Italian fashion school Istituto Marangoni to open in Dubai

The new DIFC campus will welcome students from September 2022

Istituto Marangoni will occupy a 1,050-square-metre space in DIFC

Storied Italