France: Esmod alumnus wins first edition TikTok Fashion Competition

The three winners of the first edition of the ‘TikTok Fashion Competition’ in France have been revealed. They managed to stand out from 6000 candidates.

Following a call for applications launched in October 2023 and 14 weeks of competition, the final of the in-app TikTok Fashion contest was held on March 7 at the Parisian department store La Samaritaine. Thirty-eight candidates took part in the finals.

Three prizes were awarded during the ceremony. The ‘Grand Prize' was awarded to Antoine Guérin, a fashion designer and former student of Esmod, who has over a million subscribers on the video platform. According to his LinkedIn profile, Guérin currently works at Dior.

The prize for ‘Best Executed Proposal' was awarded to Inès Demmouche. The young designer chose to denounce, through her pieces, the current extent of violence in the world.

First edition of TikTok Fashion Competition France announces winners

Finally, the prize for ‘Best Creative Proposal' was won by Robin Lordereau. A specialist in upcycling, he creates garments from used sheets. Robin graduated from international fashion institution Modart, based in Paris.

The jury responsible for evaluating the designs in every phase of the competition consisted of five members, including the CEO of fashion school Esmod, Jean-Charles Le Cerf Drenic.

The other jury members were: fashion designer Alice Vaillant, journalist Savéria Mendella, Romain Brabo, CEO of Nona Source, and French TikTok content creator Sarah Monteil.

By organising the in-app competition, TikTok aimed to reaffirm its position as an essential platform for fashion and couture. The social network has observed a growth in the #couture hashtag in France, with a 54 percent increase in views and a 46 percent increase in the number of published content between July 2022 and July 2023.

This article was originally published on FashionUnited.FR. Translation and edit from French into English by Veerle Versteeg.