Chronicle of a breathless “Hyères” festival! Sun, subsidies, egos and forty years already that Villa Noailles has fancied itself the Mecca of creativity, a kind of sanctuary where fabric becomes concept and good taste drowns beneath meters of “conceptual” latex. This year’s motto was clear: “The show must go on”  in other words, it doesn’t matter if the house is burning, as long as we can still strut across the ashes.

And what a spectacle it was! Beneath a blazing sun logo (probably the only star allowed to shine brighter than certain jury members), fashion celebrated its grand mass halfway between a conceptual happening and a garage sale of the absurd.

The big winner was proudly announced: Lucas Emilio Brunner, a Swiss-Chilean apostle of the balloon, messiah of inflatable materials, graduate of “The Arch of the Back,” and convert to the Margiela liturgy. His vision for the future of clothing? Balloon knots on trench coats moving from animal bladders and intestines to squeaky polymers. A show that sounded like a fanfare for sad clowns.

But of course, it’s conceptual, and behind every squeak of petrochemical matter lies a deep reflection on “the collision between the Ivy League and the balloon.” Because yes who hasn’t dreamed of a meeting between Harvard and Aunt Danielle’s birthday party?

Meanwhile, at Villa Noailles, the only thing truly inflating is the helium debt. At least it floats, it soars… but it’s collapsing in silence. Rumors swirl of dubious management, spectacular resignations, and new directors with strained smiles but hush! The important thing is that influencers can still post #HyèresFestival with a spritz in hand.

To wrap it all up, a joyful potpourri of pseudo-social speeches wrapped in subsidized storytelling. We applaud, pretend to understand, and head back to Paris swearing to write about it in Vogue Hommes using words like “poetic,” “urgent,” “organic,” “deconstructivist,” and “Fuck me, I am Famous!”

But deep down, behind the champagne bubbles and the latex bubbles, maybe it’s all just one huge… bubble. A fashion bubble, full of warm air, ready to burst the moment someone dares to remind us that beauty doesn’t always need a concept to exist.

So yes, the show must go on.
But beware, gentlemen inflate too much, and it always ends the same way: it bursts.

FM