By Valentine Fabre
Credit: LVMH Prize
The Japanese-born designer was awarded fashion's most prestigious award for young designers across the world, against 2,400 other contestants. He will receive €400,000 as well as a year of coaching from experts at LVMH.
Currently based in Milan, Satoshi Kuwata, founder of Setchu, has developed a deep knowledge of craft, tailoring and a profound respect for different cultures. Thanks to gaining training in various countries (London, Paris, Tokyo, New York, and Milan), as well as his desire to uplift traditional crafts, Kuwata’s garments intersect between artisanal fabrication, modernist approaches and his Japanese identity creating the perfect blend of Eastern and Western influences.
After graduating from Central Saint Martins and starting his career in London at Huntsman in Saville Row, Satoshi Kuwata then went on to work with Givenchy, Edun, Kanye West, and Gareth Pugh. He then opened his unisex label, Setchu, in 2020. Inspired by his passion for fishing and its necessity for practical packing, “It’s impossible to take a big suitcase, and you also need to keep a space for fishing gear, but I don’t want to look like a fisherman wearing nylon garments,” he said during his demonstration. Kuwata has developed garments with intricate, yet functional details. Featuring origami-like construction and multipurpose garments, Setchu offers a selective range of adjustable clothing, such as a pullover that can be unbuttoned to become both a gilet and cardigan or a jacket that can be folded into a tiny square.
The jury, composed of today’s most impactful high-end designers like Maria Grazia Chiuri, Kim Jones, Nigo, Silvia Venturini Fendi, Stella McCartney, Marc Jacobs, Nicolas Ghesquière and Jonathan Anderson, seemed to have all come to a unanimous decision for this year award: “It’s magnificent. It’s light, it fits well,” she said. “Everything was perfect. It’s not only about the clothes, it’s more about — in my point of view — philosophy, what it means for him to have clothes, maintain your heritage but in a modern way, timeless, high quality, thinking about the environment,” explains Chiuri.
Thanks to this award, Kuwata is planning on hiring a team, as he had been running his brand solo, up until now, and will be working toward making Setchu a Heritage Brand.
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