For the 26th edition of the International Festival of Fashion and Photography at Hyères, the villa Noailles received more than 300 entries from young designers of over forty different nationalities. The selection was done in two stages. An initial pre-selection was held at Hyères, resulting in 53 entries being chosen. The final selection of ten designers took place on 31st January 2011, at the Théâtre Edouard VII in Paris by the members of the jury under direction of the head judge, Raf Simons.
The photographs of the outfits were taken by Erwan Fichou and the hairstyling was by Fred Teglia. The models are wearing shoes by Pierre Hardy and Repetto. All of the selected candidates will benefit from the support of the Festival’s partners: original printed fabrics will be on offer by Puntoseta, prototypes for skirts and trousers by Maison Wolff, and crystals by Swarovski Elements. The Première Vision show has invited the selected entrants to its show on the 8th -10th February, in order to put them in touch with exhibitors who may wish to offer them the raw materials for the creation of their collections, destined for the festival. Le Book will provide reprints of each of the designers’ and photographers’ work, which will be reproduced in each of its different editions. Modem will also be reporting on their work.
Two prizes will be awarded: the L’Oréal Professionel Jury Grand Prize, which consists of a grant of 15 000 euro and the Première Vision Prize which consists of a grant of 10 000 euro.
Shortlisted designers:
Juliette Alleaume and Marie Vial
France, Womenswear collection.
Their collection, which takes a scarecrow as its theme, wishes to be a pretext for spontaneous creation, to serve as a support for experimentation and reflection upon the human form. Imposing and troubling, their futuristic idols intend to commit a genuine affront against modesty.
Mads Dinesen
Denmark, Menswear collection.
This designer explores the colonial memory of his home country. The collection stages a spirit world: silhouettes without face or nation, collage of cultural typologies, emerge from dark crevices of Denmark’s history. That highly personal stance on the collective denial attempts to understand the past so as to master the present.
Michael Kampe
Germany, Menswear collection.
For Kampe, fragmenting is a way to revolt against the rules of menswear. His collection is influenced by the changes of society, triggered by internet and new media. This designer imagines urban wear on the edge of wearable art and couture, which also refers to classical pieces that are twisted, broken, shuffled, and newly rearranged.
Maryam Kordbacheh
The Netherlands, Womenswear collection.
Maryam Kordbacheh is inspired by the organic formation of the natural world. These handcrafted garments, moulded from a single length of fabric, at first glance appear simple, in spite of their extremely refined, delicate, and intimate sculptural form.
Oriane Leclercq
Belgium, Womenswear collection.
In this collection, it is a question of surface, of trompe-l’oeil, of appearance, of a fascination for smoothness. This designer teases synthetic materials, superimposing latex masks upon them with a lustre that is shinier than skin. The garment becomes no more than a drape of lycra which moulds itself to the shape of the body.
Janosch Mallwitz
Germany, Menswear collection.
The graduation ceremony, its outfit, the gowns and the mortarboards which are thrown in the air, all the clichés of American high schools are the starting point for this collection, which also speaks about initiatiion youth and identity. A fashion style which navigates between concept and instinct.
Emilie Meldem
Switzerland, Womenswear collection.
This designer takes her inspiration from her native Switzerland, which she transposes into an isolated country, caught between modernity and tradition, restriction and freedom, fragility and strength. This duality results in a form of minimal eccentricity, which is at the same time decorative and radical.
Céline Méteil
France, Womenswear collection.
This stylist has chosen to feature jaconet, a light muslin which is normally used for fittings, in order to create floating and structured origami-dresses which engage with the body.
Oda Pausma
The Netherlands, Womenswear collection.
Here everything starts with an end: a vanished love… Long black silhouettes create a sad parade. Fluid silk combined with structured leather reflect the melancholic character of the collection.
Léa Peckre
France, Womenswear collection.
Though her collection may be inspired by cemeteries, it is not out of some taste for the macabre, but instead a fascination for a world whose constituent parts she has strived to translate. For example, the structured shapes reminds one of the rigidity of mausoleums,
whilst the colours and the materials used evoke the tones and harshness of tombstones.
Photo credits: Erwan Fichou / Festival of Hyeres
Jury:
Raf Simons graduated in Industrial Design and Furniture Design in 1991 and started working as a furniture designer for galleries and private interiors. In a radical change of profession, he became a self-trained menswear designer in 1995 and launched his Raf Simons label. Appointed head professor of the Fashion Department of the University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria in October 2000. Until June 2005. Won first prize Swiss Textiles Award, Lucerne, Switzerland in November 2003. Presented ‘Raf Simons Redux’, a book by Peter De Potter and Raf Simons (published by Charta/Fondazione Pitti Discovery) coinciding with his label’s 10th anniversary. ‘Raf Simons 1995-2005’, a fashion/art event at the Giardini di Boboli in Florence, Italy (initiated and produced by the Fondazione Pitti Discovery, June 2005) equally celebrated his first decade in fashion. Named Creative Director of Jil Sander (menswear and womenswear) in July 2005. Ongoing. Lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium.
Tim Blanks has been covering fashion around the world since 1985, formerly for the globally syndicated television show Fashion File, now as editor-at-large for Style.com. He writes regularly for a number of international magazines and newspapers including Vogue and GQ, The Independent, Another, Fantastic Man and Interview. Blanks was one of the guest curators on ‘Sample’, Phaidon’s global overview of new fashion. He also contributed to Steidl’s monograph on Michael Roberts; the book marking the 20th anniversary of Dolce&Gabbana’s menswear; the catalogue for Alexander McQueen’s exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum; and Walter van Beirendonck’s new monograph. Born in New Zealand, Blanks lives in London with his Jack Russells Annie and Stella.
Graduated from ESSEC Business School in 1985, Floriane de Saint Pierre began her career at Christian Dior Couture as a financial controller. In 1990, she founded Floriane de Saint Pierre & Associés, today the leading executive search firm for luxury brands. The firm operates worldwide through offices in Paris and Milan, and more specifically in Asia through Saint Pierre, Brabant, Li & Associates which successfully opened in Shanghai in 2009. She has been lecturing in the Institut de la Mode (IFM) since 1990, in ESSEC Business School Luxury Brand Management MBA Program since its creation in 1995 and in Sciences-Po Paris since 2008. She is Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (2007) and Board Member of the French American Foundation France (2008).
Michel Gaubert has been fascinated by music from a young age. A few initiatory trips to England and the States, as an adolescent, resulted in him choosing it as his specialist subject. He became interested as much in the sound, as in the image generated by music, concerts, graphics, photographs, posters, sleeve notes, fashion and lifestyle, all of which for him are so many different elements, each reflecting the immediacy of a period. In the 1980s, he was a DJ at Le Palace, a theatre of the night and fashion, thus sharing the music of which he was so fond. Today Michel Gaubert’s passion is often placed in the services of the fashion industry, as he regularly collaborates with designers and artistic directors in order to provide accompanying music for fashion shows, exhibitions and publicity films, as well as compilations for the Colette store in Paris. He is also a writer for Libération Next and Air France Magazine, in which he reveals his other passion: travel.
Proenza Schouler began simply as a senior project at Parsons School of Design. It was there that, in 1998, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez first met while studying fashion design. For three years the two designed independently and quite successfully. In his junior year, Jack took an internship with Marc Jacobs, eventually working directly with the designer himself. For his subsequent junior collection Jack was awarded the National CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) First Prize as well as a Silver Thimble – awarded by a designer to the student of his/her choice. At about the same time, Lazaro dropped a note to American Vogue Editor in Chief Anna Wintour while on the same Miami-New York flight. As a result of this chance meeting, he received a call from Michael Kors. He began an internship there and developed a close working relationship with Kors. For his junior collection, Lazaro was also a National CFDA finalist, and received the prestigious Silver Thimble. In their senior year at Parsons School of Design, Jack and Lazaro designed their first collection that exceeded all expectations. This collection received the Golden Thimble award and the entire collection was bought by Barneys New York. As a result at the age of 23, Jack and Lazaro launched their own independent label Proenza Schouler, named after their mothers. Throughout the years Proenza Schouler has collaborated with a number of celebrities, such as Maggie Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams for their Academy Award dresses in 2007 and 2008 respectively. In addition, Jack and Lazaro have developed relationships with many such as Kirsten Dunst, Gwyneth Paltrow, Chloé Sevigny, Kate Bosworth, Julianne Moore, and Charlize Theron.
Cathy Horyn has been the fashion critic of The New York Times since 1999. She has a blog On the Runway, on nytimes.com, and she also covers the industry for The New York Times Magazine. Her articles have also appeared in Vanity Fair, Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, as well as a number of European publications.
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