HYÈRES 2013: CROWNING GLORY

Hyères 2013 is officially over (the competition ran from April 26-29 - blink and ya missed it!) and 29-year-old Finnish designer Satu Maaranen is the grand prize winner. Menswear designer Camille Kunz took home a special prize awarded by the label Chloé and Shanshan Ruan took home the "prix du public de la ville d'Hyères" (public prize of the city of Hyères.) You can see some details from Maaranen's collection, "Garment in Landscape," below:

I really love Maaranen's collection. I get hints of Viktor & Rolf (am I allowed to say that?) but a bit more artful; note how the design is actually an oversized shirt worn with arm tubes (uh, technical term?) that meet the shirt sleeve. And that bow! Talk about bringing a "pop of color" to your face. Oh, and one more outburst - those shoes! I'm dying. I want them now. Oh, shit, one more (more) outburst - those hats! So #fashion. Read more about Maaranen here and here.

HYÈRES MENSWEAR 2013

{photos Brea Souders}

And now for some exciting news...I've been selected as one of the blog partners for this year's Hyères festival! The 28th International Festival of Fashion & Photography, Hyères 2013 celebrates rising talents in the fields of, you guessed it - fashion and photography. These are pretty well two of my favorite things, so I 'm really excited to start sharing these artists with you. You may remember last year I blogged about festival finalist Daniel Hurlin's collection?

The work of the three menswear designers among this year's finalists is nothing short of fantastic. Henning Jurke (top) is a German designer whose collection depicts an allegorical party and is inspired by the roaring twenties; Camille Kunz's collection (middle), The Boy Vanishes, is inspired by the designer's brothers and her own desire to be a boy; Xenia Laffely's collection (bottom) was designed for a "graphic and sentimental" character and is "cut along the lines of classical suits." (You can see more of her work on This Is Paper.) All three finalists have a unique perspective that provides some intriguing fodder for the greater dialogue about dressing as a modern man. On that note: my thoughts on The New Masculinity.

If your interest is piqued regarding the festival, check out a behind-the-scenes video of the judges here. It's entirely in French, so grab a small coffee, put your glasses at the end of your nose and smile and nod appreciatively at your screen. The festival kicks off from April 26th-29th; exhibitions are up from April 27th - May 26th. If you happen to be in the South of France, check it out! Keep your eyes peeled to the *fruitpunch Facebook page and Twitter (and Pinterest!) for more information about the festival.