PARIS–The French love fashion like no other: from Karl Lagerfeld being made editor-in-chief of a national newspaper for a day, to John Galliano being awarded the prestigious medal of ‘Chevalier de la légion d’honneur’ by president Nicolas Sarkozy, couture is a matter of national pride.

So it’s no surprise that, every year, members of the French government, alongside CEOs of major companies and top editors-in-chief, get together to crown fashion’s next king.

The ANDAM Fashion awards (an acronym for National Award for the development of fashion) finger picks a young designer every year (previous winners have included Gareth Pugh in 2008, and Giles Deacon in 2009) and its jury is mind-boggling: Carine Roitfeld is president, assisted by Alber Elbaz, Jean-Pierre Simon of the French ministry of culture, but also Jefferson Hack, Sarah Lerfel from Colette, and top executives of LVMH, L’Oreal and members of the Pinault family…and the list goes on.

Yesterday, the fashion legion revealed this year’s choice, Turkish designer Hakaan Yildirim.

All the way back in 1998, the Istanbul Fine Arts University graduate was awarded the country’s Young Fashion Designers Contest, and founded his own label that same year.

The prize includes €220,000, which will allow him to present a collection in Paris
during fashion week next October and to open a French branch for his label with a studio in Paris. Enough for the other contestants–Mark Fast, Francesco Scognamiglio, Bouchra Jarrar, Calla Haynes and Alexandre Vauthier–to be green with envy.

Dedicated fashion followers can remember him from the last London Fashion Week, where his collection achieved the unachievable: Carine herself crossed the channel to go and attend the show. His designs–graphic architectural lines and a bold sexiness reminiscent of Tom Ford’s heyday–surely appeal to Roitfeld’s taste for chic provocation.

And the presence of Natalia Vodianova, Lara Stone and Mariacarla Boscono on the catwalk certainly helped; this echoes one of Marc Jacobs first show in the ’90s, where the world’s top models all agreed to walk for him, despite the then-youngness of the brand.

If Carine loves Hakaan as much as Anna loves Marc, he’s in good hands.