Minutes before the 2023 ANDAM Fashion Awards ceremony got underway, Duran Lantink divulged his dream. “I’m staying in a tiny, tiny apartment, and from my window I can see the Eiffel Tower. It made me feel that I belong here, that I need to win,” said the designer, whose namesake, circularity-focused brand is based in Amsterdam.
By the end of the evening, having won the ANDAM’s Special Prize worth €100,000, he was closer to making this dream a reality. “The great thing is that I can use this in a proper way: moving to Paris, investing in my studio,” Lantink said, as a model wearing his “double Burberry coat” (a couture-like, padded shape constructed from two upcycled macs) stood by his side. “It’s also a kind of acceptance. I’m very happy the fashion world opens its door a bit more to sustainability, not treating it as something that’s not fashionable because it definitely is fashionable.”
Since 1989, ANDAM has been considered among the industry’s most prestigious fashion awards, not just because the five individual prizes amount to a substantial sum—now totalling €800,000—or because it is sponsored by nearly all the largest French fashion companies as well as the French Ministry of Culture, but because it is recognized for singling out the major talents of tomorrow. The inaugural winner was Martin Margiela and subsequent Grand Prize alums include APC, Viktor Rolf, Anthony Vaccarello, Iris Van Herpen, Ami, Coperni, Y/Project, Koché, Marine Serre, Bianca Saunders, and Botter. Beyond their vision, these winners have increasingly reflected how fashion can simultaneously speak about or respond to broader social and cultural trends.
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.
As a first-time guest jury member, Stylenotcom’s Beka Gvishiani’s impressions toggled between respect for the designers and awe over the executive muscle. “The energy of the room—all that power and money—I feel like ANDAM is a very business-minded prize,” he said, joking that, at one point, fellow guest jury member Pat Cleveland started humming the ABBA song, “Money, Money, Money.” “Today was a good balance of commercial and design. I was looking for something that was of the moment but that has longevity—and something that I want to wear, that people would want to wear.”
ANDAM, which stands for Association nationale pour la dévelopment des arts de la mode, also receives public support. As champagne flowed and guests gathered in the terraces of the Palais Royal, Rima Abdul Malak, the Minister of Culture, offered opening remarks, musing that the event was taking place right below her office. She, too, applauded the “sense of responsibility,” and how this once again confirms that Paris fashion remains at the forefront of innovation and creativity. “This generation of creators are completely aware of what’s going on in the world and want to contribute to a better future for all,” she told Vogue. “It’s real and it’s beautiful.”
The oppressive heat that persisted through much of the men’s fashion shows a week earlier had eased and the turnout was impressive. Even beyond this year’s finalists, the ratio of designers (many of them previous finalists or winners) to everyone else seemed exceptionally high. Spotted among the crowd were Iris Van Herpen, Lutz Huelle, Bluemarble’s Anthony Alvarez, Glenn Martens, Pigalle’s Stephane Ashpool, Charles de Vilmorin, Victor Weinsanto, Kevin Germanier, Pierre-François Valette, Mossi Traoré, Laurie Arbellot of Minuit, and Christine Phung.
Having won the 2022 Grand Prize for their brand Botter, Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrough noted a certain bigger-picture sensibility to ANDAM. “It’s very modern and really exceptional that a prize evolves like this—and it should be like this,” Botter said. What thoughts did they have for this year’s winners? “It’s going to be a super year. You’re going to have support and the money you need,” said Herrebrugh, with Botter adding, “Stick to your ideas and push them further.”
When Baginsky’s name was announced, the crowd erupted in cheers. To one side of the stage, hats bobbed as his team and family, who were able to travel from Ukraine, jumped with joy. “It’s amazing. It’s a big deal for me and for my country. My life is super bipolarity; I’m in the Ukraine and then I’m here; it’s really cool,” said the designer. For the past month, his custom hats for Beyoncé and her dancers have been worn on nearly every stop of her Renaissance tour. So what’s next? In addition to allocating funds to his production in Lviv, he envisions rolling out more accessories: sunglasses, jewelry, and even a fragrance.
As part of his prize, he will also receive a year of mentorship from Guillaume de Seynes, general director of Hermès. “We need to know about the French way of working,” said his partner and co-founder, Petro Yasinsky. “Because in Ukraine, we don’t have a fashion industry. We are building this industry.” De Seynes, separately, said, “We are lucky to be in a business where creativity still means a lot and a newcomer can transform things… The idea is to help them understand what they need—from suppliers to distribution—and then to help them understand where they are strong and to help them exploit these strengths.”
For their part, Ester Manas and Balthazar Delepierre said they now feel more motivated than ever to provide an expanded offer, telling the jury they saw a big opportunity to expand into lingerie and bringing prototypes to show how ready they were to begin production. “The last fashion week was not super inclusive and it’s a shame this is not happening as fast as we would like,” said Manas, cradling her award. “We’re really pleased that today they agreed, like, ‘Yes, do something!’ It’s a good sign.”
As for Nouchi, when asked how he intends to spend his sizable winnings, the designer shared his idea for a suit rental system and the possibility of womenswear. He said that the prize carried considerable meaning for his team. “The reason I’m waking up every morning is for my people and everything that we have built,” he said, before shifting gears. “I truly believe you can match a capitalist system and CSR [Corporate Responsibility Values]. And I think it’s truly up to our generation to prove that this is viable. If we are able to do that, others will follow. I like to say it’s a revolution; but rather than screaming, you have to make your community not exclusive. Everyone is included. I’m doing my job well if what I do fits everyone.”
