Biography
Nathalie Dufour is the founder and managing director of fashion's prestigious Association Nationale pour le Développement des Arts de la Mode (ANDAM), an organisation dedicated to keeping the Parisian fashion scene vital and dynamic by identifying and subsidising the most promising designers in the fashion industry today.
Dufour's first interaction with fashion was making her own clothing at age 14. She later studied at a number of acclaimed Parisian schools including L'École des hautes études en sciences sociales and at the École du Louvre.
While interning at the French Ministry of Culture in Paris, Dufour found that a lot of ministry's resources were put into arts like photography, music and design, yet fashion was not addressed. Thus, she approached the Minister of Culture, Jack Lang, and Pierre Bergé, then president of DEFI, a committee focused on the development and promotion of French clothing. Both jointly backed her initiative to encourage and develop the fashion industry.
In 1989, Dufour founded the non-profit organisation ANDAM, under the guidance of Pierre Bergé, and support of the French Ministry of Culture and DEFI. The organisation runs an annual competition for emerging fashion designers, offering the winner the opportunity to present at Paris Fashion Week as well as mentoring and €250,000 in prize money.
The first recipient of the prize was Martin Margiela and over the years a number of high-profile designers, including Christophe Lemaire , Jeremy Scott and Anthony Vaccarello , have gone on to win. In March 2019, it was announced that Margiela would be on the panel of judges for the 2019 iteration of the ANDAM Prize.
Dufour also created the "premiere collection" prize of €75,000, which is awarded to a fledgling fashion house.
Dufour has partnered with the likes of LVMH, M.A.C. Cosmetics and Swarovski in supporting their efforts to scout potential talents from around the world. In July 2016, she was awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur by Pierre Bergé.