The jury is still out if winning the LVMH prize is a curse or the best way to enter the industry. Thomas Tait who won the first edition in 2014 is no longer in business and it’s been quiet lately for 2019 winner Thebe Magugu. But the award comes with serious price money and is a gateway to Paris. So, this year’s winner Ellen Hodakova Larsson used it to stage her first runway show on Place Vendôme and left an indelible impression. Clearly upcycled and recycled, using deadstock at its core, the clothes were reminiscent of the great deconstruction experts of our industry, namely Martin Margiela and Miguel Adrover. Hodakova did not manage to step out of those giant footsteps but her pleated trousers as skirts or several hundred zipper dresses were just so well done that they looked like they were coming out of the best factories in Italy. She is also filling a wide-open niche as most young brands are more concerned with developing signature items and logoed apparel for commercial success, while here every garment is a huge investment of time and work and hence a signature from the start. “I’m not here to start trends then disappear,” said the Stockholm-based designer backstage.