40th International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Accessories - Hyères

40 YEARS OF FESTIVAL

In 1986, Jean-Pierre Blanc, then a student, founded the first European Salon for Young Designers in his hometown of Hyères. His aim was to showcase emerging fashion talent through a competition open to young creators.

This Salon became an opportunity to bring together a prestigious jury that awarded prizes, offering visibility and financial support. Designers presented their collections in fashion shows and showrooms, engaging with industry professionals and the public. Over time, the Salon evolved into the International Festival of Fashion Arts in Hyères.

Alongside the competition, the Festival began hosting fashion exhibitions, photography showcases, and conferences.

In the late 1990s, the Festival established itself permanently at the Villa Noailles, which was being restored at the time. In 1997, a competition for young photographers was introduced, followed in 2017 by a third competition for fashion accessory designers.

From the earliest editions, leading figures in fashion participated in the juries, and the winners gained recognition both nationally and internationally. Early participants included notable names such as Jean-Pascal Dothilien, Jack Gome, Sami Tillouche, José Lévy, Olivier Jault, Xuly Bët, Tony Delcampe, Viktor & Rolf, Xavier Delcourt, and Didier Vervaeren.

Support for this initiative came from designers, journalists, trend forecasters, government representatives, and leaders of major brands.

From the 1st to the 10th edition, jury members included renowned figures such as Arlette Chacok, Françoise Chassagnac, Martine Grandval, Christine Walter-Bonini, Marthe Lagache, Florence Müller, John Galliano, Maria Luisa, Helmut Lang, Martin Margiela, Jean Colonna, Corinne Cobson, Jean Toitou, Paco Rabanne, Ann Demeulemeester, Martine Sitbon, and Jean-Charles de Castelbajac.

In subsequent years, other celebrated jurors have included Hussein Chalayan, Andrée Putman, Marc Newson, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Nicolas Ghesquière, Haider Ackermann, Pierre Hardy, Azzedine Alaïa, Christian Lacroix, Riccardo Tisci, Kris Van Assche, Dries Van Noten, Raf Simons, Yohji Yamamoto, Felipe Oliveira Baptista, Carol Lim & Humberto Leon, Karl Lagerfeld, Virginie Viard, Anthony Vaccarello, Julien Dossena, Natasha Ramsay-Levi, Jonathan Anderson, Louise Trotter, Glenn Martens, and Charles de Vilmorin.

Significant designers discovered through the Festival include:
Viktor & Rolf, Gaspard Yurkievitch, Sébastien Meunier, Christian Wijnants, Henrik Vibskov, Richard René, Felipe Oliveira Baptista, Romain Kremer, Julien Dossena, Anthony Vaccarello, Tuomas Laitinen, Jean-Paul Lespagnard, Satu Maaranen, Kenta Matsushige, Louis-Gabriel Nouchi, Rolf Ekroth, Clara Daguin, Marine Serre, Botter, Ester Manas, Róisín Pierce, Ifeanyi Okwuadi, and Igor Dieryck.

The same applies to photography, with its first edition in 1997 being won by Camille Vivier. She was followed by Cécile Bortoletti, Olivier Amsellem, and Sølve Sundsbo.

The winners collaborate with the Villa Noailles, which commissions them to create series for the festivals and holds exhibitions dedicated to their work: Charles Fréger, Grégoire Alexandre, Vava Ribeiro, Erwan Frotin, Joël Tettamanti, Erwan Fichou, Eva Lauterlein, Thomas Mailaender, Estelle Hanania, Jaap Scheren, Popel Coumou, Amira Fritz, Philippe Jarrigeon, Yann Gross, Ina Jang, Anouk Kruithof, Petros Efstathiadis, Marie Rime, Lorenzo Vitturi, Sjoerd Knibbeler, Anaïs Boileau, Louise Desnos, Luis Alberto Rodriguez, Daragh Soden, Paul Rousteau, Hubert Crabières, Jean-Vincent Simonet, Christopher Barraja, Rala Choi, Thaddé Comar, and Souleymane Bachir Diaw.

Since the 1990s, the festival has presented exhibitions of major photographers who have participated in the juries, including William Klein, Jeff Riedel, Guido Mocafico, Jeff Burton, M/M, Olivier Zahm, Jonathan de Villiers, Jason Schmitt, Viviane Sassen, Melvin Sokolsky, Tim Walker, Oliviero Toscani, Walter Pfeiffer, Jason Evans, Steve Hiett, Oliver Sieber, Eric Pfrunder, Bettina Rheims, Craig McDean, Paolo Roversi, Dominique Issermann, Pierre Debusschere, and Coco Capitan.

Nearly ten years after its launch, the competition for young fashion accessory designers has revealed numerous talents and elevated the profession. Pierre Hardy chaired the first jury, followed by Christelle Kocher, Charlotte Chesnais, Hubert Barrère, Christian Louboutin, Aska Yamashita, Allan Crocetti, and Achilles Ion Gabriel.

The 40th edition of the International festival of fashion, photography and accessories - Hyères, will take place between Thursday 16th and Sunday 19th October 2025 at the villa Noailles. The exhibitions will be open to the public until January 2026. Jean-Pierre Blanc is both the founder and the director of the festival which will be presided over by Pascale Mussard.

Since 1986, the festival has promoted and supported young international fashion designers, since 1997 a competition has also existed for emerging photographers and, since 2016, a competition also recognises young fashion accessory designers. The festival is acknowledged as the oldest fashion competition aimed at young professionals. Several prizes are awarded to the competing designers thanks to grants provided by the festival’s partners who commit, together with the festival, to provide long term support. Practical assistance is provided
right from the selection stage as well as during a period of two years in various domains: financing, production, workmanship, materials, production, legal, media, exhibitions, workshops and residencies.

Once again in 2025, the faithful partners of the Festival are committed to support the next generation of designers: CHANEL, le19M, the 7L Bookstore, Première Vision, LVMH, Hermès, American Vintage, la Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, DEFI, Group Galeries Lafayette, L’Atelier des Matières, Sheriff Projects, Kitten, Alliance For European Flax-Linen & Hemp, Kering, Sterling International…