IFM bachelor students present their first fashion show

There was a striking contrast between the very select front row that attended the first fashion show of the thirty-two bachelor students of Arts in Fashion Design from the Institut Français de la Mode at the Cité de la Mode et du Design in Paris, and the fashion designs presented on the catwalk.

The most prominent personalities in the fashion industry were seated in the front rows, including Pascal Morand, former director of the Institut Français de la Mode (IFM) and executive chairman of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, Sidney Toledano, new chairman of the IFM board and chairman and CEO of LVMH Fashion Group, Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel and proposed candidate for the next presidency of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, Xavier Romatet, General Manager of the IFM and former director of Condé Nast France, Sylvie Ebel, Director of the IFM. Even the first lady of France, Brigitte Macron, was present. This demonstrates the level of importance of this fashion show and the challenge it posed for the students involved.

An end-of-the-world atmosphere

The catwalk had an untraditional look, as the 32 bachelors each took on the challenge of deconstructing the currency dominant styles in six looks. Occasionally apocalyptic, the looks boasted technical know-how (impressive knitwear work) and recycling, upcycling, rejection of the female/male gender and the inclusiveness of "non-standard" physiques for fashion. An end-of-times atmosphere, sometimes gothic, other times more colourful, even carnivalesque (in the joyful sense of the term).

Alma Wuttke Rodriguez, Antoine-Pilli. Credit: Guillaume Roujas.

To this promising proposal of new ideas, we should add an almost general choice for shoes that confer a heavy gait, signifying (or not) the difficulty of moving forward. It is as if these new arrivals in the world of fashion, even though they have been offered great opportunities, are afraid of what brands are subject to nowadays: the climate emergency, the lack of resources, social responsibility…

And even if some of the bachelor students know how to soften their approach to fit into a ready-to-wear industry still driven by questions of volume and margins, their anticipation of the future, through fashion, allows them to shake up the conventions of the industry and open up the field to a new social and environmental aesthetic. Being educated in this awareness is the current challenge of a fashion school, isn't it? In this respect, the first fashion show of the Institut Français de la Mode is a success.

The Bachelor of Arts in Fashion course at IFM was approved by the French Ministry of Higher Education in February 2022 and authorised to award the degree of licence.

This article was originally published on FashionUnited.FR. Translation and editing into English: Veerle Versteeg.