December 01, 2017
Polimoda and CFDA, new collaboration
The Council of Fashion Designers of America and fashion institute Polimoda announce new collaboration
The Council of Fashion Designers of America and the leading Italian fashion institute Polimoda announce an upcoming collaboration as Director of Education and Professional Development Sara Kozlowski has been appointed to mentor the final-year students of the undergraduate course in Fashion Design. Founded in 1962, the CFDA’s membership
consists of more than 500 of America’s foremost womenswear, menswear, jewelry and accessory designers. Based in the Renaissance city of Florence, since 1986 Polimoda has been educating professionals for the fashion and luxury market. The high quality of its Master’s and Undergraduate programs have earned the institute a spot among Business of Fashion’s Global Fashion School Rankings’ prestigious top ten for two years in a row.
“Polimoda was founded 30 years ago by FIT and Emilio Pucci,” says Polimoda Director Danilo Venturi. “Our president is Ferruccio Ferragamo, son of Salvatore, the shoemaker to the stars of Hollywood. Our headquarters are beside the American consulate, and there is a certain legacy that links the school to the USA. Now, the agreement with CFDA and this incoming group of great teachers provides a new basis to rekindle our friendship”.
Polimoda Director Danilo Venturi invited Sara Kozlowski to mentor following her participation in the institute’s Rendez-Vous series of Guest Lectures, where she discussed fashion’s new paradigm of sustainability, and analyzed open-ended questions before a room of students and staff. Kozlowski was previously featured alongside other international fashion figures in the first edition of Polimoda’s Fashion Displacement panel discussion, held in New York City in November 2016.
Over the course of the next year, she will make six trips to Polimoda, to mentor final year collections and lecture on crucial subjects such as Shaping the Future, Design Thinking and Strategy Design. Senior Fashion Design students
will benefit from her attentive supervision from project to runway, helping them catapult their ideas into viable futures.
Through this collaboration, Polimoda wishes to further strengthen its long-standing relationship with the United States and is set on encouraging an ongoing exchange where Italian heritage and American know-how shape global-minded
students. This mentorship program will culminate in Polimoda’s signature end-of-year Fashion Show.