What do future art directors trained at the French Fashion Institute (IFM) dream of?

Until Sunday, April 2, 2023, the public can discover 'What’s for lunch?', the temporary three-day Parisian exhibition that features the work of students and future graduates of the master in art direction and fashion image at the French fashion school Institut Français de la Mode.

The aim of the exhibition is to offer a unique visibility to the students and future graduates in fashion image at the Institut Français de la Mode (IFM) , a two-year master's programme, co-directed by educators Stéphane Wargnier and Alice Litscher. During the first year of this course, students touch on all the fields that art direction can cover - photography, video, graphic design, merchandising, event management, social network strategy, fashion show construction, sound design, etc. - through a series of workshops, mainly in the field of fashion design. - In the second year, they have six months to complete the course. In the second year, they have six months to complete a personal project, which is the one on display at the exhibition and six months of internship.

The first exhibition of the sixteen future graduates of the master in fashion image at IFM

"All of them have different professional aims, some want to go into volume (pop-up stores, events, windows), others specialise in images, IFM educator Stéphane Wargnier, explains on the opening day of the exhibition. For this installation, they were on their own, as much for the inspiration of their presentation as for the poster, the choice of the place or the assembly." The bare walls of the chosen venue, 3537, a cultural spot in Dover Street Market, evoke those of the Palais de Tokyo. For the exhibition, each of the 16 students has developed a personal theme that they express through an installation composed of photos, videos, texts or objects.

Student Jooey Son has created the concept of a "charm school", a real school of love, because "you shouldn't be afraid to fall in love". Alena Republik, a young designer of Russian origin, created an imaginative fictional totalitarian state called "Slava Republik", "riddled with media propaganda, in which women rebel". Student Semi Yang explores the boundaries of gender through her installation "Crush Boys", "shaped by different cultures, especially South Korean pop", the student explains. Matilde Balestri draws an ephemeral line between humans and animals, reality and fantasy, digital and physical through her "Tassonomia Inventata", which plays with words, sounds and 3D scanning.

Call for interaction, Maya Agam's 'Slow Image for Fashion'

The aim of budding Israeli artist Maya Agam is not just to captivate attention through a world that is dear to her, but to retain this attention. She captures the attention of visitors with her interactive installation: a crystal chandelier in which the light bulbs have been replaced by a series of mobile phones. Anyone who takes a photo of the work inevitably sees themselves in the phone's screen (in the manner of a selfie) and cannot escape their own reflection.

Electrical wires "that overwhelm us all", according to Maya Agam, are strewn across the floor, as if to remind us of the link between the ever-present technology and humans. This is precisely the theme that the artist explores through a contemporary version of the Renaissance aesthetic.

The chandelier, previously exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris as part of the Imagination exhibition by Sheriff projects, was created to showcase the work of designer Louis Gabriel Nouchi. A collaboration that reflects the aim of 'What's for lunch?'; to help young graduates find a job or, if that doesn't work out, an internship. Let's bet that this presentation will possibly find its way to other venues where the originality of these future artistic directors can be displayed.

This article was originally published on FashionUnited.FR. Translation and editing from French into English by Veerle Versteeg.