Every spring at the Mediterranean coast of France, in a provincial town of Hyères which is an hour drive from Marseille, an international festival of fashion design and photography takes place.
Since the epidemic of Covid all dates have been shifted, the latest physical festival was scheduled for the mid of October, with the finalists show and the winners announcement on the week end.
We had a chance to cover this major event and are happy to share this experience here with you.
First of all, I would like to point out that the main exhibits, round tables and showrooms of finalists happen at the Villa Noailles – an early modernist house, built by architect Robert Mallet-Stevens for art patrons Charles and Marie-Laure de Nouilles between 1923 and 1927.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, this villa became a summer holiday spot for the Parisian art bohemians of those times such as Man Ray, Salvador Dali, Luis Bunuel, Giacometti, Miró, Dora Maar, Balthus, Jean Cocteau and other legends.
It’s thanks to Jean-Pierre Blanc, the founder of the festival and the director of Villa Nouilles that this epic place regained its bygone glory by promoting the young designers and photographers from all over the world. Monsieur Blanc with his team manages from year to year to bring to Hyères a pool of partners among which appear such names as CHANEL, Mercedes-Benz, Première Vision, LVMH, Chloé, Hermès, Mercedes-Benz, American Vintage, la Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, le Défi, Kering, Première Class, Supima.
The first festival edition took place in 1986; the current 36th one is dedicated to the sustainability – the theme no one in fashion can ignore anymore.
As we arrived on the eve of the winners announcement and made our way through the showrooms of the finalists, we were pleased to notice how different their aesthetics in terms of the collections exposed, thus, the point of diversity was perfectly attained by the organizers!
The winner of Grand Prix du jury in fashion has become Ifeanyi Okwuadi. The young designer from the UK seemed to be very surprised at the announcement of his name. However, the choice of the jury mode headed by the creative director of Lacoste, Louise Trotter is perfectly justified: the collection named “Take the toys from the boys” of Ifeanyi is a pinnacle of technical skills where every detail matters (even a feather on a hat of a model on the show dropped by an accidental angel passing by?). Where one might expend a splash of tropical colors, Okwuadi stay dark, London like pallets; his fabrics ate noble as it’s his interpretation of sustainability; his cut is sharp and precise. We would not say « next Dries van Noten (as it’s one of the designers Ifeanyi inspired by), but next Ifeanyi Okwuadi!
Élina Silina from Latvia, won the prestigious prix Chloé. Her woven works, so feminine, are full of light and colors. They seduced us at the showroom. While the idea of a hi-tec meeting fashion realized in a white dress which is made of an amber fibers is just incredible.
Adeline Rappaz from Suisse got the prix du public. I was lucky enough to try on one of her creation – an unimaginable bras entirely enchased with buttons – the embodiment of an idea of recycling.
Rukpong Raimaturapong from from Thailand (but living in Paris) who collaborated with Maison Michel to create some hats, which attracted our attention from the very beginning of the showrooms, won the prix le 19M des métiers d’art de Chanel. The designer used recycled Buddhist temple amulets as an embellishment of his outfits. We loved the idea of Rukpong turning something of a basically religion connotation into a piece of art. And his colors bringing us into internal summer.
The adorable and so touching Capucine Huguet won the Grand Prix of Fashion Accessories. This young and talented activist from France takes the alarming environmental situation in our planet seriously. By her original jewelries she attracts our attention to the problem of climat change, global warming and the arctic ice melting in. Her creations inspired by the natural elements are made to transmit a message: we still have time to act, if we do it now!
Photo credit: Anna Mar
