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LGN Louis-Gabriel Nouchi, the Parisian designer known for gender-fluid and size-inclusive collections, has won the 2023 Andam Prize. Nouchi will receive €300,000 and a year of mentorship from Chloé president and CEO Riccardo Bellini on both the creative and strategic aspects of his business.
Nouchi’s win comes on the heels of his Spring/Summer 2024 show at the Palais de Tokyo, where he showed a collection inspired by Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel A Single Man. Each season, Nouchi pays tribute to a book or writer with his collection.
The special prize, which was set up last year, went to two finalists: Brussels-based Ester Manas (founded by Manas and Balthazar Delepierre) and Amsterdam-based Duran Lantink. Each designer will receive an award of €100,000 in addition to mentorship from Bellini. The other three finalists were GmbH, Gauchere and Andreādamo.
The Andam (short for National Association of the Development of the Fashion Arts) Fashion Award was founded in 1989 as a scheme to support and further design talents and their businesses in Paris. Past winners include Botter and Bianca Saunders.
“The Andam Fashion Awards platform once again demonstrated a tremendous array of talent and savoir-faire of the new generation of fashion designers, placing Paris at the forefront of creation and creativity,” Bellini said in the release. “The level of all nominees was outstanding … and I very much look forward to watching them grow and mentoring them with the unconditional support of the Andam and all its partners.”
Notably, both LGN Louis-Gabriel Nouchi and Ester Manas are known for their size inclusivity, making them standouts in Paris, where only three shows last season featured any plus-sized models. “Having an inclusive casting has always been one of our ethos since the first collection,” Ester Manas told Vogue Business for last year’s size inclusivity report.
Avellano, known for its latex creations, won the Pierre Bergé Prize, which goes to a young French brand. In addition to €100,000, designer Arthur Avellano will receive guidance from Lacoste deputy CEO Catherine Spindler.
The accessories prize went to Ukrainian hatmaker Ruslan Baginskiy. The designer will receive €100,000 (double its previous €50,000 value) and mentorship from Guillaume de Seynes, executive vice-president of Hermès.
All 12 finalists (including the seven that didn’t win a prize) will have access to deadstock materials from Balenciaga and Longchamp. Plus, OTB Group will run a workshop showcasing the best practices in sustainable design.
“Andam is the expression of a common purpose, of a shared passion, of energies that work separately all year long to finally come together, discuss and deliberate but above all, love fashion,” Andam president Guillaume Houzé said in the release. “And we owe this to the designers and to our institutional and private partners who both empower the future, while preserving the past.”
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