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Nine promising designers will appear before a committee of fashion’s most renowned creative directors at the Louis Vuitton Foundation on June 6th to compete for the 2018 LVMH Prize. Jury members, including Nicolas Ghesquière of Louis Vuitton, Karl Lagerfeld of Fendi, J.W Anderson of Loewe, Maria Grazia Chiuri of Dior, Clare Waight Keller of Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, and more, will grant the prestigious prize that offers financial and professional assistance to one young designer and three graduate designers. Last year, French-Belgian designer Marine Serre won the 2017 edition of the LVMH Prize, receiving €300,000, plus a year of coaching from industry experts at the luxury conglomerate. Something Curated takes a closer look at the nine 2018 finalists – five of whom are based in London – selected from a pool of over 1,3000 applicants from 90 countries.

 

A-COLD-WALL* || Samuel Ross  

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In 2015, London-based designer Samuel Ross founded A-COLD-WALL*, an art-project-turned-brand that explores English working class youth culture, and comments on divides in society. Ross reached his success in an “untraditional way,” studying graphic design and training under his mentor Virgil Abloh at Off-White, rather than attending fashion school. Handcrafted graphic garments and bold silhouettes reflect Ross’s vision. The designer has collaborated with Nike, his menswear has been displayed at Barney’s, Harvey Nichols, and presented at London Fashion Week Men’s.

 

BOTTER || Rushemy Botter & Lisi Herrebrugh

Founded by designers Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh, Dutch label Botter creates elegant, gender-fluid clothing nostalgic of Caribbean roots. Botter, a graduate from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, and Herrebrugh, a graduate from Amsterdam Fashion Institute, met nine years ago before embarking on their collaborative fashion venture. Botter’s masters collection, “Fish or Fight,” earned him five awards, including the Ann Demeulemeester Award. The risk-taking duo’s designs have been featured in New York and Amsterdam Fashion Week, and have earned them projects with fashion model Naomi Campbell and rapper Young Thug.

 

CHARLES JEFFREY LOVERBOY || Charles Jeffrey

With an LVMH Prize nomination, solo art exhibition at London’s NOW gallery, and the British Emerging Talent Prize at 2017’s Fashion Awards, Charles Jeffery has established a strong reputation for himself in the fashion industry. A designer, illustrator, and LOVE’s senior fashion contributing editor, Jeffery launched LOVERBOY in 2015. After hosting his birthday party at East London venue VF Dalston, while studying for a BA in Fashion Design at Central Saint Martins, his event was so well-talked about in the city that he launched the LOVERBOY series to fund his MA at CSM. The Glaswegian has previously interned at Christian Dior, and showed his work with Fashion East’s MAN line-up. His SS18 collection was shown in June 2017 as his first independent showcase.

 

DOUBLET || Masayuki Ino

Before founding label Doublet in 2012, Masayuki Ino worked as a shoe and accessory design chief at MIHARAYASUHIRO for seven years. Only one year after establishing the brand with pattern maker Takashi Murakami, the Gunma-born designer’s first collection was debuted in 2013 Spring/Summer collection. Doublet imbues “daily wear with a feeling of disorder,” key to Ino’s approach. Notably, Ino, who graduated from Tokyo Made Academy School, was awarded the 2017 Tokyo Fashion Award.

 

ECKHAUS LATTA || Mike Eckhaus & Zoe Latta

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Design duo Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta established their brand ECKHAUS LATTA in 2011. The collaborators, who met at the Rhode Island School of Design, work between studios in LA and NY. Prior to establishing the label, Eckhaus designed men’s accessories at Marc by Marc Jacobs and Latta established her own textile company, designing prints for Opening Ceremony, Calvin Klein, and more. The brand presents two collections a year during New York Fashion Week, and has collaborated with Nike and Camp Together, and has exhibited projects, videos, and collections at art institutions globally.

 

KWAIDAN EDITIONS || Hung La & Léa Dickely

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Designers Hung La and Léa Dickely’s London-based brand, named after the 1965 Japanese horror film Kwaidan, focuses on distorting the ordinary. Kwaidan Editions was established in 2016 after the designers, who met as students at the Royal Academy of Arts in Antwerp in 2004, became frustrated with the stresses of working in high fashion, and desired to make statements of their own. The couple’s 20 years of experience, working with leading fashion brands such as Balenciaga, Celine, Rick Owens, and Alexander McQueen, have allowed them to successfully launch their own brand.

 

LUDOVIC DE SAINT SERNIN || Ludovic de Saint Sernin

French designer Ludovic de Saint Sernin is the creative director and founder of the brand inspired by surrealism, Mapplethorpe, and the “French Madonna.” Sernin, who works between Paris and London, graduated from l’ ESAA Duperré in Fashion Design in 2013. Before launching his menswear brand in 2017, Sernin worked on the design team at Balmain. Since then, he has presented two collections at SS18 and AW18. Sernin’s designs have been modeled mostly by men, though women have been the main consumers of his androgynous garments. The designer recently announced he will launch a womenswear line.

 

MATTHEW ADAMS DOLAN || Matthew Adams Dolan

Massachusetts-born designer Matthew Adams Dolan’s fashion is inspired by an evolving American style with an emphasis on denim. Dolan received an international education, studying in Australia, Japan, and Switzerland, before graduating from the MFA Fashion Design and Society programme at Parsons in 2014. That same year, stylist Alastair McKimm showed his graduate presentation collection to Rihanna, who “fell in love” with Dolan’s work and selected him to work on her Puma collection. Dolan launched his debut collection for Spring/Summer 2016.

 

ROKH || Rok Hwang

Established by Korean designer Rok Hwang in 2016, ROKH is a womenswear brand defined as “structured, timeless, and elegant.” In 2010, Hwang graduated from Central Saint Martins with an MA in Fashion. Prior to establishing his brand, Hwang developed professional experience in the fashion industry by working as a designer at Celine under Phoebe Philo and freelancing for Louis Vuitton and Chloe. Impressively, his first commercial release for A/W17 secured 30 international stockists.

 

Words by Ashley Barquin | Feature image: Ludovic de Saint Sernin (via Pinterest)

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