How to brand the soon-to-be number one fashion campus of the world?
Launched on January 8th, 2019, the Institut Français de la Mode is the happy marriage between two renowned existing Parisian fashion schools. The “École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne”–an institution training the best craftsmen and women of fashion (Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld and Issey Miyake, among others, studied there) –and the ‘IFM’ (created by Pierre Bergé)– the most prestigious school of fashion and luxury management.
In addition to this union, by bringing a new pool of teachers, the school is creating a brand new programme of fashion design. With a daring will for creativity, the programme has strong ambitions to bring environmental, social and technological questions at its core. The combination of these three pillars (creation, management, savoir-faire) in one location will make the new school a unique proposition in the fashion education world and the place to be to connect with main luxury houses in Paris.
The first line of our brief was therefore pretty clear: brand the soon-to-be number one fashion campus of the world. We tried to take on the challenge in style.
Thierry Brunfaut, Creative Director & Partner
Sander Vermeulen, Design DirectorClassy and timeless yet quirky, the custom typeface we designed is the written voice of the school. It had to feel somehow ‘French’, this is why we added the oversized accents to an elegant serif font. The accent is what is making French so … French, no? The new tone of voice of the school mixes French with English in all messages and plays around with verbal clichés about fashion and France.
Gaston Lafond, Copywriter & StrategistThe new logo reinstalls the full name and highlights the two keywords “Français” and ”Mode” in full caps. The logo combines elegance (with the typography) and bricolage (with the accents), therefore symbolizing the essence the fashion school.
Léa Wolf, DesignerOur objective with the new identity was to balance the institutional with a young contemporary attitude that would directly talk to potential students. The launch of the newly created fashion design programs had also to be pushed forward by bringing a creative feel across all channels.
Léa Wolf, DesignerThe professors of the Creation Department did a wonderful job at art directing the shoots with a pool of photographers and creatives we selected together (Benoit Bethume & Estelle Hanania, Allyssa Heuze, Frédérique Daubal).
Maxime Palau, Web DeveloperA bold and generous new digital attitude was imperative to bring the institute closer to potential fashion students from across the globe.
Morgane Van Oncem, Project ManagerWe envisioned the homepage as a kaleidoscope of activities reflecting the energy and disparity of proposals of the new school. Yet, a simple menu can immediately lead the user to specific sections or programs.
Thomas Leon, Creative DirectorThe new school typeface is used for external window signage and internal advertisement.
Gaston Lafond, Copywriter & StrategistThis is only the beginning. The school will extend between 2019 and 2020 by 8000 square meters more in its unique and actual location of the Cité de la Mode et du Design on the river Seine to offer Paris the fashion campus it deserves.
Thierry Brunfaut, Creative Director & PartnerThanks again to the Institut Français de la Mode team for your trust and kind words. Amazing collaboration!
Bringing together the teachers from the two merging fashion schools in dynamic workshops to help them define their shared future was essential. It was our main objective in the strategy phase.