To mark its 35th anniversary, Andam puts the spotlight on its former prize-winners

It’s a busy year ahead for the Prix de l’Andam in 2024. The fashion competition for young designers, founded and directed by Nathalie Dufour, is celebrating its 35th anniversary with a series of special events and content on social networks. This year, the prize is sponsored by Anthony Vaccarello, creative director of Saint Laurent, who will chair the jury, the composition of which he is about to announce.

In addition to the permanent jury of twenty-two members representing the competition’s main sponsors, Anthony Vaccarello has chosen a dozen other key figures. This is the first time that the chairmanship of the Andam jury has been entrusted to a designer, as this role is usually held by the CEO of one of the competition’s partner fashion houses. “Winner of the Andam prize in 2011, the designer had this nice gesture in this special year, especially as the prize is strongly linked to the house since Pierre Bergé with the Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent participated in the creation of this prize in 1989, of which he was the president until 2017,” recalls Nathalie Dufour.

“It’s like a tribute to the personality of Pierre Bergé. It’s a very exceptional gesture, which really goes with these 35 years,” she adds. The designer will also be designing the competition trophies himself, in collaboration with Swarovski, another of Andam’s patrons, whereas this task is usually entrusted to the previous year’s winners.

The programme of events to celebrate the anniversary includes an evening organised on March 1 at Maxim’s with Who’s Next, an Andam partner, and its Première Classe salon, which is also celebrating its 35th anniversary. In another initiative in June and July, Galeries-Lafayette, another partner, whose image and communications director Guillaume Houzé is the president of Andam, will be showcasing all the former prize-winners who are sold in the shop, from Alexandre Mattiussi from Ami to Marine Serre, through a tour of the store.
 
At the same time, the Association nationale pour le développement des arts de la mode (Andam) will be posting on its Instagram account and social networks throughout the year about its former prize-winners, on the theme of “What have they become?” with archive images and information about their news.

“We’ve contacted them all, from Martin Margiela to the latest winners, including those who are now retired. They have all remained in the creative field. José Lévy, who won the award in 1991, for example, designs furniture. Very often, we find them in number 1, 2 or 3 studios,” notes the competition’s general manager. 
 
In addition, at the end of September, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs will be shining a spotlight on the winners of the last two years through the emblematic silhouettes they have created for Andam, which they have donated or will donate to the Paris museum. “What’s interesting is to show that contemporary design immediately makes history,” says the general director.

Stéphane Ashpool will be taking part

Last but not least, Stéphane Ashpool, who designed the outfits for the French team at the Paris Olympics, will be part of the programme of festivities for Andam 2024, for which he won the grand prize in 2015. But Nathalie Dufour can’t tell us more at the moment…
  
Andam received some 350 applications this year. The organisers make an initial selection, keeping half of them. Of the remaining candidates, the jury will have to choose four finalists for the Grand Prix and the Special Prize, nearly three for the Pierre Bergé Prize, which concerns French and new brands and is sponsored in 2024 by Michael Kliger, CEO of Mytheresa, and three for the Accessories Prize, sponsored this year by Eva Chen, Vice President of Fashion Partnerships at Instagram. In addition, a panel of experts will select the finalists for the Innovation prize, which will be announced in May.
 
“The €700,000 endowment is shared between these four prizes. There are only a few prizes, but each one is heavily rewarded. There’s a real springboard effect and, behind the scenes, the winners benefit from cross-disciplinary support from each of our partners,” stresses Nathalie Dufour. The finalists in the fashion competition will be announced at the end of May, and the winners on June 27.
 
“Andam has created a unique ecosystem around young designers, with some of the industry’s key players taking an interest in the younger generation and supporting them, both financially and strategically, in terms of image, digital, management and so on,” says the founder. “The partner fashion houses support the Grand Prix winners, while the winners of the other prizes are supported by our other sponsors. There’s a sincere commitment on everyone’s part,” she says.
 
“At the end of the 1980s, I was working at the Ministry of Culture; Minister Jack Lang wanted projects on cultural and creative industries. He helped us get our foot in the door. There was this openness at the time. I’m not sure that would be possible today. I set up this association and thanks to Pierre Bergé’s support, it was able to really take off,” she concludes.