The Hyères International Fashion, Photography and Accessories Festival will kick off on Thursday October 10, and will close on Sunday 13 with the announcement of the results in the three emerging designer competitions, for fashion, accessories and photography, awarding 11 prizes and several endowments. As always, Villa Noailles, near Toulon on the Côte d’Azur, is hosting the festival’s public events in its grounds. The festival’s programme includes runway shows, showrooms, workshops, exhibitions, readings and performances, as well as a series of conferences organised by the French Fashion and Haute Couture Federation for the 23rd edition of its Rencontres Internationales de la Mode (international fashion meetings).
 

The festival has called upon three of the coolest, most interesting names in fashion and photography to head its three juries. Belgian designer Nicolas Di Felice, in charge of the creative studio at Courrèges since 2020, chairs the fashion jury. Finnish footwear designer Achilles Ion Gabriel will do the same for the accessories jury. Ion Gabriel, creative director of Spanish footwear brand Camper, recently launched his own ready-to-wear label. The photography competition’s jury will be headed by Spanish artist and photographer Coco Capitán.
 
Ten finalists of different nationalities will compete in each category for this Festival, which in the past brought to the fashion world’s attention names like Julien Dossena, Anthony Vaccarello and Viktor & Rolf. There are 11 finalists in the fashion competition, since they also include a designer duo. This year, they are coming from six different countries, among them four from France and two from Israel. French designers are also the most represented in the accessories category, with six finalists out of 10.

The Hyères Festival was founded in 1986 by Jean-Pierre Blanc, who still directs it, and is chaired by Pascale Mussard. It is regarded as the world’s oldest emerging designer competition, and has an ever-growing reputation and backing. This year, it welcomes two new partners, Teintures de France and Au-Delà du Cuir (ADC), a French incubator for leather accessories brands. The festival can also count on the support of the Chanel group, which funds several prizes. For this edition, Chanel will stage an exhibition and conference to honour one of its maisons, the Lesage embroidery atelier, which is celebrating its centenary this year.
 
This will be the last year that the fashion jury’s Grand Prix will be awarded by textiles trade show Première Vision, which has been sponsoring the Hyères Festival’s most important prize since 2013, but will no longer do so from next year.
 

 
Among the novelties of the festival’s 39th edition, the return of The Formers, a showroom organised with support by WSN and Première Classe, held at Villa Romaine. The Formers will features a dozen of the festival’s former finalists and winners, like Ester Manas, Lucille Thievre and Lora Sonney, offering them a great visibility opportunity with the many industry players travelling to Hyères during the festival.

Other former finalists will also be celebrated by individual exhibitions, like Belgian designer Igor Dieryck and Swiss designer Gabrielle Huguenot, past winners of the main jury prizes in the fashion and accessories sections, and Guadeloupe-born designer Marvin M’toumo, who won the 2020 Chloé Prize in the fashion category.
 
In parallel with the festival, several local labels will be showcased at the Marques de la Métropole showroom. This initiative is part of the Fashion & Design Hub project, set up to promote emerging talents within the cultural and creative industries hailing from the Toulon province and metropolitan area, and the South of France. Among others, the showroom will feature American Vintage, Molly Bracken, Native and Seagale.
 
Finally, the 23rd edition of the Rencontres internationales de la Mode has chosen ‘community’ as its theme. Speakers will discuss fashion as a “weaver of connections,” explaining how a fashion collection and the way it is presented can bring together talented individuals and communities. Four round-table debates have been scheduled to focus on the creative, digital, ecological and international communities.