What happened
Out of 2,500 applicants around the world, 20 designer labels have been picked to compete in the prestigious LVMH Prize.
Representatives from Asia include gender-neutral brand Ponder.er, helmed by Hong Kong Chinese duo Alex Po and Derek Cheng; Taiwanese label Chiahung Su, which crafts all its clothes from reclaimed materials; South Korean menswear brand Jiyongkim, which boasts a distinctive sun-bleaching technique; and Japan design collective Khoki.
These creatives will compete in the semi-finals scheduled to take place in Paris on February 20 and March 1. Between February 29 and March 5, members of the public will be able to vote for their favorite entrant via lvmhprize.com, alongside a jury of fashion specialists. Eight finalists will then battle it out for a 400,000 euro ($428,212) prize and a one-year mentorship with a dedicated LVMH team member.
The Jing Take
Launched in 2013, the LVMH Prize has become one of the industry’s most important emerging designer competitions. Winners of previous editions include now-famous names like KidSuper, Grace Wales Bonner, and Jacquemus.
This year’s edition is even more global, with semi-finalists hailing from 18 countries, including Mexico, Moldova, and Togo for the first time. There’s also the debut of the Savoir-Faire Prize, which offers a 200,000 euro ($214,107) endowment and a one-year mentorship to a contestant that excels in craftsmanship, innovation in design and production, and sustainability.
A notable contender for the prize is Hong Kong-based Ponder.er, which challenges masculine stereotypes with its frayed and lace knitwear structures. In 2022, it was named the Yu Prize Grand Prize winner, and in 2023, it held a show at Shanghai Fashion Week. It has shown its collections for three consecutive seasons at the Sphere Paris Fashion Week showroom, as well as dressed K-pop artists like NCT’s Lee Taeyong and Gidle’s Cho Mi-yeon.
For emerging labels like Ponder.er, the LVMH Prize presents an opportunity to gain global recognition and potentially attract global collaborators. Just look at Rui, another Chinese label famous for its gender-fluid designs and fabric manipulation; after winning the LVMH Karl Lagerfeld Prize for Young Designers in 2021, the brand has gone on to work with the likes of Victoria’s Secret and Adidas and dress celebrities such as Jennie Kim, Halle Bailey, Cardi B, and Billie Eilish.
As of this writing, Ponder.er has a limited social media presence, with just over 10,000 followers on Instagram, 1,055 on Xiaohongshu, and 548 on Weibo. Despite its modest fan base, its body-clinging, avant-garde assortment of knit and denim apparel offers a bold, sensual appeal that is sure not to get lost in the crowd.
The Jing Take reports on a piece of the leading news and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debate sprouting on Chinese social media.