Announced this morning, we now know who the finalists are for his year’s LVMH prize – and it includes our favourites, young London designer Molly Goddard, and Ambush, the jewellery label designed by the Tokyo-based rapper Verbal and his wife Yoon. 

Following showrooms in Paris last month featuring other shortlisted talents (and more of our favourites) Dilara Findikoglu, Charles Jeffrey, Martine Rose and Richard Malone – the judges (including big names like Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs and J.W.Anderson) had the unenviable task of shortening this list further. 

Having taken London, and subsequently the world by ruffled tulle storm (just check your fashion week Instagram feeds for proof), it’s little wonder that the young Brit designer Goddard is one step closer to following in the footsteps of fellow CSM graduate and 2016 LVMH prize winner, Grace Wales Bonner. Her concoctions have appeared on everyone from Susie Lau to Rihanna, who wore one of her designs to protest Trump’s election. 

Similarly, Ambush has an impressive CV of fans and collaborations including Kim Jones for Louis Vuitton, Sacai and Jun Takashi’s Undercover – as well as King and Queen of K-Pop G-Dragon (who collaborated with them for his own label PEACEMINUSONE, shot for our Winter 2016 issue by Noboyushi Araki) and CL. Joined by Syrian-born London designer Nabil El-Nayal, French label Atlein, French-Belgian Marine Serre, Copenhagen’s Cecilie Bahnsen, Russian New York-based label Jahnkoy and the Russian-Japanese duo behind Kozaburo, the eight that have made the list this year are a celebration of design talent all over the world. 

This list will now compete for the €300,000 prize money and year’s mentorship that comes with the title, judged on June 16. Watch this space until then.