Soshiotsuki Designer Soshi Otsuki Wins the 2025 LVMH Prize
Soshi Otsuki, the Japanese designer behind menswear label Soshiotsuki, has won the 2025 LVMH Prize. The announcement was made in Paris on September 3, after a jury comprising Jonathan Anderson, Sarah Burton, Nicolas Ghesquière, and other industry titans selected Ostuki for the award, which comes with a €400,000 cash prize and a year-long mentorship with LVMH.
Otsuki started his brand in 2015—and was actually shortlisted for the LVMH Prize in 2016—but in the past three-or-so seasons, his vision has solidified. Recently, the designer has shifted his focus, finding inspiration in Japan’s Bubble Era of the late ’80s, when the stock market inflated, eventually leading to an economic crash. Prior to that downfall, businessmen with newfound money to spend turned to Italy for their clothing, and draped, oversized suits rendered in luxurious fabrics became the uniform of the day. Otsuki has mastered this vintage-Armani adjacent style, and clearly, he’s on to something—in addition to the prize, Soshiotsuki has experienced an increase in profile and sales as of late, thanks in part to A$AP Rocky’s cosign. But as Otsuki explained to W via a translator on Zoom shortly after winning the top award, he wants to keep evolving—and plans to tackle more casual pieces next.
This year’s prize winners, Steve O Smith, Soshi Otsuki, and Torishéju Dumi.
“My work on tailored items and suits won’t change, of course, but now I realize that I need to expand my brand and vision,” he said. “I need to access more people.”
Otsuki wasn’t the only big winner of the day. British designer Steve O Smith, known for his unique construction techniques that turn the wearer into a walking fashion sketch, took home the Karl Lagerfeld Prize and the €200,000 that comes with it. Smith, who was still processing the win when he hopped on a Zoom call to discuss the events of the day, was extremely transparent about how the money will fix his brand’s “bottleneck in production.”
“We have more orders than we’re able to fulfill,” he explained. “We need the necessary machinery, we need more people sewing, and we just need to expand.”
Torishéju Dumi, too, took home €200,000 on Wednesday, when she rounded out the winners’ circle as the recipient of the second-annual Savoir-Faire Prize. Dumi’s eponymous brand, Torishéju, focuses on shape, form, and texture. She creates “timeless pieces that can fit effortlessly into your wardrobe,” before adjusting them ever so slightly to an uncanny effect. “You look at something and you know what it is, but you’re not quite sure because something is a bit odd,” she said. “It might be a certain detail or a certain pocket.”
Smith with his designs.
The Savoir-Faire Prize is especially meaningful to Dumi as it awards a brand specifically for its mastery of craftsmanship. “It’s truly extraordinary because I’ve always loved craft,” Dumi said not long after winning the prize. “To me, craft is rooted in history. I adore history. You need to understand your history, take it, and turn it into something modern that resonates today.”
But it’s likely difficult for the winners to focus on history at the moment, when the present is so exciting. “I feel like it’s an out-of-body experience,” Dumi says of the win. “I can’t capture it.” For now, the trio will spend some time processing the news, as well as celebrating it. Otsuki, specifically, has some big plans for the evening. “I’m going to drink.”
