Istituto Marangoni names Julie de Libran as Godmother for Fashion Design

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jan 8, 2021

Istituto Marangoni has named French couturier Julie de Libran to be the Godmother for Fashion Design, a new position in the Paris division of the fashion college.

As Godmother, de Libran will support the fashion design students through their whole creative process, from research and drawing to the delivery of their final collections.

The goal is for her to share her experience and expertise, exploring new techniques and fabrics. The independent designer plans to follow them through their creative path, with the 10 best students to be selected for the fashion show at the end of the year, the college added in a release.

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Though founded in Milan, Marangoni now has campuses in London, Mumbai and Shanghai, and opened its Paris institution in 2005.

“I am extremely honored to be the first Marraine of the Marangoni. Which is the fashion school I attended in Milan in the early '90s and have kept such great memories and techniques which have accompanied my work throughout these years. I am delighted to follow the students in their final year and also as a judge of the graduation project, to accompany them throughout their creative work with developing ways to push boundaries, staying true to one's ideas, and to answer questions they may have to better understand our industry. I wish all the students an extraordinary year considering these complicated times... Even though image and digital are important, craftsmanship and quality stay our priority,” said de Libran.

'Marraine' is the French term for 'godmother,' and an honorary title given to famous French beauties every decade as the incarnation of French republic. Previous national Marraines include Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve and Inès de la Fressange.

After a long career at Gianfranco Ferré, Versace, Prada and Louis Vuitton, de Libran became the creative director of Sonia Rykiel, before going on to launch her own house in 2019.

“We are delighted that Julie has accepted to play the role of Godmother to our students at the end of the Fashion Design program. Indeed we wanted to create this new role, because it is necessary for the students to be able to have, in addition to their tutors, support from a professional. The last year is crucial as they develop their collection and it is the transition to the professional world! Julie seems obvious to us for this role. We are convinced that it will boost students’ creativity and allow them to create collections that are both innovative and perfectly finalized,” added Marangoni’s director Valerie Berdah-Levy.

Beside de Libran, Marangoni alumni include designers Rahul Mishra, Sandra Mansour, Franco Moschino and Domenico Dolce.