ANDAM

It's a good time to be a young designer.

We talk with the 25-year-old competition's founder, Nathalie Dufour, about the process.

Seven designers have their eye on the $342,000 prize.

Thanks to a grand endorsement from Carine Roifeld, Hakaan Yildirim was already a name to know when he received France's prestigious ANDAM award in 2010. “We’re in Harvey Nichols, Colette, Opening Ceremony–it’s nearly 26 stockists internationally!” he told Fashionista at the awards ceremony in Paris last October. Now it's time for another up-and-comer to take advantage of the prize, i.e. €220,000, a mentorship with former Chloe chief exec Ralph Toledano, and the chance to show at Paris Fashion Week. This year's nominees include Jeremy Laing, Adam Kimmel, Anthony Vaccarello, Commuun, Matthew Harding, and Yiqing Yin. The judges? Pierre Berge, Hillary Alexander, Emmanuelle Alt, Nicole Phelps, Sarah Lerfel from Colette, and Humberto Leon from Opening Ceremony, to name a few.

Bryanboy's just tweeted congratulations to this year's ANDAM nominees. They're not even listed on the foundation's site yet, but they sound more than

"French women dress like armchairs," says Pierre Bergé, "Since people do what they want, there's no need for new fashion dictators like we had before.

It feels like the best way for a designer to survive these days is to have a hand in everything. While Chris Kane's styling lookbooks for hair product

Giles Deacon up and left London Fashion Week last season while everyone else was heading in the opposite direction. Thanks to his ANDAM award, he had

We'd gotten so used to waking up every morning to the news that yet another designer would be returning home to London for Spring 09 that we don't kno