Hyères Festival announces nominees and jury for 2023 edition

At the end of Paris Haute Couture Week (PHCW), the Museum of Decorative Arts of Paris welcomed the organisers of the International Fashion, Photography and Accessories Festival of the city of Hyères to present the members of the jury who will officiate the competition during the festival. The event is set to take place from Thursday 12 to Sunday October 15, 2023.

The evening was also an opportunity to exhibit one of the works of the emerging designers selected for this international competition, supported, among others, by the prestigious fashion houses of Chanel and Hermès.

Despite these luxury partnerships, Jean Pierre Blanc, general manager of the Hyères Festival, reminded the audience that after 38 years, it is still necessary to fight to organise this kind of event, while criticising the fact that 70 per cent of institutional budgets are reserved for the Ile de France region. One does not dare imagine the financial difficulties faced by the organisers of other fashion events in the French provinces…

IFM alumnus Charles de Vilmorin to chair fashion jury at Hyères festival

Charles de Vilmorin, creator of his namesake brand and creative director at fashion house Rochas, and alumnus of Trade Chamber of Commerce of Parisian Couture (now known as French fashion institute IFM) has been announced as the head of the jury for the fashion competition at Hyères.

Vilmorin is to be accompanied by Babeth Djian from Numéro Magazine. Other members of the fashion jury include: French TV host Daphné Burki, musician Flora Fischbach, French author and influencer Sophie Fontanel, Jenny Hytönen, winner of the Premiere Vision Grand Jury Prize 2022.

Photographer and director Alice Moitié, musicians Billal Assani and Pierre de Maere, Hubert Barrère of Maison Lesage), and Jean-Paul Gaultier's Antoine Gagey will also evaluate the designs in the Hyères fashion competition 2023.

Hyères Festival announces 2023 fashion nominees

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The designers nominated for the 38th edition of the Hyères fashion competition are: Tiago Bessa from Portugal, Alec Rhys Bizby from England, Fengyuan Dai from France, Igor Dieryck from Belgium, Petra Fagerstrom from Sweden, Leevi Ikäheimo from Finland, Jung Eun Lee from South Korea, Norman Mabire-Larguier from France, Bo Kwon Min from South Korea, and Marc Sanz Pey from Spain.

The guests at this presentation evening then had access to the presentation of a work by each nominee, presented in an original scenography. The return of Asian individuals in the audience after a few years of absence was noticeable, due to Covid.

Hyères festival unveils jury fashion accessories competition

Jewellery designer Crocetti is accompanied by Maria Bernad from Les Fleurs Studio in his role as head of the accessories competition, as well as Chanel model Amanda Sanchez, stylenotcom's Beka Gvishiani, and stylist Laura Vandall.

They are joined by Rick Owens muse Tyrone Dylan, Serhat Isik of DA GMBH and Trussardi, creator of the Maustein glasses Mauricio Stein, French fashion personality Nono Vazquez, Joshua Cannone, and jury member at the Hyères Grand Prix Fashion Accessories competition 2022.

The Photography Jury will be chaired by Luis Alberto Rodriguez, former winner of the competition.

The Première Vision Jury Grand Prize is endowed with a 20,000 euro creation grant from Première Vision and visibility at the Paris show in February 2024, a collaborative project with the Métiers d'art worth 20,000 euros, as well as the creation of an inclusive capsule collection with department store Galeries Lafayette.

In addition, the winner will receive dedicated support from The European Flax and Hemp Alliance, Icicle, Madame Figaro and (new) Sterling International, a recruitment agency specialising in the fashion, retail and luxury sectors.

The nominees for the 38th Hyères Festival Accessories competition are Mathilde Hiron from France, Gabrielle Huguenot from Switzerland, Yeonghyeon Kim from South Korea, Lisa Kwoczek from Germany, Thomas Manil from France, Marcel Mariotte & Jovien Panné from France/Spain, Ruby Mellish from England, Victor Salinier from France, Christiane Schwambach from Germany, and Xin-Yu Weng from Taiwan.

The Jury Grand Prize in Accessories is endowed with a collaborative project with the Métiers d'art, worth 20,000 euros. The Hermès Fashion Accessories Prize is endowed with a grant of 20,000 euros.

All of the young designers mentioned above will be in the spotlight for almost nine months. But most of them, who will have invested time and money to take part in this competition (think thousands of euros to produce a collection), will leave empty-handed and with the feeling that they no longer exist. What will happen to them after the competition?

For example, one may be able to offer them an exhibition at a trade show to meet people in the profession who can give them work (not all of them want to develop their brands). This way they don't end up with a feeling of disillusion that the fashion world often creates. The idea is here.

This article was originally published on FashionUnited.FR. Translation and editing from French into English: Veerle Versteeg.