HYÈRES HYÈRES: The luxury brands have been steadily moving in on the Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography, and for the next edition in April 2019 expect a bigger presence from Chanel Métiers d’Art.
The festival in April featured an exhibition of Maison Lemarié creations produced in collaboration with the house’s artistic director, Christelle Kocher, who also presided over the accessories jury. But for next time, “We’re working on a project that will involve all 12 of the Chanel Métiers d’Art houses,” said festival founder Jean-Pierre Blanc, who recently opened the call for entries for 2019. Candidates have until Dec. 21 to apply. Blanc, who at the event’s last edition bemoaned the dearth of anglophone candidates, said Fabio Piras, MA fashion program course director at London’s Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, will attend the next festival.
In terms of signatures versus France’s other high-profile fashion prizes like the LVMH Prize and ANDAM, Hyères has always been about spotlighting young talents straight out of school, he said. Past Hyères festival winners include Paco Rabanne’s Julien Dossena, Viktor & Rolf’s Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren and Saint Laurent’s Anthony Vaccarello. Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh, who since scooping the main fashion prize last year were named creative directors of Nina Ricci, will present their fall 2019 collection at the next edition of the event, set to run April 25 to 29. Other sponsors of the festival include Première Vision, Chloé, Galeries Lafayette, Supima and Petit Bateau.
The festival’s next jury will be presented at an event in Paris on Jan. 23, but Hyères-based Blanc, who is already working on the landmark 35th edition of the festival in 2020, will be heading to Paris on Nov. 20 for the launch of what he described as the first official tome on Villa Noailles founders, art patrons Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles. The event will be held at the former hôtel particulier of Marie-Laure de Noailles on the Place des États-Unis, which is now the Baccarat headquarters. The book’s coauthors are Stéphane Boudin-Lestienne and Alexandre Mare. For now it’s only available in French.
“It’s really a continuity of the permanent exhibition at Villa Noailles. We decided with their family to produce the best, most precise biography on Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles showing all the support they gave to young artists,” Blanc said. He is also working on a special project with perfumer Givaudan for the winner of the festival’s next fashion prize.