Hyères festival winner in tune with current origami trend

(Erwan Fichou)

Twenty-two-year-old Belgian designer Alexandra Verschueren has won the main prize at the prestigious fashion and photography festival in Hyères with her origami-inspired collection.

Her entirely handmade clothes were praised by the jury - which included designer Dries van Noten who went to the same Antwerp design school as Verschueren - for their structure and original implementations of the Japanese folding technique.

Previously, designers including Martin Grant and Vivienne Tam had presented origami-inspired pieces as part of their fall 2010 collections, and the trend can also be observed in wedding fashion, especially translating into details such as bows.

Inspired by the works of German photographer Thomas Demand, known for his three-dimensional carton models of real rooms, Verschueren also drew on the material of paper in general: some outfits were reminiscent of the pages of a notebook or of children's scribbling.

The young fashion designer, who succeeds the likes of Felipe Oliveira Baptista or Gaspard Yurkievich who were previously honored in Hyères, wins a monetary prize of €15,000 and the opportunity of showing her next collection in a prestigious place in Paris. Since she also won the Camper design prize, she will participate in a week-long workshop at the shoe brand's design studio in Spain.

The public vote went to Tsolmandakh Munkhuu, a Paris-based Mongolian designer.

More information on the festival and the Villa Noailles location in Hyères in the south of France can be found online at http://www.villanoailles-hyeres.com.