IFM at 40: 350 Applicants Per Design Seat and Near-100% Craft Placement

The Institut Français de la Mode turns 40 this week with 350 candidates competing for 20 garment-design seats in its flagship master of arts program — a 17.5-to-1 ratio that chairman Sidney Toledano and dean Xavier Romatet present as proof of the school's positioning at the heart of French luxury hiring.

Overall, six applicants compete for each spot at IFM, Romatet said in a joint interview ahead of the anniversary party held in Paris on Wednesday. The numbers matter to brands because the school functions as a de facto recruitment channel: 83 percent of IFM students find employment within one year of graduating. For graduates of the École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne (ECSCP), the couture craft school folded into IFM in 2019, the ratio rises to nearly 100 percent.

Where do the graduates actually go?

The placement breakdown is concrete. According to the school:

• About 60 percent of graduates join major groups such as Chanel, Hermès, Kering, L'Oréal, LVMH or Richemont.
• Roughly 20 percent join smaller companies.
• Ten percent work for industry service providers, including agencies and event production firms.
• Five percent become entrepreneurs or freelancers.
• Only 5 percent leave fashion and luxury altogether.

For 2026, IFM enrolled 620 students in fashion management — its founding discipline — plus 344 in savoir-faire (craftsmanship) and 436 in design, out of 1,400 students in total. Some 55 percent come from outside France, representing 70 nationalities; the top ten are French, American, Italian, German, Chinese, Swiss, British, South Korean, Spanish and Russian.

What is the commercial logic of the model?

Toledano, the veteran luxury executive who has chaired IFM since 2022 after nearly 30 years on its board, sketched a tetrahedron during the interview: creativity, craftsmanship and management at the corners, with "brand" at the top. His argument is that IFM trains all three populations to, as he put it, "speak the same language."

"There is a process, and I think at IFM we can prepare very well people to speak the same language," Toledano said, recalling his early years as CEO of Christian Dior under John Galliano, when he built a product committee and told management, marketing and production staff: "Listen to the vision first … You always need a leader for the creativity."

Romatet, dean since 2019 and previously head of Condé Nast France from 2006 to 2018, framed the same point as alignment. "It's a question of alignment," he said. "We give the opportunity for the designers to understand the codes and the language of craft, for the craftspeople to understand the codes and language of the designers, and for the managers to see what is the process and to work together."

The caveat is location. Both men concede the model is not portable. "You put the same school in Berlin, it wouldn't work," Romatet said. IFM sits inside the Cité de la Mode et du Design on the Seine, occupying about 70 percent of the building — roughly 97,000 square feet — after more than quadrupling in size since moving there in 2008. Romatet confirmed the school is "actively exploring" additional space for new programs.

How tight are the industry links?

CEOs and designers from Paris-based houses lecture regularly at the campus. Celine artistic director Michael Rider served as patron of this year's Bachelor of Arts Graduate Show. Brands also fund scholarships, research and teaching chairs through the IFM Foundation, and the school convenes human resources executives from marquee French companies to track how hiring is evolving.

"We are able to follow the needs of the industry because of the connection we have with industry leaders at different levels," Toledano said.

The pedigree supports the claim. IFM-trained designers include Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski, who leads Hermès womenswear, Charles de Vilmorin and Rabih Kayrouz. ECSCP alumni of earlier eras include Karl Lagerfeld, Valentino Garavani, Yves Saint Laurent, André Courrèges and Issey Miyake, though some did not finish their studies. Management graduates now hold senior roles at Catherine Jacquet at Isabel Marant, Myriam Serrano at Alaïa, Sybille Darricarrère at Victoria Beckham, Katalin Berenyi at Clarins, Sandrine Jolly at Maybelline, Berta de Pablos at Pandora and Polo Raynal at Bureau Betak. The craftsmanship branch has trained ready-to-wear atelier heads at Victoria Beckham, Kenzo and Mugler.

What is the sourcing angle?

The most commercially relevant development came two years ago, when major luxury players told IFM that product development and manufacturing skills were becoming scarce — even as they pushed for operational excellence, "particularly in manufacturing processes and in managing relationships with design offices and manufacturers," Romatet said. IFM responded with a new specialization inside its specialized master's in fashion management, launched in September 2025.

Founded in 1986 at the urging of Yves Saint Laurent couture boss Pierre Bergé, IFM emerged when only 2 percent of fashion industry employees held higher education degrees, against 14.5 percent across French industry. Competing brands, retailers and manufacturers pooled resources to build the talent pipeline they needed — an early example of pre-competitive cooperation in the sector.

Toledano hinted at further consolidation of that model, saying he is working on a project with LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault, whom he advises, "which may have an impact in 10 years." He offered no detail. Romatet, for his part, said IFM is integrating artificial intelligence into programs while insisting on creative independence — and IFM's expansion of its manufacturing-focused curriculum suggests the school will keep calibrating its output to the industry's most acute skills gaps.