As a platform for both emerging designers and industry experts, the International Festival of Fashion & Photography of Hyères has become an invaluable creative incubator. After last year’s postponed proceedings, during which some judges appeared virtually due to COVID travel bans, the festival is set to make its in-person return from October 14-17, 2021 at the scenic Villa Noailles. The accompanying exhibitions will be on view to the public until January 2022.

Designed to showcase and celebrate the work of young professionals in the fashion field, the festival features three categories of competition: fashion design, photography, and fashion accessories. Multiple prizes are available within each category, and juries of interdisciplinary creatives dole them out. This year’s juries are star-studded; the fashion jury will be led by Louise Trotter of Lacoste, the photography jury by photographer Dominique Issermann, and the fashion accessories jury by famed shoe designer Christian Louboutin. Other jury members range in profession from musicians to designers, from models to model agents. This cross-pollination across the fashion industry is what makes the festival such a unique opportunity for the competitors.

10 finalists have been selected for each category, demonstrating a wide breadth of experience and creative sensibility. The prizes available to them include many grants to help the young artists fund their work as well as further exhibition opportunities and manufacturing partnerships with luxury brands. Large brands such as Chanel and Chloé provide the resources to offer long-term career support to the winners, thereby nourishing the next generation of talent in fashion design. Looking at the incredible skill that these young designers already possess, the future of fashion seems as bright as the light sparkling on the water off the Hyères coast.

Learn more about the festival and the impressive finalists here.