Fashion Week: IFM presents a digital fashion show
The Institut Français de la Mode has been invited for the second time to take part in the official fashion calendar and to open Paris Fashion Week on February 28 with a digital fashion show presenting the work of the 59 Master of Arts graduates (the fashion and image design program).
The show will be presented in digital format at 4:30 p.m. (on the official Paris Fashion Week platform, like all the other events on the calendar), and will be "an opportunity to discover the creations of young designers from more than 16 different countries," explained Leyla Neri, director of the Master of Arts in Fashion Design, "who for two years have undergone extensive training in style, technique, culture and innovation."
A special feature of the event will be the presentation of the students physical and digital accessories made in partnership with tech start-up, Stage 11, offering them and the audience the opportunity to learn more about the metaverse.
“Our meeting with Stage 11, a metaverse expert, convinced us," explained Xavier Romatet, IFM's general director. “We immediately proposed a collaboration with the company to our students, who all jumped at the opportunity and designed a digital piece to complete their collection of five physical pieces. Since the laws of physics no longer applied, the whole design process consisted of going beyond reality and pushing the limits of creativity."
The virtual creations include shoes of abstract shapes resembling works of art as done by Malgorzata Mazanek, a bag designed from nonexistent materials and capable of deforming at will according to Isabelle Derlon, Romain Rossi’s hairy shoes, Mathilde Rougier’s collection and Joshua Cannone’s lineup of bags and fantastical objects.
The French-born New Yorker, trained in industrial design and selected to present his work at the next Festival d'Hyères, will showcase a collection of bags that think outside of the classic leather goods box in abstract, animal, and fetish-inspired shapes. The lineup includes a leather zipped man-shaped bag (the designer's favorite piece that is also offered virtually), a cocoon bag, a mini doll bag, and 3D printed rat-shaped water bottle holders.
IFM plans on renewing this “new technological” dimension.
"The school must be one step ahead of the fashion design houses," added Romatet, "and we must know how to integrate new technologies into all our teachings. We want to be a laboratory of multiple experiments and to work in the physical world as well as in the virtual world."
The “virtualization in fashion” certificate, which launched at the school last September to accompany the “entrepreneurship in fashion” and “sustainability in fashion” certificates, offers 30 students lessons, meetings (recently done with Balenciaga), and the opportunity to create a virtual project. In March, IFM will initiate a collaboration with Reebok and Stage 11 that will allow students to design a virtual piece to add to the brand's main digital collection for its metaverse.
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