Hyères Festival of Fashion and photography: the winners

Last night saw the announcement of the winners of the 27th edition of the Hyères Festival in the south of France. ARTS THREAD takes a look.

The Grand Prix L’Oreal Professional went to a trio from Finland – Siiri Raasakka, Tiia Siren and Elina Laitenen with their menswear collection. Having met at Aalto University of Art and Design in Helsinki, the three have designed menswear for ‘urban nomads, living in a utopian society of the future’, full of colourful print, fringing and fake fur. The winners will be given the opportunity to present a collection at the L’Oréal Académie 14, rue Royale, during 2013 summer/spring Fashion Week.

The Première Vision award went to Ragne Kikas from Estonia, with her womenswear collection entitled Dress Code Defensive. Along with the prize comes a grant of 10,000 euros. Ragne Kikas is in the process of completing her university education in Hamburg, where she both lives and works. For this, her fifth collection, she takes her inspiration from 15th and 16th century armour, whose inflexible and angular shapes she translates into knitted fabrics; by her own admission, she was practically born with knitting needles and crochet hooks in her hands. Ragne also won the Fashion Public award of the town of Hyères

The Chloé award went to Steven Tai from Canada. Steven studied at Central Saint Martin College of Art & Design. Taking as its source a very classical wardrobe – classic button collared blouses – Steven Tai distorts certain elements which thus become strange and sculptural.

The Public Palais de Tokyo/Villa Noailles award went to Lucas Sponchiado from Belgium, with a womenswear collection entitled Out of Vacum. Lucas graduated in 2011 from the École supérieure de La Cambre in Brussels, where he lives and works. Inspiration for this, his graduate collection, is extremely varied: Indian architecture, traditional England, Chinese pictorial art and more.

The School of Visual Arts in New York, in association with the photography jury 2012, decided on Namsa Leuba from Switzerland as the winner of a Photo Global scholarship.

The Photography Jury Grand Prize was awarded to Jessica Eaton from Canada. The Digital Photography LVMH award was won by Florian van Roekel of The Netherlands.

Image credits: catwalk photography ©Etienne Tordoir.

For more information on the 27th International Festival of Fashion and Photography.