Fashion schools in France: an overview of design and business programmes

“Fashion school” in France refers to programmes that have almost nothing in common: a public fashion design diploma prepared in a lycée, a fashion design bachelor’s in a private school, a mastère in fashion management, a textile engineering school. All of them can lead to fashion and luxury, but not to the same jobs, not at the same cost and not with the same recognition. Before enrolling, you therefore need to distinguish design schools from business schools, know the public offer, which is often overlooked, know how to read the private offer and check a few essential points. This article provides that overview, without rankings, then explains how to build your CV during your studies.

Design or business: two families of schools

The first question is not “which school” but “which job”.

Design schools train for studio and workshop jobs: fashion design, textile design, accessories, pattern making, pattern cutting, and more broadly design and artistic crafts. You learn to draw, design a collection, cut, assemble and work with materials. The key piece of an application is the artistic portfolio for admission, then the professional portfolio.

Fashion business schools train for head office jobs: marketing, product, merchandising, buying, retail, communication, management. They are specialised business schools, fashion and luxury management programmes, or specialised tracks within general schools.

Technical and engineering programmes train for manufacturing and development jobs: textile engineering, industrialisation, quality, industrial pattern making.

Bridges exist between these families but remain narrow: a designer trained in a design school rarely moves into merchandising, and a business school graduate does not become a pattern maker. Onisep 🔗, the French public guidance agency, recalls the diversity of routes that lead to the sector: CAP, vocational baccalaureate, BMA, BTS, DN MADE, fashion design schools, engineering schools, master’s degrees.

Public schools

The public offer is broad, selective and often much less expensive than the private offer. Yet it is less visible, for lack of commercial communication.

Vocational fashion lycées. They prepare CAP certificates, vocational baccalaureates and BTS diplomas in fashion, clothing and leather trades. The BTS in fashion trades, clothing 🔗 trains pattern makers and industrialisation officers, and the BTS in fashion trades, footwear and leather goods 🔗 prepares for technical roles in these industries.

The DN MADE in fashion. This national diploma in arts, crafts and design, over three years, is prepared in public lycées and schools (and in a few private institutions). According to Onisep 🔗, the fashion specialisation trains students to create garments, from developing the project to making the final product, with a compulsory internship of 12 to 16 weeks; entry is selective, based on a file and a reasoned project, through Parcoursup.

Higher schools of applied arts. The École Duperré 🔗 in Paris offers, among others, a DN MADE in fashion and a DSAA (higher diploma in applied arts), which extends the DN MADE towards design and research. Other higher schools of applied arts exist in the regions.

National higher schools of art and design. The École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs 🔗 trains students in particular in textile and material design and in garment design, at master’s level.

Textile engineering schools. ENSAIT 🔗, the national higher school of textile arts and industries, trains engineers who join manufacturing, materials development and quality.

Universities. Some offer bachelor’s or master’s degrees related to fashion (fashion history, cultural studies, management, marketing), useful in particular for head office and communication jobs.

Private schools

The private offer is very abundant, in design as in business, and of very variable quality. It has real strengths: programmes often geared to practice, alumni networks, relations with houses, programmes in English, multiple intakes. It also has a high cost, sometimes several thousand euros a year.

It includes:

fashion design and pattern-making schools, which prepare for designer, pattern maker or fashion designer titles, often registered in the national directory of professional certifications;
fashion and luxury business schools, which award bachelor’s degrees and mastères in marketing, merchandising, buying, communication;
specialised institutes recognised by the sector, such as the Institut Français de la Mode 🔗, which offers design and management programmes from bachelor to master’s level;
specialised programmes within business schools, in the form of majors, MSc programmes or mastères spécialisés.

A private school is neither better nor worse by nature than a public school: each programme must be judged on its recognition, its internships and what becomes of its graduates. Our article on luxury management training details the labels and degree statuses to check for business programmes.

What to check before enrolling

A few points help you avoid unpleasant surprises.

The nature of the diploma. National diploma (DN MADE, BTS, DSAA, bachelor’s, master’s), a school diploma with a visa or conferring the grade de master, a title registered in the national directory of professional certifications, or a mere school certificate: the recognition is not the same. The national directory can be consulted on the France Compétences 🔗 website. For grandes écoles programmes, the labels of the Conférence des grandes écoles 🔗 are another reference point.

The target job. Does the programme really train for the job you want to do? Look at the job titles of alumni, not only the title of the diploma.

Internships. How many internships, how long, where? Does the school help you find them? A programme without a long internship prepares poorly for employment.

Work-study. Is it possible, and from which year? It helps fund part of the programme and lets you arrive on the job market with experience.

The network. Relations with houses, professional speakers, real projects, the presence of alumni in the sector.

The real cost. Tuition fees, materials (fabrics, tools, software), study trips, accommodation. Design schools often require a significant budget for materials.

What happens to graduates. Ask for employment surveys, and talk to alumni.

Internships and first job

In fashion and luxury, internships often count as much as the diploma. A few reference points:

studio and workshop internships for design profiles: assistant designer, assistant pattern maker, workshop intern;
head office internships for business profiles: assistant product manager, merchandising, marketing, communication, retail;
boutique internships, useful for all profiles, including those aiming for head office;
work-study, increasingly common, in design as in business.

In France, an internship of more than two months entitles the intern to a minimum gratuity, whose rules Service-Public.fr 🔗 specifies, with a simulator.

The first job often goes through an assistant role (designer, pattern maker, product manager, merchandiser) or a first boutique job. Our article on the steps of recruitment in a luxury house details the application channels, and the one offering a map of luxury jobs helps place the target roles.

Building your CV during your studies

A fashion student is well advised to build their CV from the first year, with the coming internships in mind.

For a design profile: education at the top, with the specialisation, then projects (end-of-year collection, collaborations, competitions), internships and technical skills (draping, cutting, pattern-making software, drawing). The portfolio link goes in the header.

For a business profile: education at the top, with the subjects useful for the role and the thesis, then internships described through their deliverables, student jobs (boutique, event hosting) and languages.

Before: “Second-year fashion bachelor’s student.”
After: “Second-year student in a fashion management bachelor’s, looking for a six-month internship in merchandising or product marketing from January.”
Before: “End-of-year project.”
After: “End-of-year collection of six looks in knitwear and silk, from drawing to prototype, presented to a jury of professionals.”

The young graduate CV analysed on this site shows education and internships presented this way, and the visual merchandiser CV an applied arts background enhanced by its projects.

A student CV must remain sober and readable, even when the portfolio is creative: it is the CV that a house’s screening software will read first. The LuxeCV editor lets you build this document quickly and produces a PDF that these tools interpret correctly. You can create your CV for free.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Is a public fashion school less well regarded than a private one?

No. Public programmes such as the DN MADE, the DSAA or the national higher schools of art are recognised by professionals, selective and much less expensive. What counts for a recruiter is the portfolio, the internships and the quality of the work.

Do you need to be able to draw to get into a fashion school?

For a design school, yes: the admission file asks for personal work showing a universe and a practice. For a fashion business school, no: the file covers your academic record, motivation and often languages.

Can you work in luxury without a fashion school?

Yes. Many head office roles are held by graduates of business schools, universities or engineering schools, and boutique sales recruit on client relationship experience. A fashion school is only essential for certain design jobs.

How do you check that a private diploma is recognised?

Check whether it is a title registered in the national directory of professional certifications (on the France Compétences website), a diploma with a State visa or conferring the grade de master, or a programme labelled by the Conférence des grandes écoles. Failing that, it is a school certificate, whose value depends on the institution’s reputation.