\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tSidney Toledano<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStephane Feugere\/Courtesy of IFM<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tXavier Romatet, dean of the IFM since 2019, echoed Toledano\u2019s conviction in the same interview, arguing that having all three disciplines under one roof facilitates dialogue and understanding that is crucial.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a question of alignment,\u201d Romatet said.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe give the opportunity for the designers to understand the codes and the language of craft, for the craftspeople to understand the codes and language of the designers, and for the managers to see what is the process and to work together,\u201d he explained. \u201cThe IFM brings together students at every level, from vocational training to bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees and the MBA, across craftsmanship, fashion design, management, and entrepreneurship. This creates a unique environment in which different disciplines, skills, and perspectives coexist and enrich one another.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe IFM is marking its big milestone with a party in Paris on Wednesday \u2014 and from a position of strength. Its flagship program \u2014 the master of arts in fashion design \u2014 now attracts 350 candidates for every 20 positions in garment design, Romatet said. (On average, six applicants compete for each spot at IFM.)<\/p>\n \n\tWhat\u2019s more, \u201cnow that fashion design is at the heart of the school,\u201d the IFM has become more attractive to management and craftsmanship students, according to Romatet.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cPeople want to work in the fashion industry because of the creative process,\u201d he said. \u201cThe fact that (our graduate show) is on the official calendar of Paris Fashion Week, in terms of reputation and activity for the school, is something which is very important \u2026 The more we can demonstrate to the market the level of creativity from the students of IFM, the more the school will be recognized as one of the best worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tToledano and Romatet stressed that being headquartered in Paris remains one of the school\u2019s most potent calling cards, given the city\u2019s legacy of craftsmanship and savoir-faire \u2014 and its concentration of major industry actors, headlined by the luxury groups LVMH Mo\u00ebt Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Kering, plus such megabrands as Chanel, Herm\u00e8s and L\u2019Or\u00e9al.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cYou put the same school in Berlin, it wouldn\u2019t work,\u201d Romatet remarked. \u201cWhat truly sets IFM apart is its deep integration into the fashion industry. Since its founding, the school has maintained exceptionally close, day-to-day relationships with the industry\u2019s leading players.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tCEOs and designers from a wide swath of Paris-based houses regularly give lectures to IFM students at the campus inside the Cit\u00e9 de la Mode et du Design, a striking contemporary building on the banks of the Seine. This year, Celine\u2019s artistic director Michael Rider served as patron of its Bachelor of Arts Graduate Show.<\/p>\n \n\tThe brands also raise money for scholarships, research and teaching chairs via the IFM Foundation \u2014 and also hire many graduates.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cA university cannot ignore the real world. This is why at IFM you will be meeting leaders, management, industry. This is the objective,\u201d Toledano said.<\/p>\n \n\tOn average, 83 percent of IFM students are employed within one year of finishing their studies, Romatet said.<\/p>\n \n\tFor those graduating from the \u00c9cole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne (ECSCP), which was folded into the IFM in 2019 and focuses on fashion and couture craft and technique, the ratio rises to nearly 100 percent.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tLooks from the IFM BA fashion show in June 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGuillaume Roujas\/Courtesy of IFM<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tAccording to the school, some 60 percent of its graduates go on to work for major groups such as Chanel, Herm\u00e8s, Kering, L\u2019Or\u00e9al, LVMH, or Richemont; roughly 20 percent work for smaller companies; 10 percent with service providers for the industry, such as agencies and event production companies, and 5 percent as entrepreneurs or freelancers. Only 5 percent pursue careers outside the fashion and luxury industries.<\/p>\n \n\tAbout 55 percent of the IFM\u2019s 1,400 students now come from outside of France, representing 70 different nationalities. The top-10 nationalities are French, American, Italian, German, Chinese, Swiss, British, South Korean, Spanish and Russian.<\/p>\n \n\tFor the 2026 school year, there are 620 students in fashion management, the IFM\u2019s original raison d\u2019\u00eatre, plus 344 in savoir-faire and 436 in design.<\/p>\n \n\tThe IFM regularly gathers human resources executives from marquee French companies in order to see how hiring is evolving.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe are able to follow the needs of the industry because of the connection we have with industry leaders at different levels,\u201d said Toledano, who has been chairman of the IFM since 2022 and a board member for nearly 30 years.<\/p>\n \n\tIts current board of directors spans senior executives from fashion and couture houses, retail, and the apparel and textile sectors.<\/p>\n \n\tRomatet and Toledano touted the consistency and long-term vision of the IFM, founded in 1986 at the impetus of Yves Saint Laurent couture boss Pierre Berg\u00e9 to bridge fashion design and business management. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe had the vision and intuition that the industry needed managers better prepared to deal with creativity at that time,\u201d Toledano said.<\/p>\n \n\tAt that time, only 2 percent of employees in the fashion industry had a higher education background, compared with 14.5 percent across French industry as a whole, according to Romatet.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhat made this initiative remarkable was the willingness of companies to join forces despite being competitors,\u201d Romatet said. \u201cBrands, retailers and manufacturers came together around a shared ambition: to develop the talent and expertise needed to support the industry\u2019s expansion across product categories, international markets and retail.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tFast-forward to today and the IFM has produced such designers as Nad\u00e8ge Vanhee-Cybulski, who leads Herm\u00e8s womenswear, Charles de Vilmorin and Rabih Kayrouz, though it is perhaps better known for churning out managers who have filled the ranks of leading luxury groups, beauty companies and retail giants.<\/p>\n \n\tFamous alumni of the ECSCP of yore include Karl Lagerfeld, Valentino Garavani, Yves Saint Laurent, Andr\u00e9 Courr\u00e8ges and Issey Miyake, though some did not complete their studies.<\/p>\n \n\tAmong management graduates who went on to become CEOs and senior executives are Catherine Jacquet at Isabel Marant, Myriam Serrano at Ala\u00efa, Sybille Darricarr\u00e8re at Victoria Beckham, Katalin Berenyi at Clarins, Sandrine Jolly at Maybelline, Berta de Pablos at Pandora, and Polo Raynal at Bureau Betak, to name a few.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhat sets IFM graduates apart, whether they are managers or designers, is their deep understanding of the industry and how it operates, which allows them to hit the ground running from Day One,\u201d Romatet argued.<\/p>\n \n\tMeanwhile, the school\u2019s craftsmanship branch has trained the heads of ready-to-wear ateliers at houses including Victoria Beckham, Kenzo and Mugler, as well as many premi\u00e8res mains<\/em> and premi\u00e8res d\u2019atelier<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tRomatet noted the IFM has only had three deans, including himself, in its history. Previously the head of Cond\u00e9 Nast France from 2006 to 2018, Romatet succeeded Dominique Jacomet, who took over in 2007 from Pascal Morand, who is now executive president of the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, among organizations that are key allies of the school.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe manage the school exactly the same way a luxury brand has to be managed: with a long-term, clear vision, consistency of the brand and quality of execution,\u201d Romatet said. \u201cTransmission is a long-term process, exactly like luxury.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tToledano also trumpeted the importance of looking far beyond quarterly results, hinting that he is working on a project with LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault, whom he advises, \u201cwhich may have an impact in 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s important to train people to be resilient when you have turbulence,\u201d Toledano said. \u201cThis comes with experience, and these are things that we can tell the students \u2026 Luxury is a long-term investment. So we have to train our people to make the right decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe executives also touted how the IFM has evolved with the industry it serves.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe have had discussions with top-level management to see how the school could be a place for experimentation,\u201d Romatet said. \u201cMy mission is to prepare people for the next generation, with the skills they need, and the mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tTwo years ago, major luxury players alerted the IFM that product development and manufacturing skills were becoming increasingly difficult to find \u2014 even as they strove to increase operational excellence, \u201cparticularly in manufacturing processes and in managing relationships with design offices and manufacturers,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is why we developed this new specialization within our specialized master\u2019s in fashion management, launched in September 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tInside the Institut Fran\u00e7ais de la Mode in Paris.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMathieu Baumer\/Courtesy of IFM<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tLocated within the Cit\u00e9 de la Mode et du Design in eastern Paris since 2008, the IFM has more than quadrupled in size and now takes up about 70 percent of the building\u2019s total space, about 97,000 square feet.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe have further ambitions to develop new programs and activities, which will require additional space beyond what is currently available to us,\u201d Romatet noted. \u201cWe are actively exploring how to accommodate this next phase of growth.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tTo strengthen IFM\u2019s attractiveness, Toledando and Romatet described a constant rethinking of its educational formats and content, also integrating new technologies and tools such as artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cOur role is to ensure that students are equipped to embrace these changes without losing the creative independence and critical thinking that make fashion a unique discipline,\u201d Romatet stressed. \u201cThe requirement we have from candidates is their capability to have a creative point of view \u2026 It\u2019s not rational. The fashion industry needs passion.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If there\u2019s a golden ratio for success in the fashion business, its illustration might resemble a tetrahedron. During an interview, Sidney Toledano, chairman of the Institut Fran\u00e7ais de la Mode or IFM,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Sidney](\"https:\/\/wwd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/institut-francais-mode-ifm-anniversary-ctsy-015.jpg?w=200\")
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