Since 2014, luxury juggernaut LVMH has organised its annual Prize to highlight and support the work of designers emerging on the international scene. Hot on the heels of Marine Serre last year, Grace Wales Bonner in 2016 and Marques’ Almeida in 2015, the labels Doublet and Rokh were recompensed this year by a jury made up of artistic directors at LVMH houses including Jonathan Anderson (Loewe), Karl Lagerfeld (Fendi), Maria Grazia Chiuri (Dior) and Clare Waight Keller (Givenchy). For this 5th event, Emma Stone awarded the jury’s Grand Prize to Japanese designer Masayuki Ino, founder of the label Doublet, while Jaden Smith awarded the Special Prize to the London-based label Rokh of Korean designer Rok Hwang. “We were impressed by the contemporary ingenuity of the creations by Masayuki Ino for Doublet, an urban vision marked by elegant and fun sportswear. We also rewarded Rok Hwang for Rokh with a Special Prize. We were seduced by his silhouettes that are feminine, sensual and conquering, and by his mastery of complex cuts”, enthused Delphine Arnault. In addition to a year of mentoring, the two labels will receive 300,000 euros and 150,000 euros respectively.
Doublet by Masayuki Ino
Grand Prize: Doublet
Established in 2012, the Doublet label is the result of a collaboration between 39-year old Japanese designer Masayuki Ino and the internationally renowned artist Takashi Murakami. A graduate of Tokyo Mode Academy, Masayuki Ino has developed a unisex label that blends oriental and western aesthetics in colourful and deconstructed creations. The designer, who defines his style in three words, “humour, strangeness and comfort”, reinvents sportswear classics with oversize cuts and the appliqueing of multiple patches featuring symbols from popular culture. Influenced by Jeremy Scott, skate and BMX culture, Masayuki Ino imbues his 1990s-accented creations with punky references. A model with neon pink spiky hair sporting his creations on the label’s Instagram account says it all. Already a winner at the Tokyo Fashion Awards in 2017, Masayuki Ino was selected as one of 9 finalists for the LVMH Prize for his sense of innovation and his conceptual approach to packaging. While his t-shirts compressed into a noodle box have to be rehydrated to unfold them, his shirts are pleated and laminated and have to be torn to be worn.
Explanatory video developed by Doublet on how his laminated shirts work
Rokh by Rok Hwang
Special Prize: Rokh
Launched in London in 2016 by the Korean Rok Hwang, the Rokh label is distinguished by its radical yet sophisticated feminine silhouettes that focus on a palette of neutral tones. Born in South Korea, Rok Hwang grew up in Austin, Texas, before moving to London to study men’s then women’s ready-to-wear at the celebrated Central Saint Martins. Trained by the iconic Louis Wilson – whose expertise guided Alexander McQueen, Jonathan Saunders and Christopher Kane among others – Rok Hwang has been a regular on the LVMH teams cutting his teeth at Chloé, Louis Vuitton and alongside Phoebe Philo at Céline. With an astounding mastery of cut, the designer reinterprets the classics, deconstructing trench coats and duffle coats, and endowing jacket sleeves and trousers with multiple buttons to create incredibly seductive adaptable pieces.
