Conde Nast Center of Fashion & Design, Shanghai
I arrived in Shanghai, China on May 21st. From the first step off the plane, to my first day walking through the city, I could see the wave of high fashion at every corner boutique, mall and average person. The Chinese culture combines its diverse expertise in traditional textiles with the new trends of modern luxury fashion, and it’s an amazing sight to see. With all of this going on, and I being a fashion enthusiast, I thought why not reach out to my resources and see what fashion events I could attend to gain a clear understanding of the fashion scene in Shanghai? Before you know it, I was invited along with some of my peers by the President of the Fashion & Business Club at Hult San Francisco, Kendra Larkin, to an event at Conde Nast Center of Fashion & Design, Shanghai. This opportunity could not have come at a better time. I was truly excited to visit the headquarters and hear the views from one of the heads of the Fashion Center. So, let’s dive deep and I will share with you the story I was told of this wonderful company, the Shanghai fashion industry, and how the two have become intertwined.
The Conde Nast Center of Fashion & Design was opened in November 2015 as a succession to the Conde Nast College in London. The college has had over 600 international graduates since its opening, and the Conde Nast Center serves as a building block for those graduates who continue to pursue careers in the luxury fashion industry. The Center is located in the heart of the luxury fashion retail district of Shanghai, which provides design students with the premier playground to test market ideas. The vision of the school, from my perspective, is to provide a place where diverse fashion and business minds can come together to learn, collaborate, and test their ideas in a fast-growing competitive market. In the words of Phillip Cacouris, “Conde Nast Shanghai is a crucible center, a place where trial and error are welcomed, and diverse minds can come together to create the new wave of fashion for the world”.
The school is set up to model a startup, which is unique to the local environment. The curriculum is diversified between design and business communications. Students are allowed to take either path depending on their expertise or what they are interested in learning. There are multiple courses provided during a short-term course, a long-term course, and corporate training. The short-term course is typically for designers who have a portfolio, eye for fashion, and are looking to build on their technical skills to apply them to the luxury fashion industry. The long-term course targets people seeking to become more business savvy, get a holistic view of the industry, and learn how to target customers. The corporate track is more specific to the needs of the company the student is working for. All courses are taught by real time professionals in the industry, which allows the students to get amazing feedback on what’s currently happening in the market and how their ideas can be implemented.
Overall, the school is amazing and touring the building gives you a feeling of luxury. You feel and see luxury in the interior design and in the professionals wandering the halls. It is different from the traditional fashion school because they connect applicable knowledge to what’s happening now in the market. The Conde Nast Center will continue to grow and provide young designers and business professional with the skills needed to be successful in the luxury fashion industry.
