2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fashion Network
Festival de Hyères: Villa Noailles board meets as tensions ease
France's Villa Noailles board of directors met on June 11, following weeks of tension around its leadership. The association runs the Festival de Hyères, France's leading fashion and photography competition, and the Design Parade, an annual design festival in the Var region that opens on June 26. Board members presented the finalized budget and financial forecasts for the association's operations.
Jean-Pierre Blanc, who founded the Festival de Hyères, stepped down as general director. Interim director Bénédicte Lefeuvre now leads the organization.
Beyond this leadership change, the local press recently named Blanc in an article that claimed authorities had opened two investigations, including one allegedly targeting him. Several media outlets, including reported the article. However, the Toulon public prosecutor's office confirmed no investigation involving Blanc.
'The unfounded accusations made by one or more individuals accused of extortion—facts that we have established—do not lead us to conclude that Mr. Jean-Pierre Blanc faces an investigation related to the possession of child pornographic images,' said Samuel Finielz, Toulon's public prosecutor, last Friday.
This clarification aimed to ease tensions at Villa Noailles before its upcoming events. It also helped create a more stable environment as the association prepared the 40th-anniversary edition of the Festival de Hyères.
Didier Grumbach, former president of the association and former president of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, voiced that hope. Grumbach sent a letter to board members and Pascale Mussard, the association's president, to express his support. 'We must view the current situation, I sincerely believe, as a growth crisis that we should address as such, but with composure. I think the Villa Noailles Festival must continue developing, and we should find appropriate solutions in collaboration with public and private partners. We must resolutely meet the challenges facing this industrial and creative sector, which remains so strategic for our country and in which the Festival de Hyères plays such an important role. Finally, the attacks and maneuvers targeting Jean-Pierre Blanc, particularly the most degrading ones, must stop. I wish you a constructive meeting that fosters calm,' Grumbach wrote.
Board members now face the task of ensuring the successful organization of Villa Noailles' next major fashion event and preparing for the arrival of the association's next general manager. According to France 3 Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur, the association has already launched the recruitment process with a job posting on a cultural professions website. The new director will take office on September 1.
