Delphine Arnault Reveals the 16 Industry Experts Joining the LVMH Prize This Year

In just two weeks, the Fall 2019 ready-to-wear season will officially begin in New York—but if you’ve been paying attention, you know fashion week is always happening somewhere. In the next couple of months alone, Vogue Runway will cover shows in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Madrid, and Tbilisi—and many more cities—in addition to the “main” circuit. In our increasingly digital world, it’s never been easier for a designer to get noticed, regardless of where they are in the world. The LVMH Prize is a consistent reminder of that; the pool of talent seems to become more global by the year. In 2018, for instance, Executive Vice President of Louis Vuitton and founder of the LVMH Prize, Delphine Arnault, revealed they got a record number of applications from Asia, particularly China. “The Prize is international, and so is fashion,” she tells Vogue.

Naturally, the panel of experts who choose those finalists should be international, too. “It is important that the diversity of experts be a reflection of the diversity of styles and realities in our industry,” she continues. Their perspectives and focuses within fashion are diverse, too. “The interesting thing with this industry is that it is constantly evolving, thus creating new opportunities. The presence of influencers like Aimee Song and Chiara Ferragni, for instance, is a novelty in the Prize and reflects their growing clout in our field.”

Song and Ferragni (who was also named an ambassador) are among the 16 experts Arnault is welcoming to the LVMH Prize this year. Their hybridized careers—as models, bloggers, designers, consultants, et al—also represents Arnault’s belief that a variety of voices and talents are crucial to providing the strongest mentorship to the designers. “Obviously with the internet, businesses are crossing over—from print or brick-and-mortar to digital,” Arnault says. “But also the other way around. [The experts’] perspectives on creation today is invaluable, and their interactions with the semi-finalists will help these young designers gather critical feedback to enable them to grow.”

Arnault shared the full list of new experts exclusively with Vogue. Watch this space to see which designers inch closer to earning the top prize; we’ll meet the semi-finalists on March 1st and 2nd, during Paris Fashion Week, and the grand prize will be awarded in June.

Aizel Trudel, CEO & founder, Aizel

Rami Atallah, co-founder & CEO, SSENSE

Aimee Song, founder of Song Of Style

Loïc Prigent, director

Angelo Flaccavento, independent fashion critic; editor at large at VogueItalia; editor at Business of Fashion

Naomi Campbell, top model and philanthropist

Chiara Ferragni, digital entrepreneur and CEO of TBS Crew SRL

Ashley Heath, publisher, director, and editor-in-chief of POP and Arena Homme+ magazines

Joerg Koch, founding editor-in-chief and creative director of 032c; editor-in-chief of SSENSE

Ezra Petronio, editor and creative director of Self Service

Kevin Ma, CEO & founder of Hypebeast

Edward Enninful OBE, editor-in-chief of British Vogue

Suzanne Koller, Fashion director of M le Monde

Marie Chaix, stylist and fashion editor of Double Magazine

Elizabeth Von Guttman, co-founder of System Magazine and co-founder of Fashion In Tech

Alexia Niezielski, co-founder of System Magazine and co-founder of Fashion In Tech