Semi-finalists include top talent

Irish fashion designer Simone Rocha Paris - Arab Today The Paris-based luxury group has announced the 30 semi-finalists for its debut young designer prize, and there are some interesting names in the mix. All aged under 40, with at least two collections under their belt, the final 30 designers in competition for the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers were announced Thursday. Young London talents including Christopher Shannon, Simone Rocha (who has recently been announced at the next designer to create a capsule collection for J Brand), and Meadham Kirchhoff, hot off a recent collaboration with Topshop, all made the cut. New York City-based labels Creatures of the Wind and Suno are another pair of exciting names on the list, which was cut down from over a thousand applicants.   "I am extremely impressed by the quantity of applicants and by the quality of their work," said LVMH's Delphine Arnault. "The internet submission has allowed designers from all over the world to apply and as we had hoped, this selection process allowed us to discover new talents, some of them relatively unknown." The 30 designers will have to travel to Paris to face 40 experts (including Tim Blanks, Mariacarla Boscono, and Vogue China editor Angelica Cheung) on February 26 and 27. They will then be whittled down to a final ten who will be judged at the end of May by a panel of LVMH's top creative directors including Marc Jacobs, Karl Lagerfeld and Phoebe Philo. It's a daunting task, but we can't wait to see who emerges as champion. Here's the full shortlist of the 30 Designers Anna October (Anna October, Ukrainian, based in Kiev) Atto (Julien Dossena, French, based in Paris) CG (Chris Gelinas, Canadian, based in New York) Christopher Shannon (Christopher Shannon, British, based in London) Craig Green (Craig Green, American, based in London) Creatures of the Wind (Shane Gabier and Chris Peters, American, based in New York) Gabriele Colangelo (Gabriele Colangelo, Italian, based in Milan) Hellen van Rees (Hellen van Rees, Dutch, based in Hengelo) Honest by (Bruno Pieters, Belgian, based in Antwerp) Hood By Air (Shayne Olivier, American, based in New York) J JS Lee (Jackie Lee, Korean, based in London) Jacquemus (Simon Porte Jacquemus, French, based in Paris) Kye (Kathleen Kye, American, based in Seoul) Lena Lumelsky (Helena Lumelsky, Israeli, based in Antwerp) Maki Oh (Amaka Osakwe, Nigerian, based in Lagos) Marques' Almeida (Marta Marques and Paolo Almeida, Portuguese, based in London) Meadham Kirchhoff (Edward Meadham, British, and Benjamin Kirchhoff, French, based in London) Minju Kim (Kim Minju, Korean, based in Antwerp) Miuniku (Tina & Nikita Sutradhar, Indian, based in Mumbaï) Orange Culture (Adebayo Okelawal, Nigerian, based in Lagos) Ostwald Helgason (Suzanne Ostwald, German, and Ingvar Helgason, Icelandic, based in London) Paskal (Julia Paskal, Ukrainian, based in Odessa) Simone Rocha (Simone Rocha, Irish, based in London) Stella Jean (Stella Maria Jean Novarino, Italian and Haitian, based in Milan) Suno (Erin Beatty and Max Osterweis, American, based in New York) Thomas Tait (Thomas Tait, Canadian, based in London) Tillmann Lauterbach (Tillmann Lauterbach, German, based in Paris) Tim Coppens (Tim Coppens, American, based in New York) Vika Gazinskaya (Vika Gazinskaya, Russian, based in Moscow) Yang Li (Yang Li, born in China, raised in Australia, based in London and Paris) Source: Relaxnews