Red carpet for talent: Hyères fashion festival celebrates "offline" comeback in 2021

Initiated by festival founder Jean-Pierre Blanc, the fashion festival in its 36th year is more relevant than ever. The big names in the industry, who otherwise only meet in Paris or Milan, meet here, in the Villa Noailles. An impressive 1920s building built by Parisian couple Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles together with architect Robert Mallet-Stevens served as a winter residence in the sunny south for the former owners.

Today, their pilgrimage has the same attraction for the fashion crowd, who create their own backdrop here in front of the sober, modern façade. And it does so with a varied supporting program that revolves around one thing above all: the award ceremony of the "Grand Prix" of the jury - that prize that has already changed the trajectory of some careers in the past and written names in the firmament of the fashion sky.

To underline the importance of Hyères, one can emphasise the attention paid by the fashion houses that come to Hyères every year with prize money and talent promotion. There is CHANEL, for example, which donates a prize of 20,000 euros, already working on the designs with the shortlisted designers in advance. Chloé also contributed a prize, which will be presented in the brand's interpretation by a model of the participants.

For the first time, Mercedes-Benz got involved with a Sustainability Award, which was built on the car manufacturer's mentoring program for the finalists of last year's Hyères Fashion Festival and was run in conjunction with Fashion Open Studio. A specially designed pavilion was made available to the shortlisted candidates.

And then there was Hermès, who lent their expertise to the accessories category. Shoe maestro Christian Louboutin was tapped to chair the jury for the accessories category this year. The winner - Capucine Huguet - designed a jewellery collection that's been inspired by climate change. 

Christian Louboutin also gave a master class while, as if in an idyllic reproduction of a fashion dream, sewing machines rattled not far from the Masterclass tent, embroidering the visitors' portraits in fabric. On Sunday evening, there was a concert by the currently most influential French chanteuse Yseult, who sent France into turmoil with her single "Corps" 2020. It is the effect of Hyères, the name that has established itself in recent decades away from the fashion hype of the metropolises.

Villa Noailles, the epicentre of the showrooms and exhibition spaces for the photography competition (awarded to Sergei Pavlov in 2021), opens its doors and does not adhere to exclusive hierarchy. There wouldn't be any room for that on the narrow park paths.

But let's stick to the essentials: The designers who dueled for the various prizes awarded by the jury - and the public - in Hyères 2021. 

To be shortlisted from the hundreds of entries that reach the festival committee every year is already a distinction in itself. In recent years, Austrians Christoph Rumpf and Maximilian Rittler have also made it. The former was even able to enjoy an award in 2019. In 2021, in addition to Finland and Lithuania, Colombia, Taiwan, Switzerland, Great Britain, and Thailand were represented, with the most diverse design approaches and perspectives.

The winner of the "Grand Prix" 2021 was Ifeanyi Okwuadi. The 27-year-old designer with African roots skilfully wove together the threads of the youth movements in London and showed a collection bursting with references. Okwuadi, who learned his craft in menswear on Savile Row (like a certain Alexander McQueen, by the way) and at Central St. Martins, convinced the jury with a mix of deconstructed school uniforms, such as knitted V-neck jumpers or toy cars as brooches.

Since its founding in 1986, Jean-Pierre Blanc has kept a firm grip on his International Festival for Fashion and Photography. No wonder, after all, they always keep a wary eye on the winners of the categories, who have already proven to be promising design talents in the past decades. If some call it "France's most famous niche festival", the winning names are not as "niche" as one would assume. Karl Lagerfeld, Martin Margiela or Haider Ackermann have already been won over as jurors, who have chosen winners such as Viktor & Rolf or Anthony Vaccarello.

• Sofia Ilmonen, Finland (winner of the "Sustainability Award" by Mercedes-Benz)
• Arttu Åfeldt, Finland
• Rukpong Raimaturapong, Thailand, Winner ("Prix Chanel Métiers d'Art")
• Venla Elonsalo, Finland 
• Elina Salina, Latvia (Winner "Prix Chloé") 
• Meteo Velasquez, Colombia 
• Mengche Chiang, Taiwan
• Ifeanyi Okwuadi, Great Britain (Winner "Grand Prix du Jury Première Vision")
• Adeline Rappaz, Switzerland (Winner "Prix du Public, Ville d'Hyères") 
• Laima Jurca & Marta Veiberga, Latvia