IT’S HYÈRES AGAIN

 Some of you might remember that last year at the end of April, I attended the Hyères Fashion and Photography festival which is held over 3 days in the small town of Hyères (pronounced like yeah) on the French Riviera, like proper south of France. As a little reminder you can check some of my posts from last year here, here and MOST IMPORTANTLY here. I had so much fun there last year, and I was quite inspired by the creativity and the craftsmanship shown by the young designers. Of course there’s also the exhibitions, performances, and parties. I was also invited as media partner for the event along with 5 other international blogs.

For those of you who missed my coverage last year please check the links mentioned above for a bitjie background, otherwise here is a brief summary of what it’s about. The Hyères International Fashion and Photography Festival is held annually at the VillaNoailles-a landmark cubist villa built in the 1920's by Mallet-Stevens in the town. It is currently in it's 28th year. This is the festival that revealed to the world talents such as Viktor & Rolf, Xuly Bët, Sølve Sunsbø, Romain Kremer (Mugler men), Felipe Oliveira Baptista (Lacoste), Jean-Paul Lespagnard, Cedric Buchet and many many more. Ten young fashion designers and ten young photographers are selected as contestants out of  the many entrants by a jury of international professionals. Designers that have taken part in the festival as members of the jury include Azzedine Alaïa, John Galliano, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld, Anna Sui, Phillip Treacy, Hussein Chalayan, Ann Demeulemeester, Raf Simons, the list goes on and on. Last year it was Yohji Yamamoto who headed up the jury and this year  Lacoste’s Felipe Oliveira Baptista will head up the jury.

This year I am once again media partner and will be bringing you coverage leading up to the event, including interviews with some of the big names that make up the jury, which besides Mr Baptista include Imran Ahmed from Business of Fashion, Delphine Roche – Numero Magazine Editor in Chief, Mark Holgate – Vogue NY Fashion News Director, Paula Reed – Style Director at Harvey Nichols, Floriane de Saint-Pierre – official headhunter for PPR-Gucci group (responsible for hiring Hedi Slimane, Alexander Wang and many more)

, and that’s just to name a few.

Come April 26^th I will be in Hyères shooting up a storm and enjoying the beginning of spring in the south of France at the Villa Noailles. As one does. For now though here is the selection of the 10 young fashion designers selected to show later this month, out of the 355 entries that came from 60 different countries.

P.S.

We need to get some S.A. designers to enter next year, in fact I think I’ll make it my mission next year to get people to enter.  Besides the money that designers win, it’s also an incredible opportunity when it comes to exposure.

 Tomas Berzins & Victoria Feldman, Latvia - Russia

 Henning Jurke, Germany

 Camille Kunz, Switzerland

 Yvonne Poei-Yie Kwok, Netherlands

 Satu Maaranen, Finland

Marion de Raucourt, France

 Xénia Lucie Laffely, France - Switzerland

 Shanshan Ruan, China

 Damien Ravn, Norway

Xing Su, Canada

Image credit: Rene Habermacher

You should also watch this awesome video the made last year which I think best describes what the festival is all about. Keep in mind it was for last year's show so all the info relates to Hyères 2012, but it is really fucking awesome.