Andam celebrates its 35th edition with Saint Laurent’s creative director Anthony Vaccarello

Andam is launching its call for entries for 2024. For its 35th anniversary, the fashion competition for young designers has chosen Anthony Vaccarello, Saint Laurent’s creative director, to head the jury. He will also mentor the winners for a year. As last year, the competition is offering 700,000 euros in prize money. 

Choosing Anthony Vaccarello is a tribute to Pierre Bergé, who, with the Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent, helped to create the prize in 1989, and was its president until 2017, when the designer’s CEO Francesca Bellettini sponsored the competition. What’s more, the Belgian designer, who won the Andam prize in 2011, is the first designer to take on this role, usually reserved for the leaders of the houses that sponsor the competition.

“Andam has a special significance for Saint Laurent and myself as it has been chaired by Monsieur Pierre Bergé since its inception and for nearly 30 years, and I am fortunate to be one of Andam’s prizewinners. For these reasons, I am sincerely honoured to be joining the event as president of the jury for this special anniversary edition,” Anthony Vaccarello commented in a press release.

Vaccarello succeeds Riccardo Bellini, the former CEO of Chloé, who last year awarded Louis Gabriel Nouchi the 34th Andam Prize, while Ester Manas and Duran Lantink received the Special Prize, Avellano won the Pierre Bergé Prize (formerly the Creative Label Prize) and Ukrainian designer Ruslan Baginskiy the Fashion Accessories Prize.

To mark the 35th anniversary of Andam (the national association for the development of the fashion arts), a competition founded by Nathalie Dufour, a series of initiatives will take place throughout 2024, including collaborations, pop-ups and special projects.

The jury will be announced in February by Anthony Vaccarello. Candidates can apply online at andam.fr until 31 March 2024. The shortlisted finalists will be announced at the end of May, while the jury will meet on Thursday, June 27 to announce its decision. The jury will award five prizes: the Andam Grand Prize (300,000 euros), the Special Grand Prize (100,000 euros), the Pierre Bergé Prize (100,000 euros), the Fashion Accessories Prize (100,000 euros) and the Innovation Prize (100,000 euros).