HIGHER CALLING

Stelios Geros of Istituto Marangoni London talks about shaping the young minds of fashion and how the school provides them the tools to thrive. 

- Jeffrey Yan

As part of the Harper's BAZAAR NewGen Fashion Award mission to nurture young design talent and take their journey to the next level, the winner of the Award gets to further his or her education at the Istituto Marangoni, the prestigious fashion, design and art university that dates back to 1935. The winner of the 2022 competition, Serina Lee, will be undertaking her Masters degree in Fashion Design at the London outpost of Istituto Marangoni. To gain a clearer insight into what makes the school one of the best in the world, we had a chat with the Programme Leader of the BA Fashion Design at Istituto Marangoni London (IML), Stelios Geros, on how the course equips its students with the outlook and skills to flourish in a constantly evolving industry.

What are the main values you want to instil in your students?

The most important thing is to give our students what they need to make it in the fashion industry, and to help them react to this ever-changing industry. We want our graduates to go in with an understanding that we are connected to any socio-political, environmental situation in the world. Professionalism is another value we want to instil. We also want our students to be an integral part of any team they join and work well with other people. We want them to be responsible designers who will make sustainable decisions. We want them to have a continuing interest in remaining relevant. Another very important thing is for the students to be respectful-that applies to people, topics, cultures. Last but not least, the importance of communication and collaboration is embedded deeply into our curriculum.

Can you share more about the collaborative components of the curriculum?