PARIS — A Turkish designer based in London, a Russian working in New York and a South Korean-American living in Tokyo: The list of 21 semifinalists for this year’s edition of the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers shows that fashion has no borders.
“Young designers are extremely mobile nowadays,” said Delphine Arnault, the force behind the prize initiative and a key talent scout at family-controlled LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
Among those competing for a grand prize of 300,000 euros, or $320,000 at current exchange, plus a year of coaching from experts at luxury giant LVMH are 10 men’s wear designers, nine women’s wear designers and two unisex labels. LVMH is the parent of fashion houses including Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Givenchy and Berluti.
“The importance of men’s wear is growing. It will be interesting to see whether that near-balance between men’s wear and women’s wear designers is maintained once the eight finalists are selected,” Arnault said.
British designer Grace Wales Bonner last year became the first men’s wear designer to take home the grand prize in the competition, which was launched in 2013. The previous winners were Thomas Tait and Marques’ Almeida.
Among the candidates for the 2017 edition are Dilara Findikoglu, a Central
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