Yui Chen Wins 41st Edition of Hyères Fashion Festival, the First Under New Leadership

HYÈRES, France, Turning over a new leaf for its 41st edition, the Hyères International Festival of Fashion , Photography and Accessories entered a new chapter under its incoming leadership team, with a jury headed by Chloé creative director Chemena Kamali selecting this year’s winners.

Chinese designer Yui Chen emerged as the winner of the Grand Jury Prize of the fashion competition for her collection, titled “Food Cover.”

Kamali was joined by last year’s grand jury prize winner Lucas Emilio Brunner on the jury along with Harper’s Bazaar France fashion director Elodie David Touboul, Agency Maybe artistic directors Charles Levai and Kevin Tekinel, 10 Magazine editor-in-chief Sophia Neophitou and photography duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. Related Articles Fashion The Best Suede Bags for Upgrading Your Fall Wardrobe This Year Designer and Luxury Designer Exits Roll On: Seán McGirr, Veronica Leoni Out at McQueen, Calvin Klein

“We decided on a candidate that celebrates a vision that goes beyond the present, that opens new perspectives and expresses something really personal,” said Kamali, who praised her “distinctive voice.” You May Also Like

“It’s an example of a strong concept paired with a technique that creates tension and silhouettes, paired with a lot of emotion and joy,” she added.

Inspired by the humble food cover, Chen deconstructed its structure to create three-dimensional silhouettes that challenged conventional ideas of clothing with sculptural form, material experimentation and reinvention of space around the body.

Across the collection, familiar garments such as sleeping dresses and shirts became vehicles for exploring volume, sheer layering and foldability and crossed the runway with bounce. Recycled leather offered another approach, with an all-encompassing coat covered in bows.

Balancing domestic references with technical innovation, Chen approached each garment as a wearable sculpture paired with protective headgear. “I want to change how we see things,” she said.

The second annual Supima Prize, which comes with a sizeable endowment of material and a trip with the other finalists to the upcoming edition of the Supima Design Lab in New York, went to fellow Paris-based Chinese designer Xiao Xu for her collection, titled “Uncanny,” in which she explored the tension between domestic familiarity and fetishistic sensuality. Inspired by the archival book “Dressing for Pleasure,” Xu juxtaposed everyday garments with unconventional materials, cleverly transforming ordinary sweaters and cardigans into latex constructions that revealed their jelly-ish strangeness only on closer inspection.

“I want this collection to offer people a moment of joy,” Xu said, noting that the collection was meant to be more playful than provocative.

Mexican-German designer Dieter Vlasich Obermann scooped up the Le19M Métiers d’Arts Prize in partnership with Chanel. His collection, titled “Tiliches” explored the emotional and cultural value of handmade objects, drawing inspiration from childhood memories of collecting “treasures” that his grandmother dismissed as junk. The collection celebrated the imperfections, material qualities and traces of human craftsmanship that give such objects their meaning.

Working with embroiderers from Yucatán, Mexico, Obermann incorporated traditional techniques into contemporary garments, bringing together recycled leather, textured fabrics, beadwork and intricate embroidery, while naturally dyed raffia introduced earthy colors and references to Mexican folk art.

His collaboration with Le19M’s Maison Michel reinterpreted traditional hat-making as footwear.

Paris-based Dutch designer Rachel Luurssen took home the Atelier des Matières prize. Her collection, titled “Pandora’s Box: The Pursuit of Perfection,” explored the contradictions between the pursuit of beauty and the impossibility of perfection. Inspired by Robert Greene’s “The Art of Seduction,” the collection examined a woman torn between the desire to be loved and the fear of vulnerability, set against the idealized glamour of 1950s Hollywood.

Luurssen juxtaposed this polished fantasy with the distortions of body dysmorphia, questioning society’s expectations of the female body. Working from a plus-size model’s body as her starting point for pattern-making, silhouettes were subsequently distorted, creating a second layer that appeared to slip and warp around the body.

The jury also awarded a special mention to Spanish designer Brais Albor Rodriguez for his collection “Por Mis Santos Cojones,” and he snapped up the public prize as well. He designed a squirrel-inspired collection dedicated to “big boys” who are often overlooked in the fashion market.

Kamali called it “a unique and complete and very compelling concept with a truly 360-degree vision.”

