How fashion awards democratised the fashion industry

Despite the glittering allure that the fashion world can exert on the many students who choose to devote their future to the industry every year, thanks to unbridled competition and overcrowding that makes job positions often a mirage, finding one's way in the fashion industry is not always easy. It is not a cliché that the fashion world can prove to be tough and the preserve of the few in various contexts. In this sense, in addition to social media that have provided anyone who wants it with a powerful megaphone, for better or worse, to express themselves on the most disparate topics, Haute Couture included, a powerful tool for democratising the rise of talent are the numerous fashion awards that have launched the careers of some of the most successful designers in history: from Martin Margiela to Nensi Dojaka. Because, as every young designer knows, the challenges of setting up an independent label can make the rise almost impossible, even with financial backing, fame and thousands of likes on Instagram, without a little help from above. Not only do the awards help launch the careers of young talents - making training courses, funding, media coverage or job positions accessible by meritocratic means - but they also constitute a challenge for many to channel their creativity into entirely new contexts. 

LVMH prize

LVMH prize

LVMH prize

This is the case of the Loro Piana Knit Design Award, this year in its sixth edition, which brought Gen Z closer to a brand that might in many ways seem too luxurious and distant in the eyes of the students, passing on to them the heritage and know-how of a very old but extremely topical fabric: knitwear. The theme for 2022 was 'Rediscovery', the rediscovery of heritage and roots in the light of a creative reinterpretation of the Traveller Jacket, the brand's iconic garment. The students from the six finalist fashion schools - North Carolina State University, Institut Français de la Mode, Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, Politecnico di Milano, Shenkar College in Tel Aviv and Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo - were therefore asked to reinterpret the model, working closely with the Research and Development team and taking part in guided tours of the knitwear workshops to discover the entire production process up close. Also part of the jury, along with CEO DamienBertrand and other internal brand representatives, were Sara Sozzani Maino, Head of Special Projects at Vogue Italia, Beka Gvishiani, founder of Stylenotcom, Chet Lo, knitwear designer and Letizia Schätzinger, tiktoker and content creator, who, in the heart of the historic Cortile della Seta headquarters in Via Moscova, elected Po-Chieh Chiu and Shanon Poupard from the Institut Français de la Mode in Paris.

Loro Piana Knit Design Award 2022

Loro Piana Knit Design Award 2022

Loro Piana Knit Design Award 2022

The pair was awarded the prestigious Loro Piana Knit Design Award 2022 and, for the first time, an employment contract with the company. The two students will have the opportunity to create the finished garment at the knitwear workshop in the maison's historical headquarters in Italy, working alongside Loro Piana artisans and experiencing first-hand all the phases that lead to the creation of a haute couture garment, learning secrets and little touches from the maison's team of professionals, to make the Traveller Jacket in a new look and exhibit the project during Pitti Filati. Always attentive to young people and the development of their professionalism, Loro Piana confirms itself as a reference point for the training of new talents: over the years, the maison has been able to build a solid network of young talents, involving institutes, business schools and universities. A virtuous exchange that on the one hand favours the entry of new figures into the labour market and hands down craftsmanship and savoir-faire to the new generations, and on the other contributes to reinterpreting the models that have made the history of the brand in a fresh and current key with the contribution of a new disruptive creative flow.

In 1954, Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent were the winners of the International Woolmark Prize: only a year later, Lagerfeld went to work for fashion designer Pierre Balmain and Saint Laurent was appointed creative director of Dior. The ANDAM Prize on the other hand, promoted by the National Association for the Development of the Arts of Fashion and founded in 1989 by Nathalie Dufour on the initiative of the French Ministry of Culture, launched the careers of Martin Margiela, Gareth Pugh and Richard Nicholl, who were still very young. At the same time, the CFDA Awards are, since 2003, an institution in the promotion of the new generation of American fashion designers, as it was for Joseph Altuzarra, Alexander Wang, Proenza Schouler. The most recent LVMH prize, launched in November 2013 and promoted by the luxury group of the same name from an idea of Delphine Arnault, has gained exemplary fame in a very short time, making the winners the most prominent names in the Fashion Week programs: Marques Almeida, Wales Bonner, Marine Serre, Jacquemus, to name but a few, while Virgil Abloh was a finalist in the 2015 edition, becoming the new artistic director of menswear for Louis Vuitton just three years later. It is a fact that without the fashion awards some of the most important voices in fashion would have gone unheard.