What the Cannes Film Festival is for the movie industry, the Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography is for the style set—without the hype of paparazzi-infested red carpets (most years, at least), but with equally as many breathtaking views of the Riviera coastline, and just as much free-flowing rosé. Over the course of its decades at Robert Mallet-Stevens’s aristo-modernist Villa Noailles, Hyères has become one of those I-wouldn’t-miss-it-for-the-world appointments on the fashion calendar.
“Hyères is not only a very important contest, it’s the oldest fashion contest, launched in 1985,” pointed out Koché’s Christelle Kocher, who presided over the second-ever fashion accessories jury, alongside Michèle Lamy, Mansur Gavriel’s Floriana Gavriel, Vogue Runway Director Nicole Phelps, and jeweler Elie Top, among others. “At Hyères, la création is at the very heart of the selection, and originality of proposition is strongly supported. We encourage a peculiar, unique creative eye not only on fashion, but also on the world.” It’s a sentiment that this year resonated through many collections, which addressed deeper, often challenging issues, and attempted to address a wider context. “I loved the selection in all the different fields,” said architect India Mahdavi, who was a member of the photography jury. “Fashion collections, accessories, and also photography were all about the meaning, not only about the look anymore; it’s about questioning who you are and where you come from, or about helping others overcome their handicaps, or trying to define yourself in our difficult times.”
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