ESMOD Beirut celebrated its end of the year graduation events on three consecutive days (15, 16, 17 June) in the presence of Marcel Marongiu, the chair of the professional jury 2014-2015. Marcel Marongiu was the Creative Director at Maison Guy Laroche from 2007 until 2014 and ranked as onethe 10 most influential designers in the world in 1994.



The Professional Jury took place in ESMOD premises on 15 June. The selection of the ten jury members was carefully done to ensure complementary backgrounds and skills: Mohamad Ashi (Fashion Designer & ESMOD Beirut Alumnus), Medea Azouri (Journalist), Joumana Haddad (Writer), RoulaLabban (Manager at Elie Saab & ESMOD Beirut Alumnus), Eric Lebas (Institut Français au Liban), Helene Lebreton (Institut Français au Liban), Marcel Marongiu (Designer), Hadia Sinno (Journalist), Anne Viallon (In charge of Franchises at ESMOD International), and Tony Ward (Fashion Designer).




As on preceding years, the graduation ceremony took place at the beautiful Residence des Pins on 16 June. The ceremony was preceded by a conference on the Future of the Creation to capitalize on the presence of Marcel Marongiu. During the talk, he insisted on the importance of "memory" and"capacity to reinvent oneself" in the whole process of creation. According to him, passion is the driving force for success. Other topics such as the recent technological advances affecting the world of Fashion (artificial intelligence, 3D printing etc.) or the tricky balance between art and business werealso briefly discussed.




Finally, the end of the year Fashion Show was held on 17 June in the magical setting of the Saint Georges. Invitees were able to discover almost 100 total looks reflecting the richness of our students' personal universe with themes such as "Self", "Trapped", "Heart Beat" or "Pain comes from within."These collections are the result of three years' hard work in the school. ESMOD Beirut students are regularly monitored by their professors, ESMOD Paris and jury members who evaluate their work and provide them with constructive suggestions for improvement. This year, ESMOD Beirut was privileged to have as artistic director, Rami Kadi who accompanied the students throughout the year and provided them with individualized advice to better express their personal universe.




The show gave the opportunity to announce new initiatives at ESMOD Beirut: the expansion of the range of short courses covering key topics for fashion: fashion business, visual merchandising, luxury marketing, lingerie, must know fashion; the introduction of the LECTRA software into the curriculum,very useful to optimize productivity; a trip for all the students to Turkey to participate in First Vision and get to know new textile producers; the on-going partnership with ABC for the designers' corner in October to be inaugurated with a Fashion Show; the new collaboration with the recently openedconcept store Le 66 Champs Elysees for their visual merchandising; and, in view of the expansion of the programs, the recruitment of a new faculty member from ESMOD International who worked for 15 years with ESMOD group in Oslo, Jakarta, Beijing, and Kuala Lampur.