LVMH Prize opens registrations for its 2026 awards

The LVMH Prize, Europe's most high-profile fashion awards, began registration this Monday for its 2026 Awards. The prize frequently attracts more than 1,000 young designers and hundreds of aspiring students. Next year it will celebrate its 13th edition.

Designer candidates have until January 11, 2026 to submit their applications, while graduate students must register by April 5, 2026. All awards entries must be registered at lvmhprize.com.

LVMH created the Young Fashion Designer Award in 2013, immediately generating significant media coverage for the awards. The initiative is open to fashion designers from around the world between 18 and 40 years old who have designed at least two ready-to-wear collections of women's, men's or unisex clothing.

The award semi-final will take place in Paris over two days, on Wednesday and Thursday, March 4 and 5, 2026, during the upcoming women's ready-to-wear runway season in Paris.

A jury of more than 80 experts (including editors, stylists, photographers, retailers, models, movie stars and, undoubtedly, the author of this article) will select eight finalists for the LVMH Prize final, which has several categories.

The winner of the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers receives a grant of 400,000 euros and benefits from personalized advice from LVMH teams who support them in many areas, such as sustainable development, communication, intellectual property and the legal aspects of a company, as well as the marketing, manufacturing and financial management of a brand.

It is followed by the Karl Lagerfeld Prize, the winner of which receives a grant of 200,000 euros and benefits from a year of mentoring by LVMH teams. The Craft Prize offers the winner a €200,000 grant along with a year of mentoring by LVMH teams.

Finally, three of them will receive the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Graduates. Each winner, who must have graduated during the current year, joins the design studios of the group's Maisons with a one-year contract and receives, along with their training, a subsidy of 10,000 euros.

The most recent winner of the top LVMH prize in 2025 was Japan's Soshi Otsuki, while previous winners included SS Daley, Nensi Dojaka, Thebe Magugu, Marine Serre, Grace Wales Bonner and Thomas Tait, from the first edition.

The Karl Lagerfeld Award for 2025 was won by Steve O Smith, who joined an impressive list of previous winners including Duran Lantink, KidSuper and Hed Mayner. When the award was previously known as the Special Award, it was won by Jacquemus, Rokh and Kozaburo Akasaka.