Fashion School Q&A: L'Institut Supérieur des Arts Appliqués - LISAA

With more than 4000 students, spread over nine different sites, LISAA School of Art & Design, (L'Institut Supérieur des Arts Appliqués) is one of the biggest French design schools. LISAA is an art & design school and it trains designers and managers in the fields of Animation, Video Games, Interior Architecture, Design, Graphic Design, and Fashion. FashionUnited recently spoke to Raphaelle H’limi, Fashion Design teacher and Digital Learning Manager to discuss the impact of Covid-19, the type of courses the college offers, and the future plans of the institute.

How has the transition from in-house to remote learning been for the school and students?

When the first lockdown occurred in March 2020, all of our classes were immediately conducted via videoconferencing using Blackboard Collaborate, which is a tool suitable for virtual classes. The main difficulty was access to our sewing and pattern-making workshops. So, we adapted our end of the year and finally, our graduates were able to take their final exams in good conditions and in-person in October 2020. For the second lockdown, in early November 2020, we were really ready, thanks to a series of measurements and tests around the distance classroom and bimodality. So, we switched our courses to a platform called Lisaa.learn. Lisaa.learn is an LMS, Learning Management System, very complete and with multiple possibilities. Not only virtual classes with authenticated access, but also online courses with accessible content (videos, tutorials, PDFs, links) 24 hours a day so the student advances at his own pace and can see and review certain important information for his learning. All teachers have been able to use this platform to exchange, transmit and apply their pedagogy in an optimized way. Today, even with a gradual return to face-to-face classes, this platform is still useful to us and is now part of our pedagogy, as an online reference point for our students.

How would you describe the student community at LISAA?

Our school is in full development, today we welcome 450 students for our Bachelor of Fashion Design. The classes are divided into classes of about thirty students. We encourage collaboration, solidarity, and mutual aid among our students, through creative group projects. The BDE of our school is very active and tries to create animations and meetings whenever possible. We receive many donations (fabrics, haberdashery...) from the major Parisian fashion houses and we redistribute them to our students in an equitable manner. The values of our school are palpable in our pedagogical content (ethical and responsible fashion projects, solidarity partnerships) and in our classes. We also offer a master’s degree in Fashion and Luxury Management which trains around 250 students. The particularity of this training is that it is 100 percent e-learning. But as we feel it is important for our students to meet each other and benefit from this network, we organize seminars 5 times during the training program, so that connections are established, and a group spirit is created.

What kind of courses does LISAA offer? What is the focus area?

At Lisaa, we currently offer different training courses:
A Bachelor's degree (Bac +3, face-to-face, in French and English) in " Stylist-Fashion Designer" with 3 specializations in textiles, patternmaking and fashion business.

3 different master’s degree (Bac +5, e-learning, in French and English):
- Master Fashion & Luxury Management
- Master Communication & Digital Marketing for Fashion
- Master Fashion Marketing & Sustainability

A master's degree in " Master Fashion Design & Brand Creation " (Bac+5) with the possibility to get a double diploma from a UK University or an Italian University.

Other programs will be launched for the next few years. LISAA trains fashion designers and stylists specialized in patternmaking and textile design in Paris. LISAA has developed courses in management, communication, and marketing for the fashion and luxury sectors that allow students to work full time while learning.

What do we need to know about LISAA?

We are installed in a spacious campus in the heart of Paris, a stone's throw from the Pantheon and the Parc du Luxembourg. Our French or foreign students take full advantage of this central and ideal geographical location in Paris. Everything has been designed to welcome our students in well-equipped, adapted, and bright classrooms. Numerous "student" spaces are located throughout the campus, making it a place of life, exchange, and sharing.

In recent years, we have developed fab-labs workshops in order to offer our students numerous techniques to use on their creations: silk-screening, laser cutting, flocking, plotter, knitting machine, accessories workshop. We also have a fleet of sewing machines, ironing presses, and overlocking machines that allow students to work in absolute comfort. All of our teachers are professionals in the sector who pass on the codes and techniques of their profession. But Lisaa's added value is its international and professional dimension. We collaborate with companies in the fashion sector to integrate their request into our pedagogy within the framework of partnership. We regularly work on workshops or study trips with European or international universities. We want to open up a field of possibilities to our students: English is of crucial importance in fashion, so we have developed all of our courses in English (1/3 of our classes are provided in English). Our goal is to train future professionals of the sector with all the technical and creative skills, without neglecting the part of motivation, curiosity, and ingenuity that will allow them to stand out from others.

What are the plans for this year? Any new things coming up?

We are currently developing new programs that are very much in line with the market. And more particularly around international double degrees with a year or a semester abroad in a partner university.

For the next few months, we are working on the realization of our end-of-study fashion show, which will be a virtual fashion show with the most striking creations of this class of 2020/2021.

Do you have any tips for future students who want to study at LISAA?

For students who would like to come and study at Lisaa, I would tell them that they are welcome to come and meet us to visit our school and share our good vibes. If they are considering studying fashion, my advice for them will be to always be curious, always look at things in depth: seek the source, understand the reason. Go to as many exhibitions as possible, read books about fashion and every other interesting field, and awaken their senses to the materials. Your passion should be there before you enter school, but we're here to make it your job. So feed your passion.

Photos: GLEBRUN... : Atelier DIPTIK / Guillaume Lebrun
Lisaa 17.12... : Jon Mills