This weekend marks the close of the 28th International Festival of Fashion & Photography organized by Villa Noailles in Hyères, France. This festival seems the perfect legacy for the owners and creators of the villa — Vicomte and Vicomtesse Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles. Legendary modern art patrons and collectors, they commissioned numerous works of art and financed films in the 1920s and 30s by their surrealist friends Man Ray, Jean Cocteau, Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí. Man Ray’s film was actually shot in part at their Hyères residence and starred, among others, the Vicomte and Vicomtesse themselves. The villa was designed by architect Rob. Mallet-Stevens, and is considered one of the earliest and most important modern structures in France. Completed in 1925, its original furnishings represent the work of some of the leaders of the modern movement including Eileen Gray, Pierre Chareau, Georges Djo-Bourgeois and Francis Jourdan. The much-lauded Cubist garden was designed by Josef Hoffmann-trained architect Gabriel Guévrékian. Today, the Villa Noailles through its programs, residencies and exhibitions very clearly represents the keen vision of the Vicomte and Vicomtesse to support and encourage emerging artists and designers. We imagine they would be very pleased.

www.villanoailles-hyeres.com