PARIS — The Hyères International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Fashion Accessories will permanently happen in October, its founder and general manager Jean-Pierre Blanc revealed Wednesday here.

“Postponing the festival to October [due to the COVID-19 pandemic] has given us more respiratory room within the organization,” he said during a conference cohosted by Blanc and festival president Pascale Mussard, noting that it was the “first time in 37 years” this system of an upcoming edition could possibly be formally presented. 

Before diving into the particulars of the thirty seventh edition, slated to happen from Oct. 13 to 16, Blanc was already putting 2023 in everyone’s diary as it is going to mark the centenary of the Villa’s creation.

This anniversary shall be an important opportunity to “remind that for Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles, it wasn’t fashion designers on one side and artists on the opposite, but all artists they loved were a part of the identical family,” he said.

“The festival should all the time remind that fashion just isn’t a subculture or an industry but above a creative industry that tells stories and brings emotions,” he continued, revealing that an opera was being developed in honor of the anniversary. A five-minute teaser will close the festival on Oct. 16.

Within the meantime, the 2022 edition will see additional endowments, brought by latest sponsors joining as of this edition, equivalent to Instagram and its parent company Meta, who will offer winners mentoring around social media and their tools.

The designer taking home the Grand Prix Première Vision will have the option to count on the support of the European Confederation of Flax and Hemp (CELC), which can facilitate sourcing and offer a cloth endowment. They can even have the chance to design capsule collection for Chinese fashion label Icicle in addition to long-term partner Galeries Lafayette, which is reinforcing their support this yr.

Photography prize sponsor Bottega Veneta, which was revealed as sponsor through the jury announcement last January, shall be joined by Paris-based production company Sheriff Projects & Kitten.

As previously reported, Glenn Martens, creative director of Y/Project and Diesel, will lead the style jury, while Belgian visual artist Pierre Debusschere, is about to go a photography jury that can include Matthieu Blazy and Pieter Mulier, respectively artistic directors of Bottega Veneta and Maison Alaïa. The accessories jury shall be led by Aska Yamashita, the artistic director of Chanel-owned embroidery workshop Atelier Montex.

While this yr’s edition will keep to the two-show format it adopted within the wake of the pandemic, Blanc said the festival would return to a few shows as of 2023.

Blanc also lifted the veil on a number of the four-day events’ cultural highlights, which can include a latest exhibition around embroidery and textiles in contemporary arts, creative masterclasses to create jewelry from flowers or customize clothing, and a series of portraits of the edition’s guest artists shot by photographer Sarah Makharine taking pride of place on the villa’s grand staircase.

An extra exhibition, titled “Hip-hop don’t stop” by French photographer Maï Lucas, shall be shown at Villa Magdala, a newly renovated private art center situated a 15-minute drive away in a villa that when hosted Queen Victoria.

There shall be no shortage of entertainment throughout the weekend either, in accordance with Blanc. Though he kept mum on who could be headlining the opening ceremony on Oct. 13, he noted they’d “set the mood for the entire weekend.”