PARIS – LGN Louis-Gabriel Nouchi beat five other finalists to score the grand prize of the 2023 edition of the ANDAM Fashion Award.
The winner, who receives 300,000 euros and a year of coaching from Chloé chief executive officer Riccardo Bellini, was revealed at an open-air ceremony in the gardens of the Palais-Royal in Paris on Thursday night.
Paris-based Nouchi, who sought to redefine male sensuality with his spring 2024 collection inspired by the 1964 novel “A Single Man” and presented on June 22, proposes gender-fluid collections with a literary inspiration, prioritizing the use of fabrics with low environmental impact, natural dyes, and buttons and labels made of recycled plastic.
Ester Manas and Duran Lantik jointly received the runner-up Special Prize, established in 2022. Each will receive a cash award of 100,000 euros plus coaching.
The former is the Brussels-based label founded by Ester Manas and Balthazar Delepierre, working size-inclusive designs mainly with deadstock fabrics.
Lantink, who is based in Amsterdam and has since moved to Paris, made an off-calendar Paris debut last February showcasing polished twists on his knack for upcycling designer clothing from older seasons, cutting up pieces from different brands and putting them back together.
The other finalists were GmbH’s Benjamin Huseby and Serhat Isik; Marie-Christine Statz of Paris-based label Gauchere; and Italian designer Andrea Adamo’s Andreādamo label.
Candidates for ANDAM’s grand prize can be of any nationality, but must own a French company or set one up during the same year as the receipt of the fellowship.
Avellano by Arthur Avellano, which specializes in latex creations, won the Pierre Bergé Prize, which focuses on young French companies and is worth 100,000 euros.
The other two contenders for that prize were Ouest Paris, a Paris-based menswear label founded by former Ami designer Arthur Robert, and Vaillant, designed by Alice Vaillant, known for lingerie-inspired camisole tops and slip dresses worn by the likes of Kylie Jenner and Rita Ora.
Ukrainian milliner Ruslan Baginskiy, whose hats are featured in Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” tour, won the Accessories Prize, now valued at 100,000 euros, up from 50,000 euros previously.
The other two accessories finalists were Alighieri, the London-based jewelry label founded by Rosh Mahtani, and Paris-based jewelry brand Panconesi by Italian designer Marco Panconesi, who moonlights as design director at Swarovski.
With Chloé’s Bellini as this year’s mentor, designers needed to demonstrate a strong sense of social responsibility to wow a jury that included Quannah Chasinghorse-Potts, American model and land protector for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; Mexican climate activist Xiye Bastida, and Trisha Shetty, human rights campaigner and founder of SheSays, an Indian NGO working to promote gender equality.
Although five brands walked away with gongs, all 12 finalists will have access to deadstock materials provided by Balenciaga and Longchamp, while OTB will run a workshop on best practices in sustainable design.
They will also be showcased at WSN and Première Classe’s trade shows. France-based finalists will have privileged access to the accelerator program of the Institut Français de la Mode, and financial advice from the Institute for the Financing of Cinema and the Cultural Industries, which supports cultural industries in France.
Created in 1989 by Nathalie Dufour with the support of the French Ministry of Culture and the DEFI, a body that promotes the development of the French fashion industry, and with the late Pierre Bergé as president, ANDAM has been a springboard for designers who would go on to achieve international recognition.
Past winners include Viktor & Rolf, Christophe Lemaire, Jeremy Scott and Marine Serre. British menswear designer Bianca Saunders scooped the 2021 prize, while Botter, designed by Lisi Herrebrugh and Rushemy Botter, scored the top gong last year.
ANDAM — the French acronym for National Association of the Development of the Fashion Arts — is supported by large corporate sponsors, which now include Balenciaga, Chanel, Chloé, Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent, Galeries Lafayette, Google, Hermès, Instagram, Kering, Lacoste, Longchamp, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, L’Oréal Paris, MyTheresa, OTB, Premiere Classe, Saint Laurent, Swarovski and Tomorrow.
The French Ministry of Culture and the DEFI, a body that promotes the development of the French fashion industry, are also key historic public partners of ANDAM.
Executives from most sponsors comprise permanent members of the jury, and Glenn Martens, Y/Project and Diesel creative director, served on behalf of OTB.
Chasinghorse-Potts’s fellow models Gigi Hadid and Pat Cleveland were also guest jurors for this edition, as was Iranian-born actress and director Zar Amir Ebrahimi, who won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival last year for her role in “Holy Spider.”