Milano Fashion Institute: within the fashion business

Behind a big fashion brand there is not only the talent of the designer or the pattern maker’s hands. Behind a great fashion company, there are also competent managers and executives able to calculate risks, make difficult decisions, and manage in a complete and impeccable way every aspect of the company. There are brand managers who take care of the image of the company and propose it to the public in the most appropriate way, through market research and Buyer Persona analysis. There are professional figures involved in the management and development of the fashion campaigns: from planning to production, through communication. These professionals are the founding pillars of a fashion company’s structure, and this is why they must be high-level professionals. Milano Fashion Institute takes care of this: launching young men and women into career as brand managers, product managers, communication managers and marketing managers.

Milano Fashion Institute in a few words

Milano Fashion Institute was founded in 2007 thanks to three of the most important Italian universities: Bocconi University, Cattolica University and Politecnico of Milan. But why create a new Fashion Institute in the cradle of the Italian Fashion? The Milanese institutes proposed very similar courses, all of which were focused on the design and managerial processes of fashion companies. The management and marketing aspects were often addressed just in a mono-disciplinary way. There was therefore no training course able of forming responsible and competent professional figures able to join skills in communication, design and management for the fashion industry.
Each of the three University Masters, internationally recognized with 60 CFU, of Milano Fashion Institute focuses on a particular aspect of the company’s life:

• Brand & Product Management
• Brand & Business Management
• Brand & Communication Management

They last one year, which allow a rapid training and aimed at direct employment in the company. This is possible not only thanks to the valuable contribution of the faculty from the three above mentioned Universities, but also thanks to the internship path provided in each Master.
We would like to point out that Milano Fashion Institute’s curricular internships are not like everyone else: they give you the opportunity to live a unique experience within some of the most famous Fashion Companies in the world. Among the partner companies we find Gucci, Etro, Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana etc. Milano Fashion Institute, in fact, takes care of the student and try to assist him in a constant and careful way. Each student is followed step by step by an internal counselor, from the decision of the initial course to the obtaining of the diploma. In addition to a 360° service for each student, the Institute offers several scholarships of € 7,800 each- half of the master’s annual cost – and the possibility to rate the payment (4 annual installments) to lighten the tax burden of student families.
The goal of Milano Fashion Institute is therefore not only to create competent professionals in the specific field, but also to create mature and responsible people, able to make improvements to the company that wants to trust in them. This is the reason why, we want to clarify the terminology in the field of fashion training, as we are often asked the following question: what is the difference between Design School, Fashion School and fashion Institute?

The confusion about choosing your own training path

At the time of informational contact, many guys ask why they should choose our fashion institute instead of a “fashion school”. Our response often focuses on explaining our way of working and the detail of the offered courses and Master courses. At this point we need to the terminology: Design School, Fashion School or Fashion Institute?
The main problem is in the perception that people have of certain words. It seems that “school” is less effective than “institute”, while fashion school sounds cooler and more innovative, probably because it comes from a different culture than the Italian one. But let’s clear the issue about the denominations in detail:

• Design School: in the common imaginary, design school it refers to two different training areas. The first one is that of high school, or academy, specializing in the fashion industry and handcraft sector. The second case, however, is related to real post lauream courses, organized by private institutes aimed at training professionals in the manual (tailoring, design, etc.) and creation (stylist) areas.
• Fashion school: even in this case, the general belief is that it has to do with a private structure with a high rate of innovation that can turn students into talented fashion designers. When you hear about fashion school, in fact, you imagine a dynamic and creative environment, limited to the student’s artistic growth.
• Fashion Institute: institute, in the common conception, seems to be a term more suited to a less creative and more structured type of education. For this reason, when we are talking about a fashion institute, we think that it is the managerial and directional segment of the fashion industry.

These terms are the same and they can be used in any area, obviously within the fashion industry, without affecting the quality of the service offered and the type of program provided. There are structures that address the tailoring and manual work called “fashion institutes”, others instead teach how to manage a Company in a Fashion Industry called “fashion schools”.
For example, in the name “Milano Fashion Institute”, we wanted to contain everything we are proud of:

• The city of Milan is the first element as the heart of Italian and international fashion and cradle of ever new professional opportunities. Milan is a city full of life and warmth, which houses more than 3,000 fashion companies and 600 national and international showrooms.
• The renowned collaborations with the major Italian fashion brands. Milano Fashion Institute gives its students the chance to experience on the field what it means to be part of structured companies in the fashion world: this is possible thanks to our internships.
• The set of skills and experiences brought by the teachers of 3 of the most renowned Universities of Milan: Bocconi University, Cattolica University and Politecnico of Milan.

The student should therefore concentrate on what the institute offers, how it offers and what results it is able to guarantee: the name should not disturb this decision-making process.