LVMH Prize opens inscriptions for its 2026 awards

The LVMH Prize, Europe’s most mediatic fashion awards, began inscriptions for its 2026 Awards on Monday. The prize frequently attracts in excess of 1,000 young designers, and hundreds of student hopefuls. This coming year will mark its 13th edition.

Designer candidates have until January 11, 2026, to submit their applications, while graduate students must register by April 5, 2026. All inscriptions for the awards must be registered on lvmhprize.com.
 
LVMH created the Young Fashion Designer Award in 2013, immediately generating major media coverage for the awards. The initiative is open to fashion designers from around the world aged 18 to 40 who have designed at least two collections of ready-to-wear women’s, men’s, or unisex clothing.

The prize’s semi-final will take place in Paris over two days on Wednesday and Thursday, March 4 and 5, 2026, during the next women’s ready-to-wear runway season in Paris.
 
A jury of over 80 experts – including editors, stylists, photographers, retailers, models, movie stars, and, full disclosure, the author of this article – will select eight finalists for the LVMH Prize final, which features several categories.
 
The winner of the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers receives a grant of €400,000 and benefits from personalised mentoring by LVMH teams who support them in many areas such as sustainable development, communication, intellectual property, and the legal aspects of a business, as well as marketing, manufacturing, and the financial management of a brand.
 
This is followed by The Karl Lagerfeld Prize, the winner of which receives a grant of €200,000 and benefits from a year of mentoring by LVMH teams. The Craftsmanship Prize offers the winner a grant of €200,000 along with a year of mentoring by LVMH teams.
 
Finally, three will be awarded the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Graduates. Each winner, who must have graduated in the current year, joins the design studios of the group’s Maisons on a one-year contract and receives, along with their schooling, a grant of €10,000.
 
The most recent winner of the top LVMH Prize in 2025 was Soshi Otsuki of Japan, with previous winners including S.S. Daley, Nensi Dojaka, Thebe Magugu, Marine Serre, Grace Wales Bonner, and Thomas Tait, from the first edition.
 
The Karl Lagerfeld Prize for 2025 was won by Steve O Smith, who joined an impressive list of prior winners including Duran Lantink, KidSuper, and Hed Mayner. When the award was previously known as the Special Prize, it was won by Jacquemus, Rokh, and Kozaburo Akasaka.