Istituto Marangoni Paris celebrates 15 years: Q&A with school director Valérie Berdah Levy

The Istituto Marangoni Paris has just celebrated its 15th anniversary this year. It is an Italian school in the heart of Paris that focuses on blending business with creativity, digital transformation, individuality and creating an international atmosphere. FashionUnited recently spoke to Valérie Berdah Levy, the school director, to discuss how the school celebrated its 15th anniversary, what makes the school unique and the future plans of the institute.

How did the Istituto Marangoni Paris celebrate its 15th anniversary?

“We celebrated with parents, students, alumni, and the industry. We really wanted to involve and to gather everybody to voice celebrations. During the event, we showcased a fashion film of the 10 best student collections. For the past two years, we have not been able to organise a traditional fashion show due to the Covid-19 situation.”

What does the institute specialise in and what makes the institute unique compared to other fashion schools?

“I would say that we are the most international school in Paris, 80 percent of our students are international and we have 67 nationalities. Having so many different cultures gather together gives a really united and strong balance to the school, it’s very inspiring.

“Compared to the other Istituto Marangoni schools in Europe, such as Milan or London, our school in Paris is not as big. So there's easier accessibility between the students and the teachers, we know all of our students, we are close to them and if they have any issues we are here for them. It’s really a human voice school.

“I would say the Istituto Marangoni Paris’ approach with its students is really to combine creativity and a professional approach. We do push our students to be creative and to express themselves but we always say to them to refer to a market, to a need, I think that is a difference between us and other fashion schools. So, creativity, yes, but, we remind our students to not forget that you need to sell for a need in the market, so it's really the approach we take with our students.

“The Istituto Marangoni was first founded in Milan, 1935, so we have Italian roots, which makes us different from the other fashion schools in Paris. Furthermore, we also have the United Kingdom (UK) pedagogy, thanks to the partnership that we have with the Manchester Metropolitan University. So, our pedagogy is really UK-orientated and we are based in Paris with Italian roots. I think this also makes us different from other fashion schools in Paris.”

How do you explain the institute's longevity?

“Having so many schools around the world has contributed to our school’s longevity. We have schools all over the world, as well as in Paris we have schools in Milan, of course, Florence, London, Shanghai and Shenzhen in China, Mumbai in India, and Miami in the United States.

“As well, Istituto Marangoni is itself part of a huge group that is a leading international provider of Higher Education, the Galileo Global Education (GGE) group, they have 73 schools in 13 countries with more than 100,000 students all over the world. This has also helped to extend our school’s longevity, as being a part of a huge group makes us strong.”

What connection does the institute have with its graduates?

“We do keep a relationship with our alumni, thanks to our programme leader, we're very close to our alumni today, we are dedicated to supporting our students and alumni, and to maintain the alumni community.

“Each month, we organise an alumni talk, where an alumnus comes in and explains the job they are in, their tasks and how they started. As well, twice a year we organise an event to gather all of the alumni together for breakfast or an aperitivo. We also have a platform to remain in contact with our alumni and for them to stay in contact with one another called the Symplicity. It's really important for us to keep in touch with our alumni and to maintain a strong and dynamic community.”

What are the institute's future plans?

As we have more and more students that want to study in Paris, the next project we have is to move to a bigger building in the centre of Paris, so that is our main goal at the moment. This will allow us to develop new programmes in the accessories field.

Photo credit: Bruno Staub