26-year old Thebe Magugu was announced the winner of the highly sought-after 2019 edition of the LVMH Prize for Young Designers today. In addition to winning, the South African designer now holds the title of the first-ever African-born recipient of the prestigious award.

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★ Thebe Magugu LVMH Prize winner ★ We are so happy for our #lvmhprize2019 winner @thebemagugu Congratulations! . Follow us for updates during the #lvmhprize2019 final event @FondationLV . #lvmhprize2019 #lvmhprize #flv

A post shared by LVMHPrize (@lvmhprize) on Sep 4, 2019 at 6:43am PDT

With a pool of around 1,700 applicants hailing from over 100 different countries, participants enter their work for an opportunity to walk home with the grand prize of €300,000 euros plus a year of mentorship from experts at the house-name brands under the LVMH Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy luxury conglomerate. Actress Alicia Vikander announced the winner at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, France this morning in the presence of the deciding board members Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri, Louis Vuitton’s Nicolas Ghesquière, Clare Waight Keller of Givenchy, Loewe artistic director Jonathan Anderson and Berluti’s Kris Van Assche.

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The Faux-Ostrich Coat from our ‘Gender Studies’ collection is still on exhibition in New York City at the @museumatfit and in Cape Town at the @zeitzmocaa. “The History of Pink” curated by Valerie Steele and “21 Years of SA Fashion” curated by Erica De Greef will run into the new year – both not to be missed. #historyofpink #zeitzmocaa #fitmuseum

A post shared by Thebe Magugu (@thebemagugu) on Dec 16, 2018 at 11:40pm PST

Originally from the small town of Kimberley, Magugu moved to the capital city Johannesburg to study fashion design, fashion photography and fashion media at LISOF. Since graduating, the designer focuses in the field of women’s ready-to-wear with a contemporary twist. Magugu devotes his clothes entirely to the women wearing them juxtaposing novelty and culture in sleek ways of presenting the modern everyday woman. Magugu will join a long line of talented prior recipients exercising their innovations in fashion as the future keyholders of the industry.