three-dimensional knit pattern will break up a midsection while the rest of the gown is pristine, drawing the eye exactly where it needs to go.
