The CHANEL and le19M Chair in Fashion Savoir-Faire

The House of CHANEL and Institut Français de la Mode have come together to create a chair entitled the “CHANEL and le19M Chair in Fashion Savoir-Faire”, housed by the IFM Foundation. The aim of this five-year partnership is to create a centre for research and teaching excellence on the subject of the fashion savoir-faire, in the heart of a leading international school.

“The creation of this Chair is in line with CHANEL’s desire to preserve and develop the traditional and living savoir-faire of the Métiers d’art, which contribute to the influence of Paris and France abroad. Our objective is to continue passing on the knowledge of this exceptional heritage, in its historical, cultural and societal dimensions,” explains Bruno Pavlovsky, President of CHANEL’s Fashion Activities, President of CHANEL SAS and Chairman of the Executive Committee at the Institut Français de la Mode Foundation. Indeed, since the acquisition of the Desrues parurier in 1985, CHANEL has been committed to the durability and development of the Métiers d’art, which today represent nearly forty Maisons d’art and factories. Embroiderers, feather workers, paruriers, goldsmiths, pleaters, shoemakers, milliners, glove makers, leather workers, tanners, weavers, ennoblers, these privileged partners of the luxury industry located in Paris, France, Italy, Spain and Scotland employ more than six thousand, six hundred people of all generations serving the creativity of CHANEL and other great names in fashion.

Institut Français de la Mode wishes to strengthen its research work in order to serve the educational excellence offered to its 1,000 students. This Chair will facilitate investigation into the Métiers d’art and the analysis of their contribution to the traditions and innovations of the fashion industry. It will also enable the students at Institut Français de la Mode - future industry players - to become more aware of the lesser-known crafts.

“This collaboration with CHANEL and le19M on this subject will allow us to provide all students in our savoir-faire, design and management programmes with a common ground of knowledge as well as technical and artistic expression. The unique approach of this Chair, combining academic excellence and scientific research in conjunction with industry players, will help us to better understand the challenges of tomorrow’s fashion,” says Xavier Romatet, Managing Director of Institut Français de la Mode.

The CHANEL and le19M Chair in Fashion Savoir-Faire is directed by Professor Émilie Hammen, who has a PhD in Art History (Université Paris 1 Panthéon - Sorbonne) and a background in design, both in applied arts at the ESAA Duperré and in fashion design at IFM. A teacher and exhibition curator, her publications focus on the history of fashion, its historiography and the links between fashion and the avant-garde.

The CHANEL and le19M Chair in Fashion Savoir-Faire will pursue three objectives: carry out research to provide a documented and multidimensional approach to the relationships between industry, society and the Fashion Métiers d’art; establish an analysis of the links between savoir-faire, creation and innovation; and set up a pedagogical component to give a new dimension to the transmission of Métiers d’art knowledge to IFM students and other audiences. All this work will make it possible to develop initial training courses, in particular the creation of a specific course, along with the integration of new content from the research work into existing courses.

The Chair’s research and teaching will be supported by a place like no other in the world, le19M, a 25,500 m² building opened at the initiative of the House of CHANEL in 2021 and designed by the architect Rudy Ricciotti. A veritable link between the 19th arrondissement of Paris and the suburb of Aubervilliers, behind its concrete façade, the complex brings together eleven resident Maisons d’art*, and six hundred artisans working for the CHANEL Creation studio and the studios of numerous other French and international brands, in a single location.

It will also house la Galerie du 19M, a 1200 m² space for discovery, transmission and dialogue, open to everyone: to lovers of fashion craftsmanship, young apprentices, schoolchildren and students, professionals, families, and local charities, all generations included.

With this Chair, CHANEL reaffirms its pioneering commitment to the preservation, development and transmission of Fashion savoir-faire.

*le19M brings together the embroiderer and tweed maker Lesage, its Embroidery School and Lesage Intérieurs, the embroidery atelier Montex and its decoration department MTX, the shoemaker Massaro, the feather and flower maker Lemarié, the milliner and hatter Maison Michel, the pleater Lognon, the grand flou atelier Paloma and the goldsmith Goossens. To this prestigious list is added the House of ERES, a leading lingerie and swimwear brand.