The international fashion, photography and accessories festival in Hyères, France, opened on Thursday with a feeling of unusual excitement. The festival, the world’s oldest emerging designer competitio, appears to have found a new freshness for its 38th edition, as it also celebrates the centenary of Villa Noailles

A large, eclectic crowd of trend-setters, students, luxury industry representatives and decision-makers, as well as neighbours and locals, gathered in the late afternoon on Thursday on a hill overlooking Hyères, congregating as usual in the forecourt of Villa Noailles, the elegant modernist building which, a century ago, became a hub for avant-garde art and culture, hosting gala evenings, meetings and performances sponsored by philanthropists Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles, the villa’s owners.
 
“This centenary has made us think about the next 100 years for this venue and the Festival. The idea is to continue to follow in the footsteps of this visionary couple. Freedom to create, to think, and to be welcoming must be the plan for the next 100 years,” said to FashionNetwork.comJean-Pierre Blanc

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“We must protect at all costs this love of diversity, and this openness towards youth and creativity. Back in those days, when Marie-Laure de Noailles gave them her backing, Man
  
Also present at the opening ceremony were local authorities, representatives of the event’s main sponsors and partners, Pascal MorandCharles de Vilmorin
 

de Vilmorin, only 26, struggled to hide his emotions. “It’s my first time at the Hyères Festival. I applied for it three, four years ago, but I wasn’t selected. Coming here as jury president, it’s crazy. It’s a dream,” he told FashionNetwork.com. “I regard my work on the jury more as a dialogue than a competition. I was a finalist at the AndamLVMH
 
“All festivals should be based on youth. Do we need to be young to be generous? Well