Chinese designer Yui Chen won the Grand Jury Prize at the 41st Hyères International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Accessories, the first edition under the event's new leadership team. A jury chaired by Chloé creative director Chemena Kamali selected the winners.
Chen's collection, "Food Cover," drew on the humble food cover, deconstructing its structure into three-dimensional silhouettes that played with sculptural form, material experimentation and reinvention of space around the body. Familiar garments such as sleeping dresses and shirts explored volume, sheer layering and foldability, while recycled leather appeared in an all-encompassing coat covered in bows. "I want to change how we see things," Chen said.
The second annual Supima Prize went to Paris-based Chinese designer Xiao Xu for "Uncanny," which explored the tension between domestic familiarity and fetishistic sensuality, transforming ordinary sweaters and cardigans into latex constructions. Mexican-German designer Dieter Vlasich Obermann took the Le19M Métiers d'Arts Prize in partnership with Chanel for "Tiliches," celebrating handmade objects and incorporating traditional techniques from embroiderers in Yucatán, Mexico.
Paris-based Dutch designer Rachel Luurssen won the Atelier des Matières prize for "Pandora's Box: The Pursuit of Perfection," which examined the contradictions between the pursuit of beauty and the impossibility of perfection. Spanish designer Brais Albor Rodriguez received a special mention and the public prize for his squirrel-inspired collection dedicated to "big boys" often overlooked in the fashion market.
In accessories, a jury headed by designer Cecilie Bahnsen awarded the grand prize to Sassa Ann van Wyk. The inaugural AZ Academy award, established in honor of the late Alber Elbaz, went to Daniel Cheruzel, who will join the foundation's accelerator program. The public prize in accessories went to Matteo Artuso.
The festival's new leadership - Valérie Duport, elected president of the board of Villa Noailles in July, and managing director Hugo Lucchino - has concentrated resources on the designers and photographers at the heart of the event rather than a broader program of activities. "What is important at the center of all this is creativity, freedom, young designers," Duport said. The shift brought in three associate artistic directors to work alongside artistic director Magali Guérin.
The new team arrived as the festival and its Villa Noailles parent association battled financial woes and allegations of mismanagement, which resulted in the exit of founder Jean-Pierre Blanc. This year's event was more streamlined, with fewer parties and side events, and the fashion show took place in the center of the city.
The team also sent a message about representation, with three women heading the competition juries: Kamali for fashion, Bahnsen for accessories and French artist Camille Vivier for photography. "Most of students in art school, in fashion schools, are women, and they need to have role models to identify with," Lucchino said.
On stage, designers Esther Manas and Alain Paul discussed the realities of running young brands alongside 1Granary's Olya Kuryshchuk and Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode's Serge Carreira. Kuryshchuk advised emerging labels against focusing on wholesale, which Carreira said is "in crisis." Manas said her brand quit wholesale in June 2024 to focus on direct-to-consumer sales and collaborations, while Paul said wholesale provides about 95 percent of his label's revenue across roughly 35 stores.
Originally reported by WWD