The International Festival of Fashion and Photography, that takes place every year in the South of France, precisely located in the city of Noailles, has just ended, after presenting us some of the most talented and fresh fashion designers and photographers around the globe.
The Hyères Festival caught up its 28th edition and claims successful personalities as past participants, like Viktor & Rolf, Romain Kremer, Anthony Vaccarello and noted names from fashion universe who joined the festival as members of the jury such as Martin Margiela, Dries Van Noten, Raf Simons and Felipe Oliviera Baptista, the the 2002 edition winner and this year’s president.
Only ten young fashion photographers and designers have had the opportunity to show their work to the public, having been carefully selected during last February among 1000 submissions. The aim of the festival, invented by Jean-Pierre Blanc, is to support young talents giving them the much needed space and logistical sustain at the beginning of their career. After four days of festival, Villa Noailles – a 1920 cubist villa, built by Mallet Stevens for viscount Charles de Noailles and his wife Marie-Laure Bischoffsheim – hosts several exhibitions that show a combination of art, photography and fashion through the eye of different artists.
As a part of this year’s exhibit there will be Novembre, a bi-annual Swiss magazine; Pierre Debusschere, the online artistic director of Raf Simons and visual artist who works both as a photographer and a video-maker; A screen to the brain, a series of fragments that a viewer does not normally see in fashion, created by Felipe Oliviera Baptista; Rough Roof, a look at the earliest work of Guy Bourdin; Jean-François Lepage, a photographer and a painter, and many others.
During each edition few photographers, among with the previous year’s finalists, are chosen for taking a series of photos based on one of the two themes given, one focusing on the creations of the designers in the competition, and the other on the city of Hyères or a carte blanche.
The exhibition will be open till Sunday May 27, every day except Monday and Tuesday and the admission is free.
Francesca Crippa
