French Minister of Culture set to launch a public fashion school in Paris

Paris is commonly thought of as the world´s fashion capital, so why do so many students aiming to pursue a study in this field leave France to obtain their degrees abroad? According to a recent report written by Lyne Cohen-Solal, the city´s former deputy mayor responsible for trade, artisans, independent professions and craftwork, a major problem currently faced within the educational scoop of the industry is that many higher educational institutes do not recognize fashion as a discipline. However, this is set to change as France´s Minister of Culture Fleur Pellerin has announced plans for launching a public fashion school. As part of this initiative, three higher education institutes in Paris will need to collaborate and share their knowledge to create a Bachelor´s programme in fashion that can compete with foreign programmes on the same subject.

The institutes who will be involved in this new initiative include the ´École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs´ (The National Superior School of Decorative Arts), ´les Mines´ graduate school and the ´Université Paris-Dauphine´. From September 2016 onwards, these three schools will start offering a programme which lets students study fashion from a creative, technical and business point of view.

“The higher educational landscape on the subjects of fashion and luxury is lacking a clear structure,” said Pellerin after reading Cohen-Solal´s report in an interview with Fashionmag. Pellerin refers to the fact that currently, there are around 60 programmes available which focus on fashion, but only thirteen of these are offered by public schools which the Minister finds a reason for concern.

”Fashion is a cultural and creative industry that does not receive enough financial help in our country, probably because it is considered ´frivolous´, which is scandalous when you realize it employs over 700,000 people and is the top French export product to Asia,” said Cohen-Solal to the Fédération Française du Prêt a Porter Féminin. To prove her point, she also refers to the fact that three of fashion´s most prestigious prizes - the prize of the ´Festival Internationale de Hyères´, the LVMH prize and the Andam prize - have all been won by alumni of schools outside of France this year.

”French fashion has a prestigious history. The future can and should be equally prestigious,” concludes Cohen-Solal. “France can and must continue to base part of its economic and cultural development on this creative force admired the world over and on that force´s inexhaustible supply of energy.”

Image credit: Pinterest