And now it’s over. My semester abroad, which I had to wait two semesters longer for due to Covid-19, is over and a new chapter in my studies will begin. For my last post I will talk about how I spent my second half of the semester as well want to give tips that I learned or wished someone had told me before. You can find the list at the end of this post :]
After the christmas and winter break, we continued directly with school starting the second and for us last term of this semester. However, with two new modules, one of them compulsory and the other rather voluntary. The compulsory module, Fashion Management Project, was a supplementary module to Business Planning, for which we ultimately had to submit and present a group presentation. Here we worked in the previous groups from the last term and carried out a brand analysis for Bottega Veneta as an example brand in order to then develop a new business model with the topic of sustainability in mind.
For this supplementary course to Business Planning we had to work on our own again but we had to use the results of the group work. This sometimes caused us a bit of concern but in the end everything worked out, at least I hope so. For this individual work we had to plan a capsule collection on the basis of the new business model. Topics like design management, production management and supply chain management were discussed. Those of us who were interested in this could also record their ideas and inspirations in their own designs. Those who had less interest in making their own designs were allowed to search for pictures of other pieces of clothing and adapt them to their ideas with a small text or extra pictures. In addition, there were also tasks such as the creations of color boards, fabric & supplier research or planning of distribution paths, which had to be explained in small texts. On the whole, it was certainly a great task, because it definitely had the management part in it, but also demanded a part of creativity, which was a change. In the end, this was then to be submitted as an individual report.
For the voluntary module, Marangoni came up with a project in which they put us together with the second year design students. Following their syllabus, the design students had the task of designing a capsule collection in a fictional cooperation with a brand and an artist. But since they are only design students, they lack some knowledge and skills of communication and marketing. That’s where we were supposed to help them. So the task was to plan a launch for the capsule collection, choose a venue, create a schedule and briefly explain the digital presence throughout the whole period. Actually it was a relatively cool idea from Marangoni and an exciting task, especially because we were able to get in contact with other students besides the Macromedia ones. However, the task wasn’t graded or credited in any way and counted as a just for fun task. This made many of us not do the task, because as I said, it was voluntary and i’m not going to lie, the graded assignment we had to work out was a lot of work and very time consuming. Nevertheless, I can say that I had fun exchanging ideas with the design students and creating something based on their collection, a task that we hadn’t done before.
And otherwise, that was it with the semester abroad and the uni life in Paris. There was no kind of farewell party or anything like that. Maybe I’m the only one who would have thought that there would be at least a small farewell organised. But well, a big group of us went out that night and we celebrated our own small farewell, that was enjoyable too ^_^.
The Paris Fashion Week at the end of February, beginning of March was regrettably not as exciting as the one in September. Unfortunately we didn’t get any invitations from the university despite some promises, which was a pity. Despite that, I went to different show locations again to either see the invited celebrities or make contacts with photographers or models. The Dior show was again the most exciting, but also the Givenchy, Loewe, and Valentino show were amazing, because I could see some of my favorite idols or even take a glimpse of the show or models. We even tried to get into the Germanier show without an invitation, just asking if there were any seats left, and that almost worked. However, there was no standing at this show and in the end all the guests showed up, even if as usual sometimes with a 30 minute delay. At least, we could still see the show from the outside through the windows. Besides some shows I could also visit two showrooms, one from an alumni student of Marangoni and one which was from Dressx a brand which makes virtual and digital clothing, definitely also super interesting.
At the end of my stay I still had 10 days of vacation left because my rent went until the end of March anyway, so I could use the time to do and see the things I enjoyed again or check things off my bucket list that I haven’t done yet. A friend also visited me in the last days and I could be 100% tourist with her, which was definitely a lovely farewell for me seeing everything again one last time before I moved back to Germany.
To wrap things up, for my semester abroad I can say that I for sure had a pleasant time and besides the (very expensive) big city life in Paris I learned a lot in school and took a lot with me. Sad to say, my french didn’t really improve because if I’m honest, I liked the language less from week to week. But this is just a personal matter ^^.
Lastly for this post as well as my two previous ones I would like to sum up everything in a list. My noteworthy tips from beginning to end, all the important information if you decide to go to Paris and Istituto Marangoni and a small checklist of places and things you should definitely see and do. Otherwise I hope that my blog posts could help you to make the decision where you will spend your semester abroad at least a little bit easier.
The planning and beginning
During the semester and time in Paris
Things on my bucket list that you should do as well
(all prices mentioned are as of March 2023)
