French designer Marine Serre wins LVMH Prize
For its fourth edition, the LVMH prize, founded in 2014 to recognize the best young fashion designers, has named 25-year-old French designer Marine Serre the winner among some 1,200 candidates this year (200 more than last year). She succeeds British designer Grace Wales Bonner and her eponymous line. Marine’s collection stood out in an edition where streetwear and mixed wardrobes were the two primary themes.
Originally from Brive-la-Gaillarde, the young woman studied at L'École de La Cambre visual arts school in Brussels before doing internships at Maison Margiela and Christian Dior, and joining the Alexander McQueen team in London.
After selling a first collection at Broken Arm in Paris in September 2016, the designer hit the ground running, winning at the Hyères Festival, the Andam and the LVMH Prize. "An unexpected reward for me," she admits, "the right proportions and the vision of fashion today that I tried to express in my work was apparently convincing. Even though I was very relaxed before the winner was announced, this award will allow me to open a workshop in Paris, to work on a second collection with more breathing room and to soar higher."
The jury, chaired by singer Rihanna, admitted to being seduced by the young French woman. For Maria Grazia Chiuri; "Marine Serre has a maturity that others maybe have a little less, a vision of current fashion and a very clear project." Humberto Léon and Carol Lim offered the same praise; "the competition was very tight this year, Marine embodying a vision that was both creative and in tune with the apparel business. That is a very current issue and is sometimes lacking in some designers.”
She was named winner among eight other finalists that were announced at the end of March - including the French designer Antonin Tron (Altein), Russia’s Maria Kazakova (Jahnkoy), Britain’s Molly Goddard and Nabil El Nayal (Nabil Ayal), Japan’s Kozaburo Akazaka (Kozaburo), the American Yoon Ahn (Ambush), and the Danish designer Cecile Rosted Banhsen (Banhsen). In winning the award, Serre will receive 300 000 euros in prize money and personalized support for a year from a dedicated team from LVMH.
The special jury prize was awarded to Kozaburo Akazaka for his Kozaburo brand, who will receive 150,000 euros.
The jury was composed of LVMH stars including Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs, Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, Nicolas Ghesquière, Jonathan Anderson, Phoebe Philo and Maria Grazia Chiuri, together with Delphine Arnault (deputy general manager of LVMH), Jean-Paul Claverie (adviser to Bernard Arnault and director of LVMH) and Pierre-Yves Roussel (CEO of LVMH Fashion Group).
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