Louis-Gabriel Nouchi Wins ANDAM’s €300,000 Prize—Inside the Prize Ceremony in Paris

Last night, the Grand Prize of €300,000 was awarded to Louis-Gabriel Nouchi, whose menswear challenges masculine archetypes through contemporary tailoring. The Special Prize came with a generous, unprecedented decision: two winners. Along with Lantink, the inclusive and sustainable women’s brand, Ester Manas, also received €100,000. The Pierre Bergé Prize went to Avellano for designer Arthur Avellano’s radical applications of latex, while the Accessories Prize was won by Ruslan Baginsky, a Ukrainian designer whose creative, artisanal hats have become hit pieces. Ephea won the Innovation Prize for developing high-quality mycelium materials as leather alternatives. Eligibility across each category requires that a brand can be French or international, but must already have some production in France and/or commit to further developing their business here, and qualify according to certain financial figures. 

ANDAM’s founder, Nathalie Dufour, explained that this year’s additional prize was a collective decision among the sponsors (Balenciaga, Chanel, Chloé, Galeries Lafayette, L’Oréal, Hermès, Kering, Lacoste, LVMH, OTB, and Saint Laurent, plus Google, Meta and several others). “ANDAM is an ecosystem, it’s like an incubator, a sincere engagement from the companies to push these young brands,” she said, dressed in a black, full-length Coperni dress. “The designers this year were all very conscious of ethical and sustainable challenges. They are coming up with truly innovative ideas and they can be precursors of change.”

The president of the 2023 jury was Riccardo Bellini, the CEO of Chloé. He hosted the deliberations through the afternoon and, more significantly, will provide mentorship to Nouchi through the year. As Bellini was instrumental to Chloé’s certification in 2021 as a B Corporation (a standard of social and environmental performance), he directed great admiration to this year’s finalists, who take purpose-driven values as a given. “What we saw across all the applicants was a tremendous level of creativity, as we always see at ANDAM, but also a tremendous level of awareness of the importance for a brand today to integrate a mission, a point of view on sustainability. This shows it is now becoming a mindset for designers,” he said ahead of the awards.