Brussels designer Marie Adam-Leenaerdt in the final of the prestigious LVMH prize

Barely a year after launching her own fashion line, Brussels designer Marie Adam-Leenaerdt has been selected for the final of the LVMH Prize.

Brussels designer Marie Adam-Leenaerdt has been selected for the final of the LVMH Prize. That is the leading fashion award presented by the luxury conglomerate behind houses such as Louis Vuitton, Dior and Fendi.

Although Marie Adam-Leenaerdt only graduated from La Cambre’s fashion department in 2020, she has been in the international spotlight for some time. After internships at Balenciaga and Givenchy, she decided to return to create her own fashion line. During the Paris fashion weeks in the winter of 2023, she showed her first collection under her own name. And that on the official calendar of the fashion weeks. “Everyone is surprised that it is all happening so quickly. A year ago I couldn’t even have dreamed of a place at fashion week,” she said The standard.

While there were nine finalists last year, the jury selected eight finalists for this eleventh edition. They are now competing for three prizes, instead of the usual two. A newcomer to the trophy case is the Savoir Faire prize, which honors sustainability and technical innovation. Like the Karl Lagerfeld Prize, it provides a sum of 200,000 euros. The winner of the major LVMH prize receives 400,000 euros. In addition to the prize money, all laureates can count on a one-year guidance program.

In addition to Phoebe Philo and Pharell Williams, designers such as Jonathan Anderson, Nicolas Ghesquière, Marc Jacobs and Stella McCartney are also on the jury. We won’t know until this fall whether Marie Adam-Leenaerdt wins the competition. The winner will be announced on September 10 at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.