Istituto Marangoni Inaugurates Dubai Campus with Metaverse Show

Fashion and design school Istituto Marangoni has hosted a phygital Talents Fashion Show at the Museum of the Future in Dubai to celebrate the opening of its new campus in the country.

The student fashion show included a mix of digital elements and real elements and showcased the work of the top five fashion design students from Istituto Marangoni’s Milan, Florence, Paris, London and Shanghai campuses.

The Talents Show was a ‘phygital’ show in the sense that it took place simultaneously at The Museum of the Future in Dubai and in the Metaverse.

Real models showcased the student designs together with avatars "creating the effect that reality and virtual reality coexisted", Istituto Marangoni said in a release.

Istituto Marangoni Dubai is the school’s first fashion and design campus of the school in the Middle East.

The new building is located inside the Dubai International Financial Centre and offers a variety of undergraduate and professional courses in Fashion such as fashion design, fashion business and fashion styling.

Students can also choose to study interior design, product design and visual design at Istituto Marangoni Dubai. All of the courses are taught by the institute’s professional educators from Italy.

“Istituto Marangoni is committed to have an active role in The Middle East to encourage the creation of a new ecosystem between talents, institutions, stakeholders and industries; to build the new generation of fashion designers in the region. With special attention for empowering women in their aspirational field of interest, be it fashion, design or arts”, said Stefania Valenti, Managing Director of Istituto Marangoni about the opening of the Dubai school.

Fashion designer and alumnus of the institute, Rahul Mishra, who was the first Indian designer to be invited to present his collection at Paris Haute Couture Week closed off the event with his own fashion show.

Mishra’s show featured eight selected designs that combine contemporary fashion luxury with traditional designs from India. The designer used a “sustainable, ethical, ‘slow fashion’ approach”, Istituto Marangoni said in a release.