Students and companies applaud AICP

A true alignment of the planets brings the AICP (Académie Internationale de Coupe de Paris).

"The Home's needs in terms of recruitment of technical fashion designers are growing. In addition to the many people currently retiring without passing on their savoir-faire, many companies have also lost their know-how to relocation, and are calling on us to fill the gap. At the same time, more and more people want to work in the real world. There's a real connection between people's desires and companies' needs", explains Christine Walter Bonini, the school's President.

That's good timing. Although it has adapted to the industrial age, AICP, founded in 1830 by an association of men's tailors, has not lost its original DNA. Which is to provide initial and continuing training in the technical fashion design professions, principally in pattern making.

Focused on technique

Christine Walter Bonini, President of the'AICP and Jean-Philippe Vauclair, Honorary President of the'AICP. Crédit photos :© AICP">

"Along with the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture (IFM), best known for women's wear, our school was the only one to train in made-to-measure, for its part for men. Later, several fashion schools appeared. But fashion design took over, while we remained focused on technique", explains Jean-Philippe Vauclair, Honorary President of AICP. He worked to revive the establishment, which his father, Paul Vauclair, President of the National Federation of Tailorings, had taken over in 1968.

If initially its approach was entirely dedicated to made-to-measure, AICP then opened up to ready-to-wear and now prepares "both hand and computer-based", explains Christine Walter Bonini.

And she points out:"In France, apart from the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture, there is no other full-time technical fashion design training. What's more, we teach the basics of the two main methods of technical fashion design, industrial and body draping (made-to-measure), which enables our graduates to go on to work in both industry and Home de Couture".

Among the school's strengths is its own method of patternmaking, known as "Vauclair-Darroux". "Conventional methods for industry allow us to dress six to seven customers out of ten," explains Jean-Philippe Vauclair. We've introduced notions of 'industrial measurement' into ours, which was originally made-to-measure, and refined it to satisfy those who want a more personalized garment, capable of satisfying morphologies outside the 'standard' conformation".

In addition to à la carte continuing education courses (two days to one week) at the company, AICP offers, in initial training, a preparatory course (8 to 11 months, interspersed with periods of work experience at the company) and a level 5 International Garment Technical fashion design course (women and men), to be completed in one year full-time (with final work experience) or two years on a sandwich course. "Noting renewed interest in men's fashion, last April we relaunched the men's curriculum, which had been very successful but had been halted during the Covid".

90% graduate

Photo credit :© AICP">

Launched in 2022, a new level 6 training course in creative fashion design, meanwhile, provides a solid background (advanced designs, collection processes, marketing, distribution, CSR, etc.) for students wishing to one day launch their own brand.

If 90% of AICP's 300 students graduate, it's first and foremost down to a selective entrance test (or passage through the preparatory class). "Technical fashion design studies require attention to detail, a geometric mindset to transform 3D into 2D and vice versa, a good knowledge of culture and the ability to transform ideas into garments...", notes Christine Walter Bonini. She also emphasizes the maturity of the students. "They've discovered that fashion isn't just about glitter, and that it's the work of the hand, the technique, that interests them.

The initial profile of these future "super model makers"is very varied. In addition to Bac Pro or BTS graduates, some have followed a first course of study at a more general fashion school. Others (around 20%), after an initial scientific training (medicine, computer science...) "towards something more concrete".

Proof, if proof were needed, that "the image of manual professions is gradually changing thanks to social networks, stresses Christine Walter Bonini. The AICP, which is communicating more than before, is also working hard in this direction with a specialist."

Once in the school, students appreciate "a lot of precision in practice, the good knowledge of professions of the teachers, all AICP graduates and having worked in the profession". They love "its human, almost family-like side".

A job in six months

Crédit photos :© AICP">

Companies also salute AICP, 90% of whose graduates find a job within six months!

"They join luxury Homes, contract manufacturers, ready-to-wear brands but also sometimes entertainment institutions such as the Paris Opera or the Comédie française. Temporary employment agencies also recruit a great deal at AICP at collection time", explains Christine Walter-Bonini.

Together with Jean-Philippe Vauclair, the president today says she is "super optimistic for the future as technology, once again very much in fashion, comes back into vogue!"

But is the trend sustainable in the age of artificial intelligence?

"At the moment, everyone is talking about AI and the changes it implies, but are still waiting, admits the executive. We're in constant contact with the profession and try to keep up with developments. We're already equipped with cutting-edge tools (hardware, software, etc.). There will probably be new ones to further strengthen our professions, improve cutting, save more fabric and thus better protect the planet. This will go even further, but in our opinion, it won't call into question the hand, because it's the hand that makes a garment hold, fit, volume and look good."

Or, the two executives stress: "companies have understood that if they want to stand out from Fast Fashion, they have to offer beautiful cuts, beautiful volumes, in short, quality garments for increasingly demanding consumers". And "for a garment to have poise, style and comfort, you need a pattern maker."

Cap sur l'international

Crédit photos :© AICP">

Convinced, the AICP management is preaching the good news outside France. Since the mid-70s, and the start of offshoring, the school has been multiplying short training courses at garment manufacturers in Southern and Eastern Europe, then in Asia.

"If today 50% of our initial training students come from abroad, the majority of them from Asia, it's precisely because our school has long made a name for itself in this way" observes Christine Walter-Bonini.

The AICP, which opened a campus in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) in 2019, in partnership with ITILT University, would now like to "develop even further abroad, via new collaborations". To this end, it exhibits at a number of international trade fairs with Campus France.

"We also need to provide more support for companies in France, at a time when a relocation movement is underway for certain products, as seen at the MIF trade fair, for example", adds Jean-Philippe Vauclair.

Although almost two hundred years old, the AICP is keeping up with the times. From its very beginnings, it launched a technical information medium for professionals, which has gone from strength to strength. Its avatar, the quarterly magazine M&T2, continues to provide a window on the latest developments in the industry. With yet another recent evolution: new editor-in-chief and layout, new paper... To stay young, all you have to do is keep moving!

For more information: https://www.aicp.fr/