ESMOD Beirut 2019 Fashion Show Part1

ESMOD Beirut celebrated its 20th anniversary and end of year events from June 23rd to July 3rd.

The 20th anniversary dinner took place at le Maillon on June 23rd with more than 120 guests from the textile industry, designers, alumni and medias. To celebrate this special year, 20 dresses from alumni were exhibited on the terrace and a five minute documentary on the history of the school shown.  
The Professional Jury was held at USJ/ESMOD premises on June 24th. The selection of the jury members was carefully done to ensure complementary backgrounds and skills: Satoru Nino (President of ESMOD International, Jury Chair), Bénédicte Vigner (Attache Culturel, Ambassade de France), Fouad Maroun (Secretary General, USJ), Hadia Sinno (Fashion Specialist), Hala Moubarak (Designer, Interior Architect, Curator, Consultant), Hussein Bazaza (Fashion Designer, Alumnus), Lana El Sahely (Blogger), Mary Nino (Sustainability Consultant, ESMOD International), Patrick Nassif (Retail display manager, ABC Lebanon), Rami Kadi (Fashion Designer, Alumnus & ESMOD Art Director).  

The end of the year Fashion Show was organized on July 2nd in the magical setting of the Sursock Palace - The Gardens. Guests were able to admire a larger exhibition of some 50 alumni outfits before the show.  The show itself presented 20 iconic pieces from alumni, carefully chosen to match with ESMOD colors (red, white, grey/silver). 

Our guests also discovered the new collections of our graduating students. Each one developed a personalized theme, fine-tuned over the three years with the help of the instructors, ESMOD International Advisors, and the school Art Director, Rami Kadi. For example, one student placed herself in the post-apocalyptic era with limited fabric resources where garments had to be multi-functional, space-saving and sustainable. Other themes included the topic of "monsters" and the way they are perceived throughout a life cycle, or Africa, a stunning continent with its beautiful nature, culture, warm people, flora and fauna... 


The show also gave the opportunity to share two major lessons learnt over the years. The first one is the constant need to find the right balance between Creativity, Technicity and Marketing. The curriculum is adjusted every year to reach this balance knowing that students have to present a real collection to the Professional Jury. The second lesson is about the sustainability concept integrated into our mission statement since 2016. This year, we partnered with Arcenciel and made our first year students work on an upcycling project. Our goal is to introduce in the next couple of years a module on sustainable fashion for the three years.