Paris fashion school IFM marks 40 years with a crowded field of applicants
The Institut Français de la Mode, a Paris school that trains people for the fashion business, is celebrating its 40th anniversary, according to WWD.
The school, known as IFM, takes students from vocational training through bachelor's and master's degrees and an MBA, which is a business master's. Its courses cover craftsmanship, fashion design, management and entrepreneurship. Places are hard to win. On the master of arts in fashion design, about 350 candidates compete for every 20 places in garment design. Across the school, an average of six applicants go for each spot.
The campus sits inside the Cité de la Mode et du Design, a fashion and design centre on the banks of the Seine. Students there can see the work of the wider Paris industry close to hand. CEOs and designers from Paris-based fashion houses regularly give lectures to IFM students, according to the same report.
The school's graduate show is on the official calendar of Paris Fashion Week, the biannual run of shows that sets the pace for the industry's seasons. Being listed there means a student collection is presented alongside the work of established labels.
IFM is led by Sidney Toledano, who chairs the institute. He ran Dior as chief executive and later headed the LVMH Fashion Group, the division of the luxury conglomerate that houses its fashion brands. Xavier Romatet has been dean since 2019. Before joining the school, he was head of Condé Nast France, the magazine publisher, and he left that role in March 2018.
Earlier coverage placed the school at the top of a national ranking. Le Figaro Étudiant, a French education publication, put IFM first in its inaugural fashion school ranking, according to the school's own website. The school also runs Incubateur IFM, a collective that supports creative entrepreneurs, and offers executive programmes in fashion and luxury management.
For a student, the anniversary is a reminder of how long the school has been feeding people into the industry. For the trade, it is a reminder of who is trained to design, buy and run the brands that employ them.
