Marite Mastina and Roland Peterkops © Amira Fritz

he 24th International Fashion and Photography Festival in Hyères, sponsored by LVMH, revealed an exciting selection of young talent.

The Fashion Jury, whose president this year was Dior Homme artistic director Kris Van Assche, gave the Jury Grand Prize to Marite Mastina and Rolands Peterkops (Latvia).

Referencing role playing games and comics, their mixed collection used the stereotypes of film noire crime movies as a starting point, combining detectives’ raincoats and heroines' glamorous gowns.

The stylists added touches of exaggeration to the clichés, stretching proportions and accentuating contrasts. Checkerboard fabric weaves became a sort of armor, joined by woolen accessories and gigantic wigs for an unabashedly surrealist feel to the collection.

Simon-Pierre Toussaint © Amira Fritz

The City of Hyères Public Prize went to Simon-Pierre Toussaint of France for his menswear collection called "The trees can hear if you talk to them".

His baroque creations expressed the uncertainties of adolescence through boy scout codes, colors and materials: cotton, windbreakers, wool sweaters and knits.

The insides of coats were decorated with star maps, while a sleeping-bag coat symbolized the hybrid mutation between impending maturity and childhood memories.

Virgin white underwear was joined by leather accessories and structured cuts for a more masculine touch, a harbinger of the transition to adulthood.

The Jury Grand Prize for Photography was awarded to Swiss photographer Linus Bill.

His large screen-printed photos are simply anything he likes at the moment, projecting the seemingly insignificant to a monumental scale. The reality constituted in his photos becomes a strangely comical and tender puzzle.

(Published on May 4, 2009)