The LVMH Prize is one of fashions most coveted awards for young designers. This year’s prize was set to go to one of eight talented young designers nominated: Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena of Chopova Lowena, Priya Ahluwalia of Ahluwalia, Charaf Tajer of Casablanca, Tomotoka Koizumi of Tomo Koizumi, Nicholas Daley, Peter Do, Sindiso Khumalo and Supriya Lele. The winner was set to be announced on June 5, 2020. Unfortunately, the rise of COVID-19 has squashed such plans, forcing LVMH to cancel this year's awards ceremony.

Fortunately, LVMH has instead chosen to split the 300,000 euro prize money between all finalists, and in addition, is setting up a fund to recognise the threat that coronavirus poses to the fashion community. LVMH’s intention with the fund is to help young designers and small fashion enterprises weather the storm. “Since its launch, the LVMH Prize has promoted and nurtured young talent,” Delphine Arnault, founder of the prize and Executive Vice President of Louis Vuitton said in a statement. “Each year, it places the spotlight on young designers from all over the world and supports the development of their companies. In this challenging context, this Fund in aid of young fashion designers highlights the main mission of the LVMH Prize by supporting our former winners.”

The exact amount of the fund has not yet been revealed, however, there is talk that the fund will be supplemented by the Karl Lagerfeld prize, which is worth at least 150,000 Euros. Small businesses have been feeling the effects of Coronavirus for a couple of months now, meaning store and factory closures, supply chains on lockdown and less spending worldwide from customers. While anything helps right now, this kind of initiative could be the one thing that gets small businesses and young designers over to the other side of the pandemic.