“It’s the Only One That Brings All the Fashion Actors Together”—Nathalie Dufour Reflects on 35 Years of the Andam Prize

What makes the ANDAM prize special, beyond the prize money?

It’s the only one that brings all the fashion actors together. Everyone’s invested in the outcome. ANDAM’s philosophy is really about France: formalizing a structure, collaborating with French savoir-faire, shining a light on things that are made in France, which is different from other prizes. All the industry players are involved. ANDAM makes it possible for brands to do more than just show in Paris; it creates connections across the industry, with French savoir-faire, and carries the stamp of luxury, so it elevates the proposition for everyone. For a designer it’s about moving beyond the show calendar and upgrading what they want to make. There’s an energy that rises above a group mentality; it’s a guarantee for the exceptionality of French fashion. People who buy luxury want to see newness, agility, something that’s beyond marketing.

Throwback: in what context did ANDAM take shape?

In France, 35 years ago, the big luxury groups didn’t yet exist, and the business and institutional milieu—the ministries of industry and culture—weren’t looking at young designers. A whole fashion ecosystem was taking shape, but it wasn’t really about emerging talents. The DEFI (the French governmental committee for developing and promoting French fashion) was already there, and Pierre Bergé was its president.

So there I was, an art history grad working for the plastic arts delegation at the ministry of culture, and right away I saw the support that was given to artistic creation in photography and plastic arts, for talents like Martin Szekely or Philippe Starck, and it struck me that fashion, in its contemporary dimension, had no access to the same tools. So early on I wanted to focus on that. I had a lot of detractors, but my ambition was to say this is a cultural industry, so let’s put these young designers on the same level as creatives in other domains.

Where did fashion sit in the cultural landscape?

Symbolically, there was the inauguration of the MAD (Musée des Arts Décoratifs), with the then-minister of culture Jack Lang, and Alaïa, Mugler, Montana—that whole generation turned out. At the time, fashion was considered superfluous, a little frivolous, designers wanted to shine for their creativity, there wasn’t the kind of business dimension it has today. They were more about the show; they weren’t armed to be managers. When I put together my project, the pitch was: let’s identify today the designers who are going to wind up in museums tomorrow and give them access to all the financial and promotional tools we had at the ministry of culture.