LVMH Prize 2018 winners are Masayuki Ino and Rok Hwang

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jun 6, 2018

And the winner is: Masayuki Ino and his fashion house Doublet. The label nabbed the top award in the LVMH Prize, the most financially beneficial annual award in fashion.

“Many thanks!” said Ino, who does not speak English or French, after receiving his golden award from actress Emma Stone, who spoke in French and was dressed in Louis Vuitton.
 
Ino’s bravura reinterpretation of Japanese graphics and posh punk attitude made him one of the favorites for the prize.

“The quality of the candidates was so exceptional we had to also give a special award,” said Louis Vuitton executive Delphine Arnault at the award ceremony, inside the Fondation Louis Vuitton, the luxury conglomerate’s giant Frank Gehry-designed art exhibition space in the Bois de Boulogne.
 
That special award went to Rok Hwang, a South Korean who grew up in Austin Texas, whose label is known as Rokh. A graduate of St Martin’s in London, his is a kicky signature in women’s streetwear. Ino picked up an award worth 300,000, while Hwang garnered 150,000 euros.
 
This really is a global award. Beginning last year with over 4,000 applicants over 102 nationalities, with an average age of 29, these were whittled down to 20 young hopefuls. Next, in late February, over two days, a team of 48 International Experts – editors, retailers, writers, stylists and educators, including the author of this news report – made the initial cull from 20 designers to nine finalists.
 
There was almost as much mystery about the final composition of the LVMH jury, ever since Haider Ackermann left his position as Creative Director of Berluti (a LVMH house) in April, and Phoebe Philo quit Céline.

 
In the end, the new designer jury entrant was Claire Waight Keller of Givenchy, along with Karl Lagerfeld, Nicolas Ghèsquiere, Marc Jacobs, Maria Grazia Chiuri, Jonathan Anderson, Humberto Leon and Carol Lim – as well as Delphine Arnault, the brainchild behind the award, whose father Bernard Arnault is the controlling shareholder or LVMH, the world’s largest luxury conglomerate. And Jean-Paul Claverie, an advisor to Arnault Senior, and Sidney Toledano, the Chairman and CEO of LVMH Fashion Group, who replaced Pierre-Yves Roussel, who departed the group after a sterling career rapidly building up the more independent fashion houses within the group.
 
All entrants must be under 40 and produced at least two collections. The 2018 edition marks the fifth LVMH Prize, whose 300,000-euro award is highest sum for a single award in fashion.
 
Previous winners of the award or its Special Prize include Marques’ Almeida, Jacquemus, Hood by Air and Marinne Serre. No wonder they call it the Oklahoma Land Rush of fashion.
 
Though other awards in Europe – ANDAM, Hyères, British Fashion Council and Who Is On Next in Italy - have considerable prestige, the LVMH Prize has emerged as the most coveted by dint of its generous financial pay-out and the reputation of its double jury.
 
LVMH's string of luxe marques include Moët & Chandon, Dom Pérignon, Veuve Clicquot, Krug, Ruinart, Château d’Yquem, , Château Cheval Blanc, Hennessy, Glenmorangie, Belvedere, Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior Couture, Céline, Loewe, Kenzo, Givenchy, Thomas Pink, Fendi, Emilio Pucci, Marc Jacobs, Berluti, Loro Piana, Acqua di Parma, Bulgari, TAG Heuer, Hublot and Le Bon Marché.