HYÈRES, France — Israeli designer Dolev Elron won the grand prize at the 39th edition of the Hyères International Fashion, Photography and Accessories Festival on Sunday.
He impressed the jury, chaired by Courrèges’ artistic director Nicolas Di Felice, with a collection of distorted menswear pieces titled “Everyday Turbulence.”
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Living in Stockholm and studying at Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art, Elron is a young menswear designer at Acne Studios.
“It’s about the distortion of archetypes of hypermasculinity and the recognizable and familiar staples we all have in our closets,” he said at a showroom presentation. “This familiarity brings comfort, and the comfort it brings provides space for confusion.”
To skew jeans, plaid shirts or bomber jackets, he was inspired by “unusual and unexpected effects on the most anticipated garments”, which he first distorted using digital software such as Photoshop. The patterns he then developed from these new images were based on each garment’s noticeable details, such as zippers, denim pockets, or stripes due to their pleated nature.
Highlights included the opening look of a shirt whose classic blue stripe curved slightly, resulting in a sculptural yet discrete cuff; belted trousers that seem to melt around the hips; and faux denim shorts featuring a twill-jacquard fabric developed with Lesage to fuse swirling motifs into the weave.
Praising the creative breadth of the 2024 fashion finalists, Di Felice said he was struck by the rawness of the work and that it was a reminder that “our professions involve so much passion, so much heart, from beginning to end.” WWD. “We’re in a transition period in fashion, so it’s refreshing and important to see this.”
“There are no rules to be successful in fashion [anymore] “And the last few years have shown us that you can be an artistic director even when you’re a singer,” he continued.
He emphasized that there is much more diversity in design approaches and techniques today, and that this “must be approached without judgment”, but still drew attention to the importance of craft and technical knowledge.
“There are so many jobs that come from making clothes. [something] “This is becoming an Instagram gimmick, I’m asking myself if this is really trendy,” she said. “This raises real questions about what we are doing. [industry] Today.”
The artistic director of the Courrèges hoped that the finalists would leave with the jury’s speeches and encouragement in mind. “Whatever our discipline is, what we do is to resist, to live. “And that’s already great because they’re right in the middle of it,” he said.
Paris-based Belgian designer Romain Bichot, a La Cambre graduate who recently joined Balenciaga as a young designer, received the Le19M Métiers d’Arts Award and the L’Atelier des Matières Award in partnership with Chanel.
Inspired by a midnight cityscape littered with garbage bags, construction sites, and traffic cones, “Call Me If You Lost” transforms these objects into surreal appearances, such as a dress with traffic cone protrusions or clutches shaped like the protective wrapping of scaffolding.
The luxuriously embroidered and feathered look, which she worked on with feather expert Lemarié, mimicked a bed. The Belgian designer said that the film was inspired by a murder series that started with a corpse wrapped in a bed.
Bichot received a purse of 20,000 euros, as well as another 10,000 euros worth of materials from L’Atelier des Matières, for a project to be exhibited at next year’s festival.
American designer Logan Monroe Goff won the Mercedes-Benz Sustainability Award, which rewards the designer who best implements eco-concept practices in his work, thanks to his biker jacket that combines tailoring canvases from bespoke jackets and pieces from his father’s racing suits.
Texas-born Monroe Goff, who is currently pursuing a master’s degree in fashion design at Parsons Paris, cut her teeth at Egonlab and Isabel Marant. He wants to continue gaining experience, but said his end goal is to start his own label, which “could happen in five years or 20 years.”
His biggest takeaway from the Hyères experience was the unlimited ability to show what was on his mind, even before looking at the trophies and purses. “This opportunity is my biggest takeaway and it’s so great.”
Tel Aviv-based Israeli designer Tal Maslavi was awarded a special jury award for his “Sugar Rush” collection, an instant gratification-inspired sugar dessert, complete with Instagram-famous cake-sliced shoes.
Berlin-based Gaëlle Lang Halloo’s football-inspired sportswear, which pays homage to France’s 1998 World Cup victory, has won the hearts and votes of the public.
Accessories’ grand prize was won by London-based Chinese designer Chiyang Duan and her “Distorted Objects” collection, which played on improvements to extend the life of glasses and bags and turn them into organic-looking creatures.
Meanwhile, Brussels-based La Cambre graduate Clara Besnard took on the challenge of creating a belt or leather jewelry with a clutch belt that appeared to be casually slung around her neck like a scarf to win the Hermès prize. The public award went to Mexican designer Maria Nava and her robotic creations that respond to the ambiance.
A special accessory award went to Swiss designer Camille Combremont for her range of multifunctional accessories inspired by her family’s camping holidays, ranging from a basket with removable lining to a stylish cape that doubles as a tent. Achilles will be based at Ion Gabriel’s headquarters in Majorca.
“It’s really rude for young people to express in an unfiltered way what they think the design should look like,” said accessory jury member Imruh Asha, a stylist and creative consultant who co-founded the fashion brand Zomer. “Now we’ll give them feedback and they’ll be biased forever, but that’s still what they think unfiltered.”
In photography, Bard College graduate Arhant Shrestha, who now lives in Kathmandu, Nepal, won the 7L Photography Grand Prize for exploring an imaginary nighttime version of the city he lives in to “capture the nostalgia of my past imagination before reality.” Kathmandu’s current situation could wipe it out.”
Paris-based Basile Pelletier took home the American Vintage award for a series of analog photographs with a whimsical twist, while the People’s Prize went to Clément Boudet.
British lensman Thomas Duffield received special mention for depicting the eight-year process of rebuilding a relationship strained by addiction.
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