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CÉLINE MÉTEIL AND LEA PECKRE: PRIZE WINNERS AT HYERES 2011
The Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography took place April 22nd – May 2nd at villa Noailles in the South of France, providing a creative platform for young fashion designers and photographers from across the world.
Text by Lucy Mclean
On Sunday 1st May the jury of industry professionals, presided over by renowned Belgian designer Raf Simons, announced Céline Méteil as the winner of the prestigious Première Vision Prize.
Having worked in the second ateliers for John Galliano, Balenciaga and Felipe Oliveira Baptista, this French designer is aspiring to launch her own brand, transporting her backstage inspirations through onto the catwalks, and it would seem that she is now well on her way to success. Méteil uses jaconas material which is not a “finished” fabric and usually only used to create prototype designs, however her aim is to start to commercialize this material under the concept of showing an audience what is normally only found behind the scenes.
The collection is suitably named “Plié Backstage” and features a selection of all white dresses inspired by origami techniques:
“this dress, folded into a suitcase, retains the memory of its pleats, ready to instantly regain its initial shape for that last minute moment.”
The fine jaconas material is beautifully crafted into constructive designs which have a delicate transparency, flattering the feminine figure with imagined forms, discreet florals and modern cuts.
The prize from Première Vision, the World’s Premier Fabric Show who have partnered with the Hyères Festival for the first time this year, includes a 10,000 euro prize fund as well as an invitation for Céline Méteil to present her work to press at Première Vision Preview New York in July as well as gaining a special area dedicated to her work at Première Vision Pluriel in Paris in September, a biannual event which welcome over 55,000 industry professionals. So congratulations to Méteil on her success at Hyères and we look forward to seeing how this fledgeling designer will flourish taking centre stage with her new collections…
French designer Léa Peckre was also announced the winner of the 2nd Prize featured at Hyères, the L’Oréal Professional Grand Prize, winning 15,000 euros for her structured collection inspired by the mystery and confusion of cemeteries. Peckre includes details directly inspired by graves, flower wreaths, surrounding vegetation or woodland and wrought iron cemetery gates, to create a Gothic, monk style collection. She uses thick fabrics, from matted wool to heavy velvets, on a palette of woodland tones with a contrasting focus on the light and transparency of alternative fabrics in the collection, creating a balance between the dark concept of graves or monuments and the more poetic vision of the blurred light that seems to filter through these cemeteries.
