“Is there someone in charge?, asks a voice over the walkie-talkie. We bring in the first models. ” Setup, camera settings. A young woman holds a slate in her hands which she places in front of the camera as a clap. Then finally emerge, in a large white room, eight mannequins, in jacquard coats, latex or XXL epaulettes, red tights, boots with heels. This Saturday, February 20, we are filming in the premises of the French Fashion Institute (IFM) in Paris the creations of Clément Picot, a master’s student in women’s fashion.
“If we want to be a fashion school of global reference, we must have a platform for the expression of creation”, Xavier Romatet, Director General of the French Fashion Institute.
“I was inspired by the work of artist Matthew Barney and the films American Psycho and Shining. I wanted a dramatic result ”, explains the 23-year-old boy who is a good hour behind schedule. It is that, until the end, he took care of his collection, finished putting on certain buttons, sewn up a pocket so that a card holder was positioned exactly as he wanted. “For the past week, I’ve been sleeping for two hours a night. “
Clément Picot is one of the forty-eight master’s students from IFM to have presented his work at the opening of Parisian fashion week, on February 28. A first. Abroad, rival schools were already showing their students, such as the Parsons School of Design at New York fashion week or the Central Saint Martins school, which for more than thirty years has benefited from the fashion week platform. London: it was during this end of studies exercise that a certain Alexander McQueen was spotted on March 16, 1992 …
Born from the merger in 2019 of the Ecole de la chambre syndicale de la couture Parisienne and the IFM which until then trained in management, located in 6,000 m2 brand new on the banks of the Seine (9,000 m2 in total when the last works will be completed), the IFM finally allows itself to do the same, aware of having to defend its breeding ground for talent.
“If we want to be a world benchmark fashion school, we must have a platform for the expression of creation”, estimates Xavier Romatet, the director general of the establishment who campaigned with the Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion for the official calendar to welcome the first promotion of master. Result? Deconstructed tailors, asymmetrical Amazon outfits, undulating knits, denim or surreal pumps, leather bag-dresses… A mosaic of proposals emerges.
Mutant dresses in relief
Before reaching the final videos, it took four days of filming, supervised by the production company Titre Provisoire. A stone’s throw from the plateau, at the end of a corridor, backstages have been installed, with buffet and ironing tables. An anthill. In addition to the creators of the collections who are biting their nails (“And sometimes change their minds about an accessory at the last minute, as in the big houses”, laughs Xavier Romatet), other students who have come to lend a hand, apprentice hairdressers from the L’Oréal school or make-up artists in training from the Morgane Hilgers school. Once they have passed through their hands, each model leaves to put on the outfit assigned to him.
“For the models, the school offered us certain profiles but we were also free to bring people in”, says Mathieu Goosse, 25, who has scrolled through two friends of his, registered with the IFM in other departments. “In the current infernal cycle of fashion, we create clothes by feeding on images to draw other images. Me, I leave my hands ”, specifies the Belgian student. Already trained in industrial design, he first created objects, drawings or lists of words. He then remodels this raw material into clothes made from recovered fabrics. A small wooden chair, for example, nourishes a combination which takes up its right angles; abstract monoliths of colors penciled in her notebook become an asymmetrical fluorescent green jumpsuit or a red tunic. In the absence of a physical parade due to the pandemic, “I was afraid that the viewer could not perceive the variety of materials on the screen, recognizes Mathieu Goosse, who mixed, for his eleven silhouettes, satin, python, pearls or denim. But I am rather reassured after seeing the first rushes ”.
A lower floor, not far from large weaving machines, Johanna Imbach, 25, polishes up her mutant dresses in relief, in hand-sewn thermoformed mesh. Being one of the last to film her collection, she still has twenty-four hours left for everything to be drawn in line. “I still have to finish assembling the socks, there will be a few touch-ups here and there, she explains. And then I help my comrades when they need it ”, in the spirit of resourcefulness and sharing that promotion must cultivate.
“For them and for us, being at fashion week is a chance, an opportunity to show our creativity”, rejoices Thierry Rondenet who supervised the master’s degree in men’s fashion. “Some students were afraid of not finishing on time but the pressure of the deadline motivated them and they succeeded”, complements Vanja Hedberg who oversees women’s fashion. Discovering their collections at fashion week alongside heritage houses and young labels can in any case show the concerns of this young generation: anti-waste, technical research, gender fluidity.
At the end of March, IFM students will defend their work before oral jurors to finalize their diploma. Then will enter in April in an internship in fashion houses. “Ultimately, the IFM must be present in the calendar in a ritualistic manner, that this be the culmination of any design master”, enjoins Xavier Romatet, his eyes already turned to future promotions.