Inspired by the workwear of tailor Franz Reichelt and the story of his ill-fated parachute experiment, Albor Rodríguez translated ideas of risk and rescue into garments. A shirt evoked a parachute, while velvet trousers featured double openings that suggested an interrupted escape. Sculptural hats and gloves further transformed the human into animal. Vintage shearling scraps sourced from Vinted and embroidered squirrel motifs extended the collection’s irreverent approach.

In the accessories category, the jury was headed by designer Cecilie Bahnsen, with last year’s grand prize winner Amaury Darras; 1Granary founder and editor-in-chief Olya Kuryshchuck, journalist Susie Lau, casting director Emma Matell, and A Magazine Curated By managing editor Jemma Pinueva. The grand prize went to Sassa Ann van Wyk.

The inaugural AZ Academy award, established in honor of the late Alber Elbaz, went to Daniel Cheruzel. He will join the foundation’s accelerator program.

The festival’s new leadership is making a clear statement about its priorities, putting emerging talent first.

For Valérie Duport, elected president of the board of Villa Noailles in July , and Hugo Lucchino, who joined last year as managing director, that means concentrating resources on the designers and photographers at the heart of the event, rather than spreading them across a broader program of activities.

“What is important at the center of all this is creativity, freedom, young designers,” said Duport in an interview. “The idea was really to focus on the creation, their story, what they propose, and all the organization was done to make this happen and to give them a voice.”

“We wanted to focus attention on the DNA of what the Festival d’Hyères is, supporting young creators, young designers,” said Lucchino. “All the means of Villa Noailles, financial and human, are going back to the finalists and to the creators. So we have a team and partners dedicated to this support, who are really much more important than before.”

The shift has meant focusing on the exhibitions and fashion show, while bringing in three associate artistic directors to work alongside the festival’s artistic director, Magali Guérin. The aim is to give finalists more time, support and visibility, allowing them to present their work and develop their ideas.

The new leadership team came 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.

The result for this year’s festival was a more streamlined and well-organized event, with fewer parties and side events, and the fashion show taking place in the center of the city.

For Duport, who spent 27 years at Chanel and eight years at Kering, the role represents an opportunity to bring her industry experience to an institution that is currently in a “fragile” position, but is a needed pillar of the future of creativity. With her background in luxury and Lucchino’s experience in public affairs, institutions and museums, including Paris’ Palais Galliera, the pair complement each other, she said.

“We are a team, and for me that is more than important. It’s the key of the story,” she said of the new leadership structure.

“I believe in creation from the beginning,” said Duport. “We need spaces where creativity, freedom, audacity, culture and creation can have a place where you can breathe and offer this young generation a place where they can create and express themselves.”

The team also used this year’s festival to send a message about representation, with three women selected to head the competition juries. Kamali headed the fashion jury; Bahnsen, designer of her eponymous line, presided over the accessories jury; while French artist Camille Vivier oversaw the photography jury.

Luccino said it was an intentional signal to the fashion and creative industries.

“Villa Noilles needs to be prescriptive for the fashion industry, for the creative industry,” he said. “Most of students in art school, in fashion schools, are women, and they need to have role models to identify with. It was a strong message to appoint three leading creative talents in the industry to chair the juries, and they are not only women; they are talented, and they are young. So it was a message that we sent to the to the fashion industry.”

Beyond the festival itself, the leadership faces the challenge of ensuring Villa Noailles can continue to support emerging talent over the long term. To do that they will need sustained public and private backing, as well as new partners.

However, she stressed that any new partners will need to go beyond financial support with materials, technical expertise and advice that help young designers to create practical support that reflects the festival’s larger purpose.

“It’s not only a question of finance; it’s a question of beliefs and it’s a question of the energy people will put in this project,” said Duport.

They are are also keen to preserve the festival’s public accessibility.

“It’s not a festival for a happy few,” said Lucchino. “It’s really important to bring people who are not fashion specialists to Villa Noailles.” He noted that the exhibitions remain open for months after the festival, so that locals, tourists and students can partake.

Maintaining that public-facing mission will require continued support. To that end, the team is considering creating a permanent exhibition that would trace the building’s history as a center for artistic experimentation, from its origins in 1925 to the contemporary work presented through the festival as well as Villa Noailles’ other programs.

The realities of running a young fashion brand were discussed on stage by designers Esther Manas and Alain Paul, 1Granary founder Olya Kuryshchuk and Serge Carreira of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode.