Hodakova Wins the 2024 LVMH Prize for Young Designers

This story was updated at 3:04 p.m.

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PARIS — Call her the Greta Thunberg of fashion.

Swedish designer Ellen Hodakova Larsson on Tuesday won the 2024 edition of the LVMH Prize for Young Designers for her upcyled creations, underlining the importance of sustainability as the fashion industry grapples with overproduction and a slowdown in luxury spending.

The Stockholm-based designer beat more than 2,500 applicants from 80 countries to walk away with a grand prize of 400,000 euros, plus a year of coaching from experts at luxury giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, parent of brands including Vuitton, Guerlain, Dom Pérignon and Sephora.

An emotional Larsson received the award from Dior ambassador and special jury member Natalie Portman at a ceremony at the Fondation Louis Vuitton here. The 32-year-old aims to build the world’s “first fully sustainable fashion house” and while she shares Thunberg’s passion for protecting the planet, she doesn’t define herself as an activist.

“I think it’s more of a force of belief,” she told reporters after the ceremony, adding that she plans to use the prize money to scale up her business by convincing more manufacturers to work with deadstock and recycled materials.

“As long as we believe in this way of reusing discarded pieces and not only putting them on a pile, but actually using them again, I believe that that kind of circularity both will be needed, but also will be even bigger. So this is like a step-by-step period, but we’re reaching more sources every day, and we have a really good system right now,” she said.

Larsson recently gained worldwide attention by making a top from antique spoons for Cate Blanchett to wear on the red carpet.

“We’re working so hard to just make everyone believe that this is actually workable, and I’m happy to speak about it, because we can’t produce and overproduce,” she said, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Everyone knows that this beautiful earth is hurting because of our lust to create, to make money, and that’s why I’m here, to have a little bit of a different take on it,” Larsson added. “I feel thankful that…in this big company, they actually see the potential of it.”

Duran Lantink, another designer who has made circularity a keystone of his design process, was the winner of the runner-up Karl Lagerfeld Special Jury Prize, presented by Robert Pattinson.

It is worth 200,000 euros and also includes one year of advice on topics covering sustainable development, communication, copyright and corporate legal aspects, marketing, manufacturing and the financial management of a brand.

Ana de Armas, one of the faces of Louis Vuitton, presented the inaugural Savoir-Faire Prize to Standing Ground designed by Michael Stewart. Aimed at promoting the transmission of skills, it comes with a grant of 200,000 euros and a one-year mentorship.

Pharrell Williams , men’s artistic director at Louis Vuitton, and Phoebe Philo, whose London-based fashion house has a minority investment from LVMH, were new on the 2024 judging panel. Williams took part remotely from Canada, where he was due to present an animated documentary about his life at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The other members of the jury included Jonathan Anderson, Maria Grazia Chiuri, Nicolas Ghesquière, Marc Jacobs, Nigo and Silvia Venturini Fendi, as well as LVMH executives Delphine Arnault , chairman and chief executive officer of Dior ; Sidney Toledano, an adviser to LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault, and Jean-Paul Claverie, also an adviser to Arnault and director of patronage at LVMH.

Kim Jones and Stella McCartney sat out this year’s edition due to personal commitments.

Delphine Arnault, the force behind the prize and a key talent scout at LVMH, said the jury was impressed by Larsson’s distinctive aesthetic, with outfits including dresses made from upcycled belts. “We thought she was an extremely interesting candidate who has a strong potential to grow,” she said.

While LVMH mentors emerging designers, it also draws inspiration from their innovative techniques, Arnault said, pointing to the luxury group’s deadstock repurposing platform Nona Source. That is reflected in the evolution of the prize, now in its 11th year.

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“Sustainability, which was not necessarily a consideration in many houses 11 years ago, is essential to all brands today. There is not a single house that makes products that don’t incorporate an important part of sustainable development,” the executive said.

Chiuri noted that unlike many brands operating in the sustainability sphere, Hodakova is commercially viable. Larsson, who’s preparing to show her next collection in Paris on Sept. 24, has 18 stockists and is ready to bring on more.

“She showed that it’s possible also to develop this idea into a business,” the Dior designer said. “It means that she captured a new audience that reacted well and buys it. Not bad!”

Portman gave the brand her personal seal of approval. “Every piece was something that I would want to wear myself, and it was also completely sustainable, 100 percent repurposed materials, which was just so thoughtful and really the way that fashion is moving and has to move to continue,” she told WWD after the ceremony.

Earlier in her speech, the “May December” star underlined the need to help young designers in the room navigate the current economic downturn.

“They face immense challenges in an industry that is notoriously competitive and often unforgiving. They need mentors, they need platforms and they need our collective encouragement to flourish. When we support these young designers, we’re not just helping individuals, we’re fostering innovation, diversity and progress within the fashion industry. We’re ensuring that the future of fashion is vibrant, inclusive and forward-thinking,” Portman argued.

The finalists also included Aubero by Julian Louie, U.S.; Marie Adam-Leenaerdt, Belgium; Niccolò Pasqualetti, Italy; Paolo Carzana, U.K., and Pauline Dujancourt, France.

Toledano said that while many of them were concerned with curtailing the environmental impact of their activity, they also have a solid commercial sensibility. “The product is back to center stage,” he said.

Fresh off welcoming new creative director Sarah Burton to Givenchy ’s headquarters, Toledano joked that he too is a “child of upcycling.” It turns out he was named after a G.I. who sold old army parachutes to his father after Allied forces landed in Casablanca during World War II. “At the time, they were made of poplin and my father turned them into shirts,” he said.

It was second-time lucky for Lantink, who previously made it to the semifinals of the prize in 2019. He said it was great to see sustainability become more mainstream. “In the beginning, it was really hard, but obviously you see that it’s very much becoming the norm, so I’m happy to be here again and be appreciated for my work,” he said.

Stewart was pushing his own brand of conscious design: keeping his business small. He was initially hesitant to tell the jury that he doesn’t want to launch his sculptural jersey creations into wholesale.

“But I had to be authentic and tell them what my plan was, and I’m very much about protecting my work and I want to do this for a long time. I’m not doing it to be cool or hang around or feel relevant for five minutes. I want to have a real mastery of what I’m doing,” the Irish designer said.

Stewart showed key pieces from his womenswear label Standing Ground’s forthcoming show at London Fashion Week on Saturday, but said he has his eye on showing in Paris next. “Paris feels 100 percent correct for my work,” he said.

He was thrilled to win the Savoir-Faire Prize and hopes it will open the doors to some of LVMH’s haute couture workshops. “I would love to have the opportunity to speak to the teams of the ateliers that they have. It’s generational knowledge that’s been passed down and it’s incredible to potentially have access,” he said.

And why not one day get a foot in the door himself? “This hasn’t been the place to audition for roles but in a way, everything is an audition,” he mused.

On that note, Jacobs had some words of consolation for those who walked away empty-handed, noting that both Demna and Virgil Abloh failed to win the LVMH Prize shortly before taking on top design roles at Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton, respectively.

“It’s very nice to win a prize, but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t,” he opined. “’To thine own self be true.’ Be passionate about what you do, and anything is possible.”

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