HISTORY

Founded in 1841 in Paris, France, ESMOD was the world's first educational institution dedicated to fashion.
ESMOD's history, spanning more than 180 years, has been a part of the fashion industry's evolution. In addition to heritage craftsmanship, we continue to innovate and incorporate new technologies and ideas.

Founder Alexis Lavigne

In 1841, during the Second French Republic (1848-1852) (1852-1870), Alexis Lavigne, a dressmaker at the court of Napoleon III, founded the world's first institution specializing in fashion on rue Fontaine in Paris.
This was the beginning of ESMOD. Alexis Lavigne was the inventor of the world's first torso mannequins and measuring tape, tools that are still indispensable in the fashion industry today. He also developed a logical method of pattern-making for women's and men's clothing, and published an educational book that was the first step toward providing systematic education to young tailors and couturiers, who at the time could only learn their craft through apprenticeship. He was also an innovator who established a school to impart his unique know-how and led the way to the industrialization of fashion, which had been the exclusive domain of the high society of artisan tailors.

ESMOD

The school founded by Alexis Lavigne was passed on to his daughter, Alice Guerre-Lavigne, in 1885 as the "Guerre-Lavigne School" to educate women. For her contribution to the culture of clothing, she has received awards from her native France and other European countries.
In 1970, ESMOD, which had been passed down from generation to generation from Berthe Lecomte Guerre and Jean Lecomte Guerre, introduced a curriculum for training prêt-a-porter creators, replacing the haute couture-centered education it had offered until then. The school was renamed ESMOD, and has continued to provide innovative and professional education responding to the needs of the times, producing a succession of world-famous designers and creators, such as Thierry Mugler, Eric Bergere, and Franck Sorbier.

Fashion Business

In the 1980s, the fashion industry introduced concepts and theories into marketing. In response to this industry change and new demands, ESMOD established ISEM (now ESMOD Fashion Business), a business school specializing in fashion, in 1989. Since then, the school has focused on training students to become managers of marketing and communication teams.
ESMOD's curriculum, which allows students to study business as well as fashion design, has broadened the range of professions they can aspire to in the future, and ESMOD graduates are now able to work in a variety of fields in addition to being designers and pattern makers.

ESMOD Tokyo

In 1984, Satoru Nino, the current president of ESMOD International, established the Tokyo School in Harajuku, Tokyo, the first school outside France. The school implements the curriculum of the Paris school, and its French instructors. Energetic professionals are engaged in human resource development. The school is highly regarded in the fashion industry for its high employment rate with collection brands and major companies, and the large number of graduates who have established their own brands and are active in the industry. The Tokyo School offers the opportunity for students to study abroad in Paris, and many of our graduates have gone on to work for French haute couture and luxury brands.
In addition, the Tokyo School has partnered with Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (CNAM) or French National Academy of Arts and Crafts to offer a course in innovation management. Students who take this course will be awarded the International Bachelor (equivalent to a bachelor's degree).

The Future of ESMOD

Globalization began with the establishment of the Tokyo School, and the ESMOD Group now has a network of 18 schools in 12 countries around the world. Each school, which has its own unique cultural and industrial background, holds an annual group's international conference to share and confirm educational policies and achievements. They continue to develop and evolve by exchanging their educational experiences, cross-cultural exchanges, and information on market trends and industrial conditions. With the development of the latest digital technologies and AI, it is said that the 85% of professions existing today will disappear by 2030. In order to respond to such a challenge, we continue the innovation began by our founder, Alexis Lavigne, and create educational content that incorporates new technologies.
As part of this reform, the Tokyo School has just opened a Metawear Course in 2024, following the Paris School.