Yui Chen takes top fashion prize at Hyères with 'Food Cover'

Shanghai-based Chinese designer Yui Chen has won the Grand Jury Prize in fashion at the 41st Hyères International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Accessories. The result came on Saturday, Oct 17, 2026. Chen won for “Food Cover,” a women’s wear-leaning unisex collection, a range made for anyone to wear but cut with a focus on womenswear WWD.

The jury was headed by Chemena Kamali, creative director of Chloé, the French fashion house. It included Lucas Emilio Brunner, last year’s Grand Jury Prize winner. The festival ran from Oct 15 to 18, 2026 at Villa Noailles, the modernist villa in Hyères in southern France that hosts the event WWD.

Chen, a graduate of Parsons Paris, the Paris branch of the New York design school, is based in Shanghai Vogue. Her work transforms everyday objects into garments, according to preview material issued before the final Fashion Network. The winning designs were described as airy, sculptural pieces, light clothes with bold, built-out shapes Business of Fashion.

Two other fashion prizes were announced alongside the main award. Paris-based Chinese designer Xiao Xu won the second annual Supima Prize, given by Supima, the US body that represents growers of Pima cotton, for her collection “Uncanny.” Mexican-German designer Dieter Vlasich Obermann won the Le19M Métiers d’Arts Prize, backed by Le19M, Chanel’s Paris centre for craft workshops, in partnership with Chanel, the French luxury house, for his collection “Tiliches” WWD.

The Métiers d’Arts prize rewards work with specialist craft workshops, the ateliers behind skills such as embroidery, pleating and featherwork. The Supima prize, now in its second year, is linked to a specific fibre, US-grown Pima cotton. Both sat within the fashion competition at Hyères, which also covers photography and accessories.

What makes this stand out is the format. Hyères is a contest, not a market. New designers are judged on finished collections in front of a jury, rather than on sales or orders.

For anyone new to the event, that is the point to keep. The winners had been due to be named on Saturday, closing three days of shows and judging. In fashion, the Grand Jury Prize was the main award, and this year it went to Chen.