WWD EXCLUSIVE: Hyères Festival Announces New Dates for 2020 Edition
The 35th edition of the Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography has been rescheduled for October due to the coronavirus.
by Joelle DiderichLATE SHOW: Amid serial cancellations due to the coronavirus pandemic, one major fashion event has confirmed it will hold a physical edition this year: the Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography will take place from Oct. 15 to 19, organizers said Wednesday.
The 35th edition of the festival was initially scheduled for April 23 to 27, but Jean-Pierre Blanc, the festival’s founder and general director, said in March that it would be postponed until October. Unlike other events that were initially postponed, and then ultimately cancelled their 2020 editions, Hyères is now set to go ahead.
The program is unchanged: Jonathan Anderson will head the fashion jury of the festival; Paolo Roversi will lead the photography panel, and Hubert Barrère, artistic director of Chanel-owned embroiderer Maison Lesage, will take the lead for the accessories prize.
The accompanying exhibitions will stay open until Nov. 29 at the Villa Noailles, the modernist villa built in the Twenties that hosts the annual event, and other locations around the Mediterranean town. France partially lifted its lockdown measures on May 11, and the Villa Noailles reopened to the public on May 15.
Sponsors of the Hyères prizes include Chanel, Hermès, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Kering, Chloé, Première Vision, Galeries Lafayette and Swarovski, among others.
The festival has been a launchpad for many fashion designers, including Paco Rabanne’s Julien Dossena, Viktor & Rolf, Anthony Vaccarello and, most recently, Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh, who were named creative directors of Nina Ricci mere months after winning Hyères and reaching the final stage of the LVMH Prize.