The Dutch women’s fashion brand Zomer has been selected as one of the finalists for the prestigious LVMH Prize 2025. The final will take place on 3 September in the Louis Vuitton Fondation in Paris, where all nominees show their collections to an international professional jury. The LVMH Prize focuses on designers below forty with at least two collections presented. The prize acts as a springboard to international recognition. Earlier winners include Simon Porte Jacquemus, Thebe Magugu and Nensi Dojaka.
- The Dutch fashion brand Zomer is a finalist for the prestigious LVMH Prize 2025.
- Summer is known for its playful and sculptural designs with striking use of color and removable details.
- The newest collection of summer, ‘out of the box’, plays with shape and function, whereby garments are worn in unexpected ways.
Three prizes are awarded during the final round: the LVMH Prize, the Karl Lagerfeld Prize and the newly introduced Savoir-Faire Prize, which rewards craftsmanship, technical innovation and sustainability. Other nominees this year include Tolu Coker, Torishéju and Steve O Smith. The rise of the young label within the international fashion sector confirms the fact that the Zomer Zomer can now support themselves.
The international allure of summer
Summer will be founded in 2023 by designer Danial Aitouganov and stylist Imruh Asha. The two have been friends for a long time, according to an article from L’AMBECILIEL. The two met when they were early 20, as students in Amsterdam. Aitouganov asked Asha to take care of the styling of his graduation collection. That collaboration led to a close friendship and a creative click. Yet they built their careers separately.
Asha, of Dutch-Caribbean descent, starts his career in an Amsterdam concept store and later moves to Paris. There he grows into a stylist and creative consultant. In 2021 he will be appointed Fashion Editor at Dazed, where he promotes a Fashion Director a year later.
Aitouganov, born in the Eastern European Tatarstan and raised in Amsterdam, graduates from the AMFI and then works with large fashion houses such as Alexander Wang, Chloé, Burberry and Louis Vuitton. In 2016 he will win the Award Lichting with his feminist final exam collection The Second Sex – Vol. Ii. That same year he is nominated for the Hyères price. During Hyères he again collaborated with Asha – a collaboration that ultimately leads to the establishment of summer, according to L’Alegeliel.
During Paris Fashion Week, Zomer immediately draws attention in itself with a striking debut collection. Exuberant colors, removable details and sculptural shapes – sometimes even made of wood – dominate the runway. One of the first silhouettes is a dress with removable panels, a direct translation of brand identity: “A kaleidoscope of color and texture, balancing between playfulness and refinement.”
After PFW, the collection is picked up by Dover Street Market, where summer has been hanging in the shelves since then. A spokesperson for the brand told FashionUnited.
Summer FW25: ‘Out of the box’
The newest, autumn/winter 2025, collection of summer entitled ‘out of the box’ plays with shape and function. Models wear items of clothing inside out, backwards or in unexpected ways. “Playing is creating, transforming the trusted into something new,” is the show notes. The collection contains a collaboration with Kissecialist Cecile Feilchenfeldt. The models wear shoes from Marko Baković.
With this collection, Summer again proves that playfulness and refinement do not see opposites, but as a teamwork.
