2022 LVMH Prize jury rewarded young fashion designers, and Cate Blanchett, Louis Vuitton’s Nicolas Ghesquière and Delphine Arnault were there with advice and support

Small fashion labels big on sustainability took the 2022 LVMH Prize awards, from Steven Stokey-Daley of S.S. Daley to Idris Balogun of Winnie New York

Actress Cate Blanchett, who attended the ceremony, is a proponent of sustainable fashion and was impressed by how the finalists prioritise responsible practices

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S.S. Daley designer Steven Stokey-Daley impressed the LVMH Prize jury in Paris this year, as well as guests at the presentation, including actress Cate Blanchett.

Vincenzo La Torre

Published: 4:15am, 7 Jun 2022Updated: 1:40pm, 7 Jun 2022

The resilience of the luxury industry during the coronavirus pandemic has been nothing short of remarkable.

Even at the height of the Covid-19 crisis in 2020, top brands such as Chanel, Dior, Hermès and Louis Vuitton managed to thrive – and raise the prices of some of their key products to deal with surging demand.

This success often came at the expense of smaller labels as, in such uncertain times, high-end consumers felt more comfortable investing in timeless brands rather than taking a bet on niche designers.

From left: Eli Russell Linnetz, Delphine Arnault, Steven Stokey-Daley, Idris Balogun, Cate Blanchett and Eileen Gu at the LVMH Prize presentation in Paris, June 2022.

A crisis, however, can also be a source of creativity by making small businesses more resourceful and focused.

That was the main takeaway from the presentation of the 2022 LVMH Prize, the award given every year by luxury group LVMH – the company behind brands such as Dior and Louis Vuitton – to support small, independent creators with money as well as mentoring.

Arnault, the director and executive vice-president of Louis Vuitton and founder of the LVMH Prize, at the 2022 LVMH Prize presentation.

This year, the main prize went to Steven Stokey-Daley, 25, the British founder of S.S. Daley, while the jury awarded the Karl Lagerfeld Prize – named after the late designer of Chanel and Fendi – to Los Angeles-based Eli Russell Linnetz, 31, founder of ERL, and British-born, New York-based Idris Balogun, 29, of Winnie New York.