Polimoda Fashion Institute of Florence

Summary

Polimoda, located in Florence, Italy is consistently ranked the best fashion school in Italy, a country known for craftsmanship and home to many of the biggest luxury companies in the world, with which it has several partnerships. It’s got a lot of high-tech equipment, industry connections, business curriculum and an 91 percent placement rate after graduation.

History

In 1986, Polimoda was founded as Politecnico Internazionale della Moda in an agreement between two international centres of fashion, and two trailblazers of the industry. Shirley Goodman, the former Executive Vice President Emeritus at FIT in New York and Executive Director of the Educational Foundation for the Fashion Industries, and Don Emilio Pucci, Marchese di Barsento and founder of the famous Florentine brand Emilio Pucci, came together to create a centre for excellence in fashion education, to serve the city as much as the global industry. The first classes took place at Villa Strozzi in central Florence that year, and the Institute has only grown in strength and influence since then.

In 1992, a second campus dedicated to knitting and textile creation opened in Prato, and later in 2000, a third outpost specialising in design was inaugurated in Via Baldovinetti. Bringing together these two purposes in one unified space, the Polimoda Design Lab put down roots in its current location in Scandicci in 2015.

In 2006, Polimoda welcomed its new President, Ferruccio Ferragamo, who was joined by Linda Loppa as the Institute’s Director. This marked a new era for the Institute, and together in 2011, they inaugurated the campus at Villa Favard where the school remains today. In 2015, Polimoda hosted the IFFTI Conference (The International Foundation of Fashion Technology Institutes), when six historical locations in Florence were taken over by research, fashion curation and art direction.

In 2016, the author of the guiding theme of this conference, Danilo Venturi, was named the new Director of Polimoda. As an expert on contemporary fashion and fashion education with specialised experience in brand management and creative direction, Venturi is currently leading the Institute to ambitious new heights.

Courses

Undergraduate: Fashion Design; Fashion Technology; Leather Technology; Business of Fashion; Fashion Marketing Management; Fashion Art Direction; Fashion Styling; Fashion Design Management; Product Management

Graduate: Collection Design; Shoe Design; Fashion Design; Bag Design; Fashion Brand Management; Fashion Marketing & Communications; International Fashion Business; Fashion Retail Management; Fashion Finance & New Ethics; Luxury Business; Fashion Merchandising & Buying; Fashion Trend Forecasting; Fashion Styling; Fashion Art Direction; Creative Direction; Product Management

Tuition

Undergraduate: €18,000 (or $20,459 at the current exchange rate)
Graduate: €28,000 (or $31,826 at the current exchange rate)

Famous Alumni

Edgardo Osorio, Massimiliano Giornetti, Luke & Lucie Meier, Francesco Risso, Torsten Hochstetter