Breaking: These Are the 2016 LVMH Prize Finalists—And What You Need to Know About Them Now

And then, there were eight . . . Just three years old and the LVMH Prize has fast become one of fashion’s most prestigious competitions. This morning brings the breaking news of 2016’s finalists, whittled down from a shortlist of 23 talents in the running for a grant of 300,000 euros and a year’s worth of mentoring and support from some of the business’s most boldface names. Per Delphine Arnault, executive vice president of Louis Vuitton and an architect behind the competition, the third edition of the prize promises to be its most dynamic to date. “You see that more and more young designers are doing womenswear and menswear,” she tells Vogue.com. “Three years ago, when we launched the prize, Hood By Air was almost the only one to do [it]. It wasn’t as much of a reality. Now when you see the list of the eight finalists, a lot of them are doing both.” The list is eclectic both geographically and aesthetically—something owed in part to the egalitarian nature of the prize. “It’s a digital prize,” Arnault offers. “You can apply only through the Internet, and it’s open to any nationality. What we’ve seen, especially in this edition, is that there were a lot of nationalities. It’s the first time that we have a Japanese [designer] in the finalists, and we also have a lot of designers who are based in Paris. We think this is one of the strong points of the prize: Anyone in the world who has a computer can send their file and have a chance to be selected.”

Here, your guide to 2016’s finalists.