Meet the 12 finalists for the LVMH fashion prize

The final shortlist for the inaugural LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers is out today, and it reads like a Who's Who of design talent.

Here are the 12 designers have made it to the final round of the fashion Hunger Games: Simone Rocha, Shayne Oliver's Hood by Air, Thomas Tait, Suno by Max Osterweis and Erin Beatty, Jacquemus by Simon Porte Jacquemus, Atto by Julien Dossena, CG by Chris Gelinas, Gabriele Colangelo, Miuniku by Nikita and Tina Sutradhar, Tillmann Lauterbach, Tim Coppens, and Vika Gazinskaya. 

You can see the looks the designers submitted here:

A panel of 42 experts, including Dazed co-founder Jefferson Hack and Style.com editor Tim Blanks, selected the 12 finalists. LVMH received 1,200 applications for the prize, which includes a 30,000 euro grant (that's around £25,000) and a year of 'personalised assistance' from a special LVMH team to help develop the designer's company.

The original plan was to shortlist only ten designers under 40 years of age, but Style.com reports that the standard of entrants was so high that the panel had to let in two more young designers than they had originally intended. 

On 28 May, the shortlist will travel to Paris to meet the jury that includes Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs and Raf Simons. The prestigious jury will then elect the winner.

"The LVMH Prize finalists reflect the vitality and diversity of young fashion today," said Delphine Arnault, the executive vice president of Louis Vuitton. "The singularity as well as the high level of quality of their collections particularly impressed the experts. I wish them the best of luck for the last step that awaits them which will be highly emotional."

May the odds be ever in your favour, designers. Who's your fave to win?