This was Ackermann’s second time at Hyères; he was last at the festival six years ago, and at a lunchtime conversation after a morning spent meeting the fashion finalists, he said he’s noticed a difference between young designers then and now, with social media being the determining factor. “I think young designers are so influenced by what’s happening, they’re less in search of themselves these days. They’re more aware of what the business is... you see a Gucci wave... the one we choose is going to be the best one, with a different story to tell about the future.” Ackermann and co. gave the grand prix du jury to Botter’s Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh, who are also 2018 LVMH Prize finalists and whose menswear collection addressed the issues of climate change and ocean plasticpollution with confident, avant garde élan. Describing their decision-making process, Ackermann said, “It’s all about transmission and making them believe in their dreams, their identity, their story.”
Jury presidents are invited to tell their own stories via an exhibition in the festival’s historic Villa Noailles, an early modernist masterpiece located in the hills of southeastern France with Mediterranean views to die for. Ackermann opted for a group show juxtaposing his own work over the years with those of designers that have influenced him, from Madame Grès and Azzedine Alaïa to Nicolas Ghesquière and Rick Owens, with eccentric headgear by Katsuya Kamo, the Japanese hair stylist. “I didn’t want to have an exhibition about myself; I thought it would be too much me, myself, and I.” Instead, Ackmerann said, “I wanted to show my sensitivity by having this kind of sharing. Designers who are still here nowadays, or not here any longer... but to have this continuity about people searching for beauty and elegance.”
Jury presidents are invited to tell their own stories via an exhibition in the festival’s historic Villa Noailles, an early modernist masterpiece located in the hills of southeastern France with Mediterranean views to die for. Ackermann opted for a group show juxtaposing his own work over the years with those of designers that have influenced him, from Madame Grès and Azzedine Alaïa to Nicolas Ghesquière and Rick Owens, with eccentric headgear by Katsuya Kamo, the Japanese hair stylist. “I didn’t want to have an exhibition about myself; I thought it would be too much me, myself, and I.” Instead, Ackmerann said, “I wanted to show my sensitivity by having this kind of sharing. Designers who are still here nowadays, or not here any longer... but to have this continuity about people searching for beauty and elegance.”
The exhibition is called Haider Ackermann: A Vanishing Act. While it’s tempting to see in that title an allusion to his recent sudden departure from LVMH’s Berluti, where he was replaced by Kris Van Assche, it’s a reference to the timelessness of the pieces he chose for the exhibition, like the Madame Grès dresses, nearly a century old, that are its centerpiece. “If one were to put Madame Grès on today, it’s still so actual and so modern, but when you talk to [young designers], they might not know who Madame Grès is. That’s shocking. They might not know everything about Monsieur Alaïa. Those are my heroes, and you just want to share this. I was really in the sharing moment.”
As for his Berluti experience, Ackermann addressed it only tangentially, when pressed: “You know, fashion is about different passages. You go through different passages. That’s what’s going to happen with these young students, as well, and you learn every time. That road is very exciting. Whatever happens, that road is exciting.”
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