Fashionistas, Art and Creativity

These were only a few of our impressions we had during our first day at Istituto Marangoni.

Istituto Marangoni is one of the leading international fashion schools with over 3000 students from 92 different countries from all over the world. It has schools in Milano, Paris, Shanghai and of course London, where we spend our semester abroad. It is located in Shoreditch, the heart of London’s artistic and creative scene. Sounds awesome? It is!

But at our first day we didn’t really know what to expect from our semester abroad at a fashion school like this and how it would influence us in the future. What would we exactly study? Only business or design? Anything combined with fashion maybe? Soon it became clear that all our subjects, for the designers and even for the media managers, are related to the fashion industry only. Suddenly we were no media students anymore, but fashion students instead. How did this happen? Seriously, we have no idea… But it’s great! There was not only the new city London to discover, but also a new perspective on our study itself. We needed to adapt ourselves to the new fashion topics as well as to our new environment with all those crazy fashionistas, designers, stylists and artists. We felt like studying in a living VOGUE magazine. Weird you think? It was.

But we got used to all this much faster than expected. Studying in a really small group of Macromedia students – yes, we are only nine – helped us as well as having inspiring professors, who are working directly in the luxury and fashion industry, which is why they could give us a very realistic insight into it. They also supported us with our first assignment, where we had to develop and present a marketing communications plan for a young fashion designer. You think that’s not a big deal? Well you’re wrong. It was quite challenging and took a lot more time and energy than expected but we feel it was worth it!

Now the first term is over, we can spend all our time on experiencing the world outside the university. And this world offers uncountable things to do and to see! First of all, Shoreditch, where Istituto Marangoni is located. Here you get the chance to visit galleries at every corner, see street artists at their work and join lots of different pop up events. Above all, at the weekend the area goes crazy! Everywhere you go there are markets, street food stands and live music is played. If you want to join a day drinking session, buy new furniture, eat thai food or just get inspired by all the handmade things, Shoreditch is the place to be!

Of course as fashion students we need to introduce you to the London world of fashion. Starting with vintage, you can get in several shops in Shoreditch, but also at street markets at places all around the city such as Notting Hill, Covent Garden, Camden Town or even Greenwich. But if you prefer high fashion, such as Chanel, Prada, Gucci, Céline, Valentino, D&G, Givenchy, Moschino, Bottega Veneta, etc (yes, we got way too deep into brands this term), you should visit Bond Street, Harrods, Selfridges, Liberty or Dover Street Market. If you just want to buy “normal” clothes, you can actually afford, this is also possible, e.g. on Oxford Street, but just to let you know – as we learned this new word – this type of clothing is called “Fast Fashion”.

But for now we are not interested in fashion anymore, because christmas conquers the city and we have time to get ready for the next term starting in the new year!