Chanel Supports the 34th International Festival of Fashion in Hyères

Major Partner of the International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Fashion Accessories in Hyères since 2014, the House of Chanel is reinforcing its links with the 34^th edition of the festival taking place from April 25^th to 29^th 2019. This partnership is part of Chanel’s continuous commitment to creation.

This year Chanel is increasing its support of festival activities by introducing the Prix des Métiers d’art. This prize will be awarded to the best collaboration between the ten competing fashion designers and ten Houses belonging to Chanel’s Métiers d’art: Desrues, Ateliers de Verneuil-en-Halatte, Lemarié, Maison Michel, Massaro, Lesage, Goossens, Atelier Montex, Causse and Lognon. These creations will be presented during three runway shows on the 26^th, 27^th and 28^th April. The winner of the Prix des Métiers d’art, elected by the Fashion Jury, will receive a grant of 20,000 euros to make a new creative project, that will be unveiled next year during the 35^th edition of the festival.

To add flavor, the house of Maison Michel has been asked to exhibit a sensorial immersion into its world in a specially erected structure at the villa Noailles. Large visuals dress the walls and the ceiling, to create a space that’s half atelier and half exhibition space. A multi-directional soundtrack plunges the visitors into the heart of the Maison Michel ateliers by playing the sounds of tools and conversations between the artisans. The centrepiece of the show is the collection of wooden hat forms belonging to the House (notably for the boaters, the fedoras, and the wide-brim hats). An installation of cathode televisions relays videos of the Maison Michel campaigns which celebrate the diversity of the creations made by the milliner.

Chanel also continues to support the winners of the Grand Prix of the jury Première Vision and the Grand Prix Accessoires de Mode Swarovski. They will be given the opportunity to collaborate on a project with Chanel’s Métiers d’art, with up to 20,000 euros: each winner will be able to thus develop one or several silhouettes or accessories with one or more Maisons d’art of their choice.

The winner of the 2018 Grand Prix of the jury Première Vision, the duo Botter, developed a men’s bag with the Ateliers de Verneuil-en-Halatte, while the duo FandD and Kate Fichard, winners of the 2018 Grand Prix Accessoires de Mode Swarovski created a series of conceptual accessories based on hearing and sound in collaboration with the Houses of Goossens, Maison Michel, Lesage, and Lognon. Their projects will be shown during this 34^th edition of the festival.

The photography jury is presided over this year by Craig McDean. The jury met in Paris, at Première heure’s studio, on January 23, 2019 in order to chose the ten finalists of the competition (700 entries received from 50 nationalities, 61 shortlisted).

The jury has chosen ten young photographers from 7 nationalities. Their photographs will be presented in two collective exhibitions in the villa Noailles and in the Tour des Templiers, opens till May 26, 2019. The ten photographers will be commissionned to shoot two new series in the frame of the competition: for the Still Life Prize, by using accessories jewelry loan by the partners of the festival and for the American Vintage Photography Prize from the fashion collection of the brand.

Chanel is also associated with the Grand Prix du Jury Photographie, offering a prize of 20,000 euros to the winner.

“For I want to be part of what happens”, Mademoiselle Chanel liked to say. Through this renewed partnership with the International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Fashion Accessories in Hyères, Chanel reaffirms its attachment to creativity and the avant-garde.