This Year’s LVMH Prize Winner Embodies Delightfully Off-Kilter Style

2 min read

The fashion world has a new name to remember: Julie Kegels. On Friday, the Antwerp-based designer won the 2026 LVMH Prize for Young Designers, cementing her place among the industry’s most promising talents.

Kegels, who launched her eponymous label in 2024, accepted the award at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris from Jennifer Lawrence. The prize’s nine finalists presented their collections to a jury that included Jonathan Anderson, Phoebe Philo, Nicolas Ghesquière, Maria Grazia Chiuri, Pharrell Williams, and LVMH Prize founder and Dior CEO Delphine Arnault.

A look from Julie Kegels fall/winter 2026.

Along with a €400,000 endowment, the prize brings a year of mentorship from LVMH experts. Kegels, surely, is in good company. Previous winners include Grace Wales Bonner, Marine Serre, and Ellen Hodakova Larsson.

At the heart of Kegels’s work is the idea that no woman is only one thing. Her collections are populated by imagined characters with competing impulses and unexpected habits, which she translates into clothes that are practical yet surreal, like a tweed knit top paired with an aloha-print miniskirt or a tailored suit with shorts hiding in the back.

A look from Julie Kegels fall/winter 2025.

Zane Lii, the Chinese-born designer behind the cult New York brand Lii, walked away with the runner-up Karl Lagerfeld Prize. Anil Padia of Yoshita 1967 took home the Savoir-Faire Prize. Both Lii and Padia received a €200,000 endowment and a one-year mentorship.

The 2026 LVMH Prize was one of the most internationally diverse editions yet, with designers from across the globe vying for the top honor. Finalists included Colleen Allen, Institution by Galib Gassanoff, De Pino by Gabriel Figueiredo, Petra Fagerström, Ponte by Harry Pontefract, and The Vxlley by Daniel del Valle Fernandez.