Foundation Year in Fashion Design

The Foundation Year is a course designed to expose you to a wide range of artistic disciplines, develop your creative maturity and provide you with the skills needed to apply for undergraduate studies in art, design or fashion. A theoretical approach allows you to delve deeper into historical and cultural aspects.

Conceived as a laboratory packed with ideas, culture, practice, exploration and research, the Foundation Year is a defining year, opening up a wide range of opportunities to strengthen each student's personality and creative range, giving you a head start in your chosen degree.

Under the guidance of IFM faculty, professionals and artists, you will have all the tools you need to help you build a high-quality portfolio.

Objectives

• Develop your creative maturity by deepening your understanding of artistic disciplines
• Broaden your range of artistic expression by practicing in a variety of disciplinary, cultural and artistic fields
• Learn how to build a portfolio and understand the codes and forms for presenting an idea or creative concept, including the search for iconographic references, both physical and digital

Program

The course includes creative workshops (visual arts, image, photography, 3D, graphic design, fashion), theoretical teaching to provide context for the various creative disciplines, and courses focusing on the formal aspects (oral, written, visual) of personal and research work.

The year is structured around themes as diverse as:

• architecture and the body
• performance
• notions of representation (identity vs. object)
• everyday life
• how the immediate environment becomes a source of inspiration and observation
• ...

The aim is to combine 3D research with cultural and societal reflection.

At the end of the course, the focus is on building up your digital and printed portfolio.

Teaching methods

From the end of September to May, the course is made up of 4 modules of 5 weeks each, including:

• creative workshops (fashion, visual arts, image, photography, 3D, graphic design, etc.)
• theoretical courses (contextualisation and conceptualisation of the various creative disciplines)
• formal methodology courses (oral, written, visual)
• personal work and research

Campus

Our Austerlitz campus is located at Les Docks - Cité de la Mode et du Design on the bank of the famous Seine river. Students have access to state-of-the-art workshops, a fully equipped Fab Lab, a knit workshop, a leather workshop, a photographic studio and a C.A.D laboratory.

Entirely dedicated to the fashion, design and creation sectors, our analog and digital Library has one of the most unique collections in Europe.

Tuition fees for academic year 2025/2026:

EU/EEA students: €12,400

European Union fees also apply to member countries of the European Economic Area (Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland).

Non-EU/EEA students: €16,800

Non-refundable application fee: €30

Upon admission into the program, the selected candidates will need to pay a deposit to confirm their spot in the program (€4,000 for EU students and €6,000 for non EU students). These amounts may be adjusted for the recipients of an IFM Foundation need-based scholarship.

Scholarships

Thanks to the generosity of company members of IFM's Foundation, need-based scholarships are available for students from the European Economic Area (European Union, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Iceland) under 30 years of age on September 1 of the academic year and who do not benefit from an individual training leave.

To apply for a scholarship, please complete the scholarship application form downloadable from the application website and submit it with the application form. No applications will be accepted after you have submitted your application form. Scholarship applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Please consult the “frequently asked questions” section if you are completing a scholarship application.

Admissions requirements

The programme is open to students who have completed their secondary education (baccalauréat or equivalent). As the course is taught in English, a B2 level is required.

You can only apply for the programme once a year, and no more than twice.

Admissions process

The admissions process consists of two steps, firstly the submission of a detailed online application file (including your creative file) and secondly, for selected candidates, an online interview.

There is a non-refundable €30 application fee.

Language tests

The program is delivered in English, therefore all applicants are required to submit one of the following English language test score reports (no other tests will be accepted):

• TOEFL iBT: minimum score 80
• IELTS Academic or General: minimum score of 6
• CAMBRIDGE: minimum score of 169
• PTE Pearson Academic: minimum score of 59

Test scores are mandatory and must be submitted before the application deadline. They must be no older than 2 years at the application deadline of the round you choose to apply for.

Applicants may be exempted to provide an English test score report if:

• They have lived for the last 3 years in a country where English is the FIRST official language
• They are preparing or hold an IB (International Baccalaureate), A-level, GSCE or OIB
• They are native English speakers

Required documents

You will find below the list of documents to be collected, which should be scanned and uploaded in PDF format to your application profile:

• A recent and detailed curriculum vitae
• A passport photo
• A copy of your identity document
• Each diploma obtained. If you do not have a degree, please leave this section blank.
• Transcripts of your last year of secondary school and any subsequent years (if you have undertaken undergraduate studies or a preparatory course). If you are a student in an art school or in a foundation course, this transcript is mandatory.
• Your creative file* (see section below)
• Your English language test if applicable (see section above).
• Your scholarship application (if applicable)

Your application will not be considered if some of these documents are missing.

Content of the creative file

Based on the expression “Give me Five”, you will present all the following:

• 5 hand drawings
• 5 collages made by you
• 5 photos taken by you
• 5 iconic clothes
• 5 movies
• 5 songs
• 5 books
• 5 young fashion designers

The format of your creative file with all of the 40 elements asked is open. Feel free to interpret it however you see fit. Your understanding and interpretation will provide interesting insights.

Please be creative and unique and pay particular attention to the layout and graphic presentation of your creative file.

Your file should not exceed 25 pages and should not include any explanations. Save your file as a pdf that should not exceed 10 MB.

We cannot advise you on the content of your creative file and what should appear in it, as it is a reflection of your own personal expression.

Personal statement

You will be required to write a personal statement (500 words maximum) as follows:

To better understand what motivates you to apply for this Foundation course, write a personal statement about who you are and what drives you as a creative person and human being.

This statement is NOT a document to upload, you will have to write it in your application profile.