Created in 1985, this rendezvous at villa Noailles has become a premier international showcase for talented emerging fashion designers and photographers.
In Hyères, southern France, from 26 to 30 April 2018, the fashion scene came together for the “33rd International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Fashion Accessories in Hyères”. This prestigious competition for talented young designers, with ten entrants in each category, attracted talent scouts and fashion experts from all over the world.
In April each year, villa Noialles in Hyères is transformed into a meeting place for art, fashion, music and creativity. Ten designers in each of the categories – fashion, fashion accessories and photography – present their work in an exhibition and in a fashion show, submitting their extraordinary creations to the jury of acclaimed experts. The competition is accompanied by workshops, screenings, performances and parties.
At the 33rd International Festival of Fashion in Hyères, the Grand Prix du Jury Première Vision was awarded to Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh, creators of the Botter label and finalists in the 2018 LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers. This award recognizes their committed menswear collection entitled “Fish or Fight”. Mercedes-Benz has supported the Hyères festival as part of its international fashion activities since 2012, and this year presented the showrooms “The Shortlisted” in the Fashion category and “The Formers” with exhibits by contestants of earlier years. Read about the international showcase of young creative talent staged within the Modernist haven of villa Noailles in Vogue UK.
33rd International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Fashion Accessories in Hyères; photo: mercedes-benz
As in previous years, Mercedes-Benz is inviting the winner of the Grand Prix du Jury Première Vision or of the Chloé Prize in “The Shortlisted” category to show his/her collection at the MBFW Berlin in July 2018. This sponsorship for a talented young designer is part of the company’s International Designer Exchange Program.
In addition, Mercedes-Benz presented the future vision of CEO and Hypebeast founder Kevin Ma on the topic of “Progression” as part of the #WeWonder Fashion Story. In a workshop, moderated by Caroline Issa, for and together with the designers of the showroom “The Formers”, Kevin Ma, Arby Li (Editor-in-Chief Hypebeast) and Kevin Wong (Creative Director Hypebeast) examined how a global fashion brand can be successfully established, given credibility and kept in the forefront in the long term. Particular emphasis was given to the technologies and channels that will be the key to success in the future.
“It has been my pleasure to visit the Festival in Hyeres – supporting emerging design talent is one of the reasons that I was proud to take part in the #WeWonder fashion story. It’s been great to see the creativity and excitement associated with the Formers and the Shortlisted showrooms with Mercedes-Benz. I feel privileged to have been able to talk with them about my theme ‘ Progression’, and hope that it has helped inspire the contestants to think innovatively about how to build their brands in the future.”
The Formers at 33rd International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Fashion Accessories in Hyères. photos: mercedes-benz
The chairman of the jury for Fashion in “The Shortlisted” was Haider Ackermann. Ackermann and the other jury members – among them Vanessa Schindler, whom Mercedes-Benz invited to the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week (MBFW) in Berlin as the winner of the 2017 Grand Prix – had a choice between eight ladies’ fashion and two men’s fashion designers:
- Rushemy Botter, men’s fashion, Netherlands; THE WINNER OF 2018 EDITION!
- Sarah Bruylant, ladies’ fashion, Belgium;
- Ela Fidalgo, ladies’ fashion, Spain;
- Anna Isoniemi, ladies’ fashion, Finland;
- Linda Kokkonen, ladies’ fashion, Finland;
- Marie-Eve Lecavalier, ladies’ fashion, Canada;
- Ester Manas, ladies’ fashion, France;
- Jef Montes, ladies’ fashion, Netherlands;
- Regina Weber, ladies’ fashion, Germany;
- Antonia Sedakova, men’s fashion, Russia.
The chairman of the jury for fashion accessories was Christelle Kocher, Creative Director of Atelier Lemarié, with a choice of the following candidates:
- Sari Räthel & Riccarda Wolf, jewellery, Germany;
- Claire O’Keefe & Eugenia Oliva, jewellery, Spain Ildar Wafin, jewellery, Finland;
- Kate Fichard, Flora Fixy & Julia Dessirier, jewellery, France;
- Cécile Gray, jewellery, France;
- Jinah Jung, bags, South Korea;
- Sara Emilie Terp Hansen, bags, Denmark;
- Ludovic Leger, bags, France;
- Inès Bressand, bags, France;
- Romain Delamart & Flora Langlois, scarves, France.
#WeWonder Fashion Story
In 2018 Mercedes-Benz Fashion launched the next stage of its #mbcollective fashion story, entitled #WeWonder, a manifesto, which brings together six of the world’s most innovative and inspiring visionaries to dream about the potentiality of thefuture. A future in which Mercedes-Benz is pursuing a holistic approach as part of the EQ brand family which includes
the Mercedes-Benz Concept EQ, presented as an integral part of our everyday lives. This #mbcollective – featuring designers Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist, Hypebeast founder Kevin Ma, writer,curator and social activist Kimberly Drew, fashion model Slick Woods and musician Solange Knowles – marks the nextstep in Mercedes-Benz’ global fashion engagement and will be released through individual activations throughout 2018. Kimberly Drew hosted a panel talk on her chosen topic of Equity at the me Convention at SXSW in Austin inMarch. Slick Woods hosted an unplugged session about her chosen theme Youth with Lion Babe and SoSuperSamduring Coachella in Palm Springs in April.
