“Fashion and cinema have always reflected the major challenges of our society, or even preceded them”

March 5, 2025. The day after the Dior ready-to-wear autumn-winter parade in the garden of Tuileries, in Paris, the headquarters of the LVMH group is in full swing. Twenty young fashion designers have invested on 22 avenue Montaigne to present their work as part of the LVMH prize which, since 2013, distinguishes emerging talents. They were 2,000 candidates to apply, aged 18 to 40, according to the regulations. Twenty were selected for the semi-final of the day. They come from fifteen different countries (France, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, United States, etc.), some have studied fashion, others mathematics. But all of them have already designed at least two collections of female, male or unisex ready-to-wear, reflecting the air of time and the challenges of their time.

On September 3, a prestigious jury made up of LVMH artistic directors (Nicolas Ghesquière, Pharrell Williams, Maria Grazia Chiuri, Sarah Burton, JW Anderson…) will attribute three awards to the eight finalists. Each year, € 400,000 are allocated to the winner of the LVMH Prize, € 200,000 to the winner of the Karl Lagerfeld Prize (the special jury price) and € 200,000 to that of the price of know-how, created in 2024 to celebrate artisanal excellence, innovation in terms of creation and production, and a more sustainable fashion. All these endowments are accompanied by invaluable mentoring. Three young graduates of fashion schools are also supported as part of this initiative imagined in 2013 by Delphine Arnault, the CEO of Christian Dior Couture.

After Jennifer Lawrence, Ambassador of the LVMH Prize in 2024, it is the turn of another actress-production to play this role for this twelfth edition: Lily James, greeted for her roles in Downton Abbey, Pam et Tommy, Baby Driver or Cinderella. “This invitation gave me the opportunity to attend my first Dior parade. I wanted to try all the looks created by Maria Grazia Chiuri, this designer who constantly repels the borders of femininity. I was also upset by the scenography imagined by Robert Wilson. Cinegenic, theatrical. As for the collection, everything seems to be reinvented in a contemporary momentum. I found this same audacity among the creators of the LVMH Prize, which associate eras, materials, techniques … “galvanized by the energy of young talents on this semi-final day, the British star takes advantage of her Parisian getaway to start a dialogue with Delphine Arnault around the price, transmission and power of creation.

Madame Figaro. -Delphine Arnault, why did Lily James imposed himself as an ambassador of the LVMH Prize?
Delphine Arnault. – She is a very talented actress, in very different cinema territories. It is the twelfth edition of the LVMH Prize, and it was also essential to be accompanied by a fashion enthusiast who could understand the approach of our candidates.

Lily James. – I was very moved to see these young designers telling themselves through their creations. For example, I think of Cynthia Merhej, from a line of creators: her great-grandmother was a seamstress in Jaffa, her mother made clothes for Beirut women. In 2016, she launched her Renaissance brand Renaissance and entrusted her Lebanese workshop to her mother. His journey proves it: the garment touches all the more when it has an emotion. I am so honored to have been chosen to support the LVMH Prize, which offers all these stories an essential window.

D. A. – It is also a chance for them to meet you. Thanks to the price, young creators are approaching an essential ecosystem to help them develop: photographers, makeup artists, models, editors, department store buyers … whether they go to the final or not, the twenty semi-finalists emerge nourished and grand.

As a producer, I want to wear stories of resilient women

Lily James

What does a young creator take to become one of the voices of tomorrow?
D. A. – Courage, to start. These young creators already have enough talent to work in prestigious houses, but take a leap into the void by creating their brand. They often work alone, or almost, and, beyond the artistic aspect, must master the administrative, production, press … This requires audacity, versatility, resilience. An entrepreneurial spirit.

What is the impact of the price in their journey?
D. A. – Once we have identified young talents, we help them grow. In the past ten years, creators identified during the prize have been devoted: Simon Porte Jacquemus, Virgil Abloh, Demna, Marine Serre, who had won in 2017 … that their talent is recognized gives all its meaning to the work of location, valorization and accompaniment that we make with this price.

Lj – This visionary approach, I share it as a producer. With my society, I want to wear female voices, stories of resilient women. I recently produced a film on Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder of the Bumble dating app, and a remake of Cliffhangerthe action film. It is no longer Stallone but I who climb the mountains to save my family!

The Prize for Know-how rewards craftsmen. Why is it important to value tradition?
D. A. -Human know-how is the past, the present and the future of fashion. The cornerstone of creation. Recently, I went to our Dior Haute Couture Avenue Montaigne workshop, and there was a woman among the couturiers who worked for forty-three years at Dior for forty-three years. Faced with her, a young woman in training listened, observed and learned from this elder in Olympian calm and incomparable know-how. This transmission is essential to our businesses, our industries. While innovating, the young generation draws from a heritage, an artisanal heritage which enriches our ready-to-wear, jewelry or leather goods collections.

Lily James, do you consider your job as a craft?
Lj – Absolutely. I learned this job in the theater, where the transmission of techniques, passion, but also roles that are played generation after generation, is essential. On stage, we teach you to master your body and your voice, as we teach the seamstresses to manipulate the thread and the needle. It is also a craft in the sense that learning is limitless. We grow up every day, thanks to each character, each collaboration.

Today, artistic approaches are more inclusive than yesterday

Delphine Arnault

What would be the definition of elegance for both?
Lj – The association of simplicity and grace, timeless beauty. Everything that my French grandmother embodied.

D. A. – I think of Doris Brynner, who was the wife of Yul Brynner, who was at the head of Dior Maison and left us recently. Besides her beauty, she had a lot of mind: that’s also elegance.

Mentoring is essential to emerging careers. What were your guides?
D. A. – My father, who gave me his confidence when I was still very young. He advised me, was one of my models, like Sidney Toledano, the former president and chief executive officer of Dior, who gave me a taste for know-how, or Michael Burke, with whom I worked for ten years at Vuitton, of which he was the Director General. The designers with whom I collaborate are also large sources of inspiration, starting with Nicolas Ghesquière and Maria Grazia Chiuri.

Lj – I had the privilege of working with Maggie Smith for Downton Abbey, One of my first shoots. A brilliant, hilarious, but also very generous woman. I also learned a lot by looking at Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Thompson or Cate Blanchett to work, behave with the teams, collaborate with the filmmakers. The best masterclass that has been and who helped me play roles as different as Natasha in War and peace or Elizabeth in Pride and prejudices and zombies.

D. A. -Is it sometimes difficult to get out of your characters?

Lj – It is a balancingist game: there are certain things that we want to keep from our characters, and others that must be left to the door so as not to lose your own identity. We spend so much time pretending to be someone else …

Through his creations, Dior values ​​female empowerment. Is it easier for women to make their voices heard today?
Lj – There has been undeniable progress in my job in any case: speech has been released, the brakes are better identified, the representation of women behind the camera and on the screens has amplified.

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D. A. – There is still a long way to go, but one of the historical virtues of fashion is to offer an emancipation space to women. Maria Grazia’s work goes in this sense, in her creations which explore a fulfilled femininity, but also in the choice of her collaborations with great photographers, scenographers … Throughout his career, Christian Dior also worked to enhance women, and always in joy.

Are the cinema and fashion for the mission to grasp the developments in society?
D. A. – The twelve years that have passed since the creation of the LVMH Prize are proof of this. Each time, its current. Today, artistic approaches are more inclusive than yesterday, the boundaries between sewing and sportswear are blurring in the heirs of Virgil Abloh … Eco -responsibility has also gained ground, with young creators who, aware of the stakes for the planet, use recyclable or recycled materials …

Lj – Fashion and cinema have always reflected the major challenges of our society, or even preceded them. As artists or entrepreneurs, we are responsible for accounting for the realities in which we live. It is our duty to create inspiring models and to represent the diversity of the world, as these incredible young creators of the LVMH Prize do.