Marques’Almeida discuss winning the LVMH Prize

Marta Marques and Paolo Almeida, design duo behind Marques’Almeida, won the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers last week. The prize included 300,000 euros, a year’s mentorship from LVMH group, and a trophy presented to them by Natalie Portman.

Marques and Almeida opened up to New York Magazine’s The Cut about their future plans with the prize money. “The thing is that fashion is a very expensive business, so the lottery money goes quite quickly. We need to be quite wise with our investment,” stated Almeida. “First we’ll invest in building our team… It will also be about making sure our image and identity is well established via shows, etc… we’ve never actually done our own show in our own venue, so that will happen in September and we’re really excited about that,” Marques explained.

Almeida described their approach to design, “It’s more about a vibe and an attitude than actually focusing on detailing.” “…we start with a mood and the girl first and extract the fabrications and colours from there,” added Marques.

The jury members of the prize included Jonathan Anderson, Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs, Nicholas Ghesqière, Raf Simons, Phoebe Philo, Riccardo Tisci, Humberto Leon and Carol Lim. Following the candidates’ individual presentations, the jury cast their votes anonymously over lunch. Competing against Arthur Arbesser, Coperni Femme, Craig Green, Faustine Steinmetz, Jacquemus, Off-White c/o Virgil Obloh and Vetements, Marques’Almeida most impressed the jury with their combination of design talent and business prowess.

Delphine Arnault, jury member and executive vice-president of Louis Vuitton, stated, “There’s something quite unique about their style, and it’s young and colourful, with so many interesting fabrics. [But] they also have an excellent sell-through with their retailers. It’s ‘creative business.’”

“Their overall feedback was that what we are doing seems natural and authentic, and that was a huge compliment,” Marques commented, “I think that’s what we’re going to try and keep doing.”

 

Marques’Almeida’s A/W 2015 collection