HYÈRES, France — The show must, and will, go on.
From the sun logo of the 40th edition of the International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Accessories of Hyères imagined by jury member Jean-Charles de Castelbajac to the crowd packing the garden of the Villa Noailles for the award ceremony on Saturday, that was the message organizers and partners from the public and private sphere wanted to drive home.
The festival and its Villa Noailles parent association has been battling financial woes and allegations of mismanagement, triggering the exit of founder Jean-Pierre Blanc and the arrival of Hugo Lucchino as managing director in the run-up to this year’s edition.
But this took a backseat to an anniversary edition that saw all-designer juries for its fashion and accessories contests, and photographers select the top contenders among their younger peers.
Paris-based Swiss Chilean designer Lucas Emilio Brunner emerged as the winner of the Grand Prize of the fashion competition.
A graduate of Brussels’ La Cambre school who most recently worked at Maison Margiela on its Artisanal collections, he impressed the jury with a pneumatic collection inspired by a collision between an Ivy League wardrobe and balloons.
“I wanted to see how far I could take the conceptual idea of a balloon,” Brunner said during showroom visits.
Looks from Lucas Emilio Brunner
Balloons came woven into a plaid check for an XXL top that squeaked with every step. They also lent their shapes, materials and even the recognizable knot to trench coats and tops cut from latex or denim.
A clever print nodded to pinstripes but turned out to be a design made of long balloons. There was even a deflated version of his first look, where the material turned into an embroidery-like flurry.
The inaugural Supima Prize, which comes with a sizeable dotation of material and a trip with the other finalists to the upcoming edition of the Supima Design Lab in New York, went to fellow Swiss Noah Almonte for a collection that questioned digital avatars and social interactions in the age of artificial intelligence and blurring boundaries between online and offline worlds.
French designer Adrien Michel scooped up the Le19M Métiers d’Arts Prize in partnership with Chanel. His collection spliced mountain gear, menswear classics and the furniture works of designer Martino Gamper.
Meanwhile, Paris-based Parsons graduate Layla Al Tawaya, who hails from Palestine and Poland, scooped up the L’Atelier des Matières Prize. She questioned hypermasculinity, embodied by the biker leather jacket, through exuberant lace and tulle creations.
Inspired by a World War II episode that saw British soldiers rush to battle in pantomime costumes, Lebanese designer Youssef Zogheib’s collection took home the public fashion prize.
Alexandre Mattiussi, who was part of the seven-strong all-designer jury of the edition, lauded the overall “coherence in the discourse and the process” of a generation that examined topics rooted in “the hostile world in which we live and how we protect ourselves from the outside world.”
The accessories grand prize went to French designer Amaury Darras and his wearable woodwork sculptures.
The gong award by Hermès, which challenged designers to create gloves, was taken home by Honduran designer Luisa Olivera, a Paris-based graduate of the Ecole Supérieure Nationale des Arts Décoratifs and the Intitut Français de la Mode, for colorful organic jewels evoking the tropical flora of her homeland.
Duperré and La Cambre graduate Alyssa Cartaut won the public’s heart with mules and other footwear shaped like pillows.
In photography, Noémie Ninot walked away with the 7L Photography Grand Prize for her unflinching gaze at how normative archetypes are passed down to pre-teen girls.
The American Vintage prize went to Gabriel Mrabi, the public prize went to Yama Ndiaye of France and Senegal, while Julie Joubert was awarded a special mention.
Talent remained front and center throughout the three-day talent showcase while messages of unity, hope and continuity dominated conversations throughout.
At the opening ceremony, Lucchino said the festival was unique for its talent seeking and its longevity as the oldest fashion competition in France, which has since expanded to photography, accessories and design through its sister festival Design Parade.
He led officials, organizers and partners in highlighting Blanc’s contribution to the project and the local cultural landscape. Blanc stepped down as managing director in May and subsequently left the association in September, after the organization became embroiled in controversy over spending and outstanding invoices.
“A key moment for any organization is always an opportunity to go back to fundamentals and question our reason for existing. Defending emerging design has been the DNA of the Villa Noailles for 40 years,” Lucchino said. “All this has been possible thanks to Jean-Pierre Blanc who created this event and without whom we wouldn’t be at this level today.”
In addition to the fashion, accessories and photography competitions, the festival is also the lynchpin of a weekend-long program that spans exhibitions to workshops and conferences such as the Rencontres Internationales de la Mode, spearheaded by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode.
The Villa Noailles executive said that the 40th edition, which was shortened to three days and subdued in terms of parties, showed “it was possible to question formats and [economic] models without giving up on artistic ambitions.”
The Villa Noailles’ accounts for 2023 showed an annual deficit of 650,000 euros and unpaid supplier invoices to the tune of 2.7 million euros. In May, the association said that over 1 million euros in outstanding supplier invoices had been paid since the beginning of 2025, prioritizing artists and suppliers who were in greater difficulty.
Villa Noailles president Pascale Mussard stressed the efforts that had been made to ensure the survival of the festival, while Lucchino said half of the remaining debt would be paid off by the end of the year.
The festival’s longstanding partners, a broadranging cohort which includes Chanel and its 19M craftsmanship arm, Hermès, French fashion groups LVMH Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy and Kering, Supima and Première Classe, were also keen to reiterate the importance of the festival.
Jury member Julien Dossena, creator director of Rabanne and winner of the 2006 edition of the festival, said the biggest boon of the festival was connections formed here for emerging designers, often fresh from school.
“When you arrive in a new place, in a new step [in your career] It’s important not to feel alone and to feel supported in a way, be it through these contacts,” he said, recalling how he met the late retailer Maria Luisa Poumaillou during his turn at the contest and she became his first point of contact when he later moved to Paris.
And the competition can lead to the unexpected. Winners of the 1993 edition, Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren revealed their label wouldn’t exist without the festival. Having applied to have an opportunity to work together, “we didn’t even have a brand name so when [the jury] called us on stage, they called for ‘Viktor and Rolf,’ and that’s where it came from,” said Snoeren.
Sylvie Pourrat, director of the offer for Who’s Next and Premiere Classe, said the trade show organizer was present because it shares the mission of the festival. “We are here for creation, for tomorrow, for the future, for the launchpad that a festival such as this one can give to young talents and that’s what motivates us,” she said.
Local authorities also continue to back the project.
Jean-Pierre Giran, Hyères’ mayor who also serves as the president of the wider Métropole Toulon Provence Méditerranée metropolitan area, told WWD it was a transitional edition, but he remained optimistic in the long term, depite upcoming elections that could see a change in local administrations.
“Even if the timelines did not turn out to be the ones we hope, I believe there is no problem when it comes to the survival of this idea,” he said.
