The LVMH Prize – an award that’s honoured Nensi Dojaka, Simone Porte Jacquemus, and Grace Wales Bonner to name a few – just announced its 10th consecutive winner for 2023: Japanese designer, Satoshi Kuwata.
Perhaps the most prestigious award that break-out fashion designers can hope to get, the LVMH Prize for Young Designers has been known to predict future greats. On top of receiving 400,000 euros in prize money, the winner is pretty much expected to go onto impressive things in the rest of their career: this year Kuwata, founder of Setchu, has been determined the one to watch. And watch we will.
With all eyes on Kuwata and his Japanese-cross-Western brand, Setchu, it’s not hard to see why he’s taken the 2023 title. Driven by the influences of his birth country, Japan, and the places he’s lived as an adult (including Paris, London, New York, and now Italy), Setchu is a unisex brand adapting modern fashion into something functional, sustainable, and aesthetically practical.
Setchu’s FW23 collection plays with layering, draping, and blending textures, to create a collection that feels as understated as it is eye-catching. Bright azure blues are splashed through the brand’s looks which are otherwise largely classic in both their colour-scheme and styles. Kuwata transports us through shiny leopard-print jumpsuits and inflated, black, puffer skirts, and grounds us with beautifully tailored jackets and shirts.
Kuwata wasn’t the only young designer being celebrated by LVMH this week, as the LVMH Karl Lagerfeld Prize was also awarded to two break-out creatives: Luca Magliano (of Magliano) and Julia Pelipas (of Bettter).
Bologna-born Magliano’s attention to menswear from a modern perspective was awarded the prize alongside Pelipas, a Ukrainian but London-based designer focusing on upcycling and zero-waste. Both with a world of opportunities ahead of them, the fashion industry already had its eye on these two but will undoubtedly be watching ever closer thanks to the prestigious award.
Both the Karl Lagerfeld Prize and the LVMH Prize have already earned track records for identifying some of the most talented members of the next generation of designers. So no pressure!
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