Over the past three years, Istituto Marangoni has promoted intense innovation in terms of programme content and learning experience. The school has focused its strategic efforts on generation Z, accounting for most of its student population, and on new virtual scenarios in terms of communication and the use of technology to prepare future professionals. This has led to Istituto Marangoni becoming the first Fashion School to join the Metaverse. The aim is to make students’ projects even more visible while at the same time hosting talks, events such as fashion shows and projects in partnership with companies, in an innovative way, to speak to a young audience using an engaging, familiar language. The project is titled “The Talent District • Istituto Marangoni’s Metaverse Revolution”.
The Istituto Marangoni in the Metaverse universe is divided into an evolving series of futuristic districts, each featuring a building visitors can explore with customisable avatars. The spaces they can visit include an Infopoint, providing all the information on Istituto Marangoni programmes in the macro-areas of Fashion, Design and Art. Then, the Exhibition Pavillion, with projects by the school’s best students, explained by the students’ own avatars; the Theater, hosting conferences, lectures and talks to add value to the school’s academic experience; the Partners’ House, with the projects created by the students for partner companies as part of the IM Corporate Lab. Finally, the Archive provides historical memory of the Institute’s projects and activities. Each area will contain multimedia materials and links to external resources to enhance the visitor’s experience.
To carry out the Metaverse project, Istituto Marangoni has established a partnership with Igoodi, the first Italian company specialising in photorealistic avatars of real people. Igoodi uses a new type of Digital Humans, designed to preserve the uniqueness of each individual and be helpful to people’s lives. Each Igoodi Avatar is integrated with Smart Body, a dataset including the individual’s anthropometric measurements. Unique in today’s Metaverse panorama, these Avatars are perfect for creating innovative digital Fashion models. The other important partner for The Talent District project is Monogrid, a Florence-based digital interactive agency developing platforms of the highest technological level.
“The Talent District is one of the first Metaverse spaces dedicated to education, an unprecedented, innovative project that reflects Istituto Marangoni’s aesthetics and avant-garde drive. This interactive platform is much more than an exhibition space; it is a constantly evolving digital environment ready to host the works of students and visitors who want to plunge into this universe.” Francesco Bernabei, Founder and CEO of MONOGRID.
“Bringing our bodies into the digital world can make the fashion system more personalised and sustainable. To do this, we start from the source, i.e. from future designers and the world’s top fashion school, Istituto Marangoni. All this will allow designers to expand their creativity beyond all limits ”, Billy Berlusconi, CEO & Co-Founder of Igoodi.
“The desire to create new communication and teaching methods to have a “direct” dialogue with Gen Z prompted us to create workshops and projects on virtual reality as part of Design programmes three years ago. This intent has also materialised in the projects presented during the Salone del Mobile this year. These include Expanded Beauty for NFT pieces designed in collaboration with the Cappellini brand or the Alessi Dream House project, developed as part of the Masters in Digital Art Direction. The latter addressed metaverse-related issues for brand communication purposes and placed Alessi’s iconic objects between physical and digital dimensions thanks to augmented reality. The Talent District – the new Istituto Marangoni metaverse – aims to be an innovative, engaging tool for the entire community of talented students and fashion, art and design enthusiasts. They will be able to create a world where creativity has no boundaries”, Stefania Valenti, Istituto Marangoni Managing Director.
As proof of this innovative drive, a new Master’s in Digital Design for Immersive Experiences is expected to launch in September 2022. The programme will enrich the school’s offering by responding to the need to create a professional figure with the technical and conceptual skills to design immersive experiences that rethink spaces and the relationship with consumers through sensors and interactive technologies, boosting our perception and interaction with reality.
Also, the theoretical and practical Fashion courses starting in September 2022 will deal with the themes of the Metaverse to train fashion professionals capable of rising to the challenges of a profoundly evolving market.
Discover Talent District on https://metaverse.istitutomarangoni.com
Istituto Marangoni
Istituto Marangoni was founded in 1935 in Milan as ‘Istituto Artistico dell’Abbigliamento Marangoni’, and has been a top educational choice for creatives in the worlds of fashion, art and design for over 85 years now. With four generations of students from 5 continents, it was the springboard for over 45,000 luxury professionals, including Domenico Dolce, Alessandro Sartori, Paula Cademartori, Gilda Ambrosio, Julie de Libran and Nicola Brognano. Istituto Marangoni currently welcomes about 4,700 students from 107 different countries every year in its schools in the world capitals of fashion, art and design, including Milano (School of Fashion and School of Design), Firenze (School of Fashion & Art), Paris, London, Mumbai, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Miami.
