Yesterday we went to the sixth edition of LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. There were two big wins. South African designer Thebe Magugu took home the LVMH Prize, the first African to be awarded the prize presented by Swedish Oscar winner actress Alicia Vikander. It was also a big win for menswear with Israeli designer, frequently featured on Fucking Young, Hed Mayner being awarded the Jury prize, henceforth known as the Karl Lagerfeld Prize, in tribute to the great designer who passed away on February 2019 and who was actively involved in the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers since its launch.

Delphine Arnault said in the opening “I am delighted that, for the first time, an African candidate has won the Prize, all the more so since Thebe Magugu, aged 26, is the youngest designer of the 2019 selection. His creative work appropriates the codes of menswear and womenswear, of the traditional and the experimental, playing with volumes and traditional South-African know-how. The jury was also seduced by Hed Mayner’s contemporary vision.”

In attendance were five artistic directors from Houses of the LVMH group – Kris Van Assche (Berluti), Maria Grazia Chiuri (Dior), Nicolas Ghesquière (Louis Vuitton), and Clare Waight Keller (Givenchy).