A Celebration Of Disciplines At Hyeres Festival

Happening between 12 and the 15 of October, the festival emphasizes its progressive and supportive vision it has since the foundation by Jean-Pierre Blanc: Since 1986, the festival has been aiming to promote young talents in fashion creation through competition. Later in 1997, the festival added a competition for emerging photographers and since 2016, there is support for the fashion accessory designers.

Being known as the world’s oldest fashion competition for young professionals, the International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Accessories at Hyeres provides assistance, financial support, craftsmanship intensification, publishing instruments, residency and more to the winners of competitions. Sponsored by various companies and brands, such as CHANEL, le19M, Premiére Vision, Hermes, lvmh, Galeries Lafayette and more; the talents of fashion and photography who want their voices to be heard benefit from this chance and celebrate their creative disciplines through the festival.

FASHION COMPETITION

The prizes of fashion this year are named under “Grand Prix of the Jury Premiére Vision”, “The le19m Metiers d’art Prize”, “Mercedes-Benz Sustainability Prize” and “L’atelier des matieres Prize” while a new fashion grant is added to the competition: Sterling International. The Michael Boroian-founded boutique firm which focuses on executive search in the areas of fashion and luxury and reflects the firm’s valuable experiences as an assisting support (and even more!) to the prize-winners.

The Jury of the Fashion Competition have different backgrounds, experiences and a rich variety of perspectives which makes the competition more and more exciting for both the participators and the followers. The Jury list is below.

• Charles de Vilmorin. Fashion Designer and President of the Fashion Jury.
• Hubert Barrere. Artistic Director of Maison Lesage.
• Daphné Bürki. Host, Actress, Stylist.
• Pierre de Maere. Author, Composer, Performer.
• Babeth Dijan. Founder and Director of Numero Magazine.
• Flora Fischbach. Author, Composer, Performer.
• Sophie Fontanel. Fashion Critic, Writer.
• Antoine Gagey. CEO of Maison Jean-Paul Gaultier.
• Bilal Hassani. Artist, Author, Composer, Performer.
• Alice Moitie. Photographer, Filmmaker.
• Jenny Hytönen. Premiére Vision Grand Jury Grand Prize 2022 Winner.
•  

Just like the Jury, the Finalists portray a stimulating list, with their various backgrounds from Europe to Asia.

• Tiago Bessa (Portugal)
• Alec Rhys Bizby (England)
• Fengyuan Dai (France)
• Igor Dieryck (Belgium)
• Petra Fagerstrom (Sweden)
• Leevi Ikaheimo (Finland)
• Jung Eun Lee (South Korea)
• Norman Mabire-Larguier (France)
• Bo Kwon Min (South Korea)
• Marc Sanz Pey (Spain)

PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION

Besides the American Vintage Photography Prize, this year, the new photography prize by the 7L is welcomed at the Hyeres. “The 7L Photography Grand Jury Prize” is a new version of “The Photography Grand Jury Prize” where the inspiration is taken from the 7L bookshop, founded by legendary Karl Lagerfeld in Paris. Standing for 7, rue de Lille, in Paris and Karl’s favorite number; 7L celebrates Lagerfeld’s fusion of interest between photography and books. The prize winner will be supported by 7L with the production of a book published by Editions 7L and a book launch event, including an exhibition.

The Jury of Photography is full of names that are homage to the art of photography by their existence themselves.

• Luis Alberto Rodriguez. Photographer, President of the Photography Jury.
• Edward Buchanan. Founder, Artistic Director of SANSOVINO6.
• Song Tae Chong. Photography, Curator, Writer, Professor.
• Sarah Piegay Espenon. Co-founder of Loose Joints.
• Jordan Hancock. Founder, Artistic Director of Second Name.
• Paul Mpagi Sepuya. Artist, Photographer.
• Adam Murray. Academic, Curator, Head of Communication and Fashion Promotion Program at Central Saint Martins.
• Carlos Nazario. Stylist.
• Francesco Risso. Artistic Director of Marni.
• Kevin Tekinel & Charles Levai. Founders, Artistic Directors of MAYBE Agency.
• Rala Choi. Photographer, Photography Grand Jury Grand Prize Hyeres 2022 Winner.
•  

The exciting finalist list is:

• Souleymane Bachir Diaw (Senegal)
• Maria Baoli (Spain)
• Clara Chichin (France)
• Thadde Comar (France-Switzerland)
• Kin Coedel (Hong Kong)
• Ezio D’Agostino (Italy)
• Rebekka Deubner (France-Germany)
• Quention Lacombe (France)
• Igor Pjörrt (Portugal)
• Naguel Rivero (Argentina-Italy)

ACCESSORIES COMPETITION

Prized with the “Grand Prix of the Accessories Jury” and “The Hermes Fashion Accessories Prize”; the competition welcomes several talented accessory designers as finalists and simultaneously gives them the chance to show themselves to the mind-blowingly talented and successful designers from jury, such as Alan Crocetti.

The jury list is below.

• Alan Crocetti. Fashion Jewelry Designer, President of the Accessories Jury, Founder of Alan Crocetti.
• Maria Bernad. Fashion Designer, Sustainable Development Consultant.
• Tyrone Dylan. Fashion Designer, Stylist at Rick Owens.
• Serhat Isik. Creative Director of GMBH and Trussardi.
• Mauricio Stein. Eyewear Designer of Maustein.
• Beka Vishiani. Fashion Journalist at StyleNotCom.
• Laura Vandall. Stylist.
• Nono Vazquez. Fashion Director at Icon El Paris.
• Joshua Cannone. Accessories Grand Jury Grand Prize 2022 Winner.

The finalists are:

• Mathilde Hiron (France)
• Gabrielle Huguenot (Switzerland)
• Yeonghyeon Kim (South Korea)
• Lisa Kwoczek (Germany)
• Thomas Manil (France)
• Marcel Mariotte & Jovien Panne (France – Spain)
• Ruby Mellish (England)
• Christiane Schwambach (Germany)
• Xin-Yu Weng (Taiwan)

While Hyeres hosts these promising competitions for the fashion industry and photography, there will be exhibitions and cultural workshops continuing during the festival. For instance, Le Garde-Robe de Marie Laure de Noailles will be open between October 12^th to January 14^th and will be curated by Emilie Hammen. The participating fashion houses to this exhibition can be exemplified with Schiaparelli, CHANEL, Lanvin, Rabanne and more.

As a photography event, Paul Rousteau’s photographic commission ‘Paul, la plage, les peintres’ will be open from November 24^th to January 14^th at Villa Noailles, with the participation of the guest artists such as Florent Groc, Marion Bataillard and Jean Claracq.

Partnered with a rich catalogue, from Toulon Province to Chanel and LVMH, Premiére Vision, Mercedes and Kering Group; The International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Accessories promises a lot to witness and take cue from.

Words:

Tolga Rahmalaroglu
Luxiders Magazine Contributor