Istituto Marangoni launches new Miami branch and new courses

By

Anaïs Lerévérend

Translated by
Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jan 2, 2018

Founded in Milan in 1935, Istituto Marangoni has a long history behind it, and in the past dozen years, it has been a particularly animated one. After opening schools in recent years in Paris, Florence, London, and Shanghai, the international fashion school set foot in two new cities in summer 2017: Mumbai and Shenzhen. However, the institute’s current development strategy is not focused solely on Asia as they are about to open a branch in America. 

 
Interestingly, it was not New York that Istituto Marangoni chose to open in but Miami. By establishing itself in Florida, the school aims to set itself apart from the strong competition they face in the market for training in the luxury fashion industry. “We were looking to uncover a new destination for fashion by targeting Miami. The city is well known for its international credentials which further piqued our interest to build our fashion school there. Miami is a city steeped in art and design and, with privileged access to Latin America, it was a perfect choice for us,” said Hakan Baykam, who will be the Director of the new facility.
 
A Latin America facing opening for Istituto Marangoni, which is already tuned in to this region of the world, is also thanks to its network of local agents who are charged with identifying future students for their schools situated on other continents. “The profile of the students in each institution is very international, the idea being to mix nationalities as much as possible,” explains Valérie Berdah Levy, the Director of Istituto Marangoni Paris. At her branch, 80 percent of students are foreign. 

Following the establishment of their eighth campus in early 2018 in Miami, Istituto Marangoni will also develop in terms of its disciplines and specialisations. After having launched new design courses in Milan and art courses in Florence, its two historic schools, the institute has also launched other courses as well. In Paris, in addition to the fashion design and brand management courses that are its most in demand, the institution also wanted to meet more specific needs of the fashion market. This has led to the development of training courses on buying as well as on image styling and artistic direction, for which masters courses have been made available. 
 
Due to student demand, the school’s branch located on the Rue de Miromesnil (Paris, VIII) is also launching a module inspired by the structure of an apprenticeship, although it really constitutes a yearlong internship. This is because Istituto Marangoni is a private school and is not recognised by the Ministry of Culture (a year of study there costing between 20,000 and 30,000 Euros).
 
Istituto Marangoni was acquired by Galileo Global Education (GGE) in 2011 and has consolidated its current strategy by the recent appointment of their Managing Director and pilot of recent developments, Roberto Riccio, as the group’s Strategy Director. GGE has 28 schools in its portfolio, amongst which include other fashion schools such as LISAA and Chardon Savard and the group has just acquired two Italian art schools, Naba (Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti) and Domus Academy.