Masayuki Ino’s Streetwear Label Doublet Won The LVMH Prize

Update: On Wednesday, LVMH crowned Masayuki Ino’s streetwear label Doublet the grand prize winner of $353,145 and a year’s worth of mentorship from the luxury conglomerate, after
beating out 1,300 other applicants. Ino founded Doublet in 2012, won the Tokyo New Designer Fashion Award in 2013, and the 2017 Tokyo Fashion Award.

“We were impressed by the contemporary resourcefulness that instills Masayuki Ino’s designs with an urban touch infused with fresh poetry,” executive vice president of Louis Vuitton and LVMH Prize founder Delphine Arnault said.

Emma Stone was on hand to present Ino the LVMH award, while Jaden Smith handed South Korean designer Rok Hwang’s London-based label Rokh the special prize of $176,572 and a year’s worth of tutelage.

LVMH just announced the nine finalists for its highly-regarded Young Fashion Designer Prize, which is awarded to fashion designers who have produced at least two collections and are under the age of 40. The group of men’s and women’s designers — which include A-Cold-Wall, Botter, Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, Doublet, Eckhaus Latta, Kwaidan Editions, Ludovic De Saint Sernin, Matthew Adams Dolan, and Rokh — are from all over the globe and have been chosen from a group of 20 semi-finalists by 48 international fashion heavyweights like J.W. Anderson, Nicolas Ghesquiére, Marc Jacobs, and Maria Grazia Chiuri among others. The competition was so stiff that Delphine Arnault, the director and executive vice president of LVMH, actually extended the number of finalists to nine instead of eight because it was so hard for the judges to narrow down their selections.

“This year saw a real diversity of talent, with two brands designing womenswear, two designing menswear, two both womenswear and menswear, while three create gender neutral fashion,” Arnault said in a press release. “I am moreover delighted that Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, a semi-finalist in 2017, has returned to the competition.” We will see who comes out on top after the finalists present their designs at the Foundation Louis Vuitton on June 6.

The winner of the competition will receive a grant of €300,000 (about $420,000 U.S.) and 12 months of assistance from a special LVMH team to help develop their company. The mentorship will focus on matters of intellectual property, sourcing, production and distribution, and marketing. In previous years, Marine Serre (2017), Grace Wales Bonner (2016), Marques’Almeida (2015), and Thomas Tait (2014) have each taken home the prize, and seen quite the success since.

Be sure to watch this space for updates on the competition.