Established in 1986 as a festival for young fashion designers, and adding a prize for emerging photographers in 1997, the International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Fashion accessories, Hyères has established itself as a small but beautiful festival with a cutting-edge handle on photography in fashion and beyond.
The artistic director for photography is Raphaëlle Stopin, and this year she’s presenting exhibitions such as a solo show by Craig McDean plus a 25-year retrospective of Self-Service magazine. As usual, the festival also features work by 10 up-and-coming photographers, plus exhibitions by the two prize winners from 2018 – Eva O’Leary (who won the Grand Prix for photography last year) and Sarah Mei Herman (who won the American Vintage-sponsored prize).
The finalists for the 2019 competition are: Federico Berardi (Switzerland – Italy); Hubert Crabieres (France); Kerry J Dean (United Kingdom); Tommy Kha (China – USA); Hilla Kurki (Finland); Vincent Levrat (Switzerland); Alice Mann (South Africa); Andrew Nuding (Ireland); Jean-Vincent Simonet (France); and Elsa & Johanna (France). Their work will be on show until 28 May, and as well as competing for main prize, they will be commissioned to shoot new images for a Still Life Prize, and for the American Vintage Photography Prize.
This year 700 photographers entered the prize, with the final ten picked out by a jury composed of: Craig McDean (photographer, president of the jury); Marc Ascoli (creative director, AnOther Paris); Thomas Bonnouvrier (manager, Art + Commerce Paris); Patrice Haddad (producer, Première Heure Paris); Paris Lees (journalist, London); Patrick Li (creative director, founder, Li Inc. New York); Guinevere Van Seenus (model, New York); Masha Vasyukova (filmmaker, Paris); and Eva O’Leary.
Alongside these shows, there will also be exhibitions and presentations of work by fashion and accessory designers. The festival is held in the Villa Noailles, a Modernist villa built by architect Robert Mallet-Stevens for art patrons Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles in the 1920s in Provence.
