Gigi Hadid will sit on the LVMH Prize expert panel

Gigi Hadid is putting her fashion expertise to good use by becoming a member of the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers 2020 expert panel.

The supermodel will sit on a committee of 68 experts and act as an ambassador for the showroom when the semi-final of the seventh edition of the prize takes place in Paris on February 27-28. She is one of nine new names to be added to the expert panel, alongside the influencers Caroline Daur and Leaf Greener and the activist Sinéad Burke. Natalie Kingham, the fashion and buying director at Matchesfashion.com, and the co-founder and director of the luxury platform Moda Operandi, are also new additions to the panel, as is the art director Ronnie Cooke Newhouse, the ‘How to Spend It' editor Jo Ellison, and the fashion editor Ibrahim Kamara.

Delphine Arnaud called the newly appointed experts "witnesses and essential actors of fashion," in a statement, adding: "Their vision helps to discover the most promising talents. I would like to thank them warmly for their loyalty and commitment to our cause."

The prestigious annual prize, which aims to encourage emerging global talent through a combination of financial aid and business development opportunities, sees one young designer awarded a grant of €300,000 to grow their fashion business, in addition to benefitting from a year-long mentorship program. A Karl Lagerfeld Prize will also offer a €150,000 grant and one year of mentorship.

The prize has been awarded to some of the fashion industry's biggest new names: previous winners include Marine Serre, Grace Wales Bonner and Jacquemus. South African designer Thebe Magugu won the 2019 edition.