Israeli Fashion Designer Wins Karl Lagerfeld Prize at LVMH 2019 Competition

An Israeli fashion designer has won the Karl Lagerfeld Prize for young fashion designers at the LVMH Prize 2019 competition, created to honor and support young fashion designers around the world.

This is the first time an Israeli designer has won the prestigious award, a secondary prize at the competition that comes with a €150,000 ($164,500) monetary gift.

LVMH, or Louis Vuitton, is the French multinational luxury goods conglomerate headquartered in Paris.

Designer Hed Mayner, a graduate of Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, was chosen from 1,700 global designers in 100 different countries to receive the prize.

“I am so proud to be the first Israeli designer to ever enter this competition, let alone win this prize,” said Mayner in a statement. “I spend a lot of my time in Paris, but Israel is always part of who I am, there is a sense of freedom here that cannot be felt anywhere else in the world. I am thankful for all the help Bezalel Academy gave me in supporting my freedom of creative thinking and choices as a young fashion designer.”

Mayner’s designs incorporate the traditional tailoring techniques of clothing worn by ultra-Orthodox Jews as well as military outwear resembling the IDF uniform. His menswear collection was presented at Paris Fashion Week and his clothes are sold at boutiques and department stores around the world including Galeries Lafayette and Dover Street Market.

Mayner came in second place behind South African designer Thebe Magugu. Mayner’s prize was renamed the Karl Lagerfeld Prize earlier this year in memory of the late Karl Lagerfeld, head designer for Fendi, Chanel, and his own self-named brand and one of the most acclaimed fashion designers in the world.

The competition, in its sixth year, took place last month at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. Judges in the category included Maria Gracia Curio, creative director at Dior, designer Marc Jacobs, Nicola Gascier, creative director of Louis Vuitton, and Claire White Keller, artistic director at Givenchy.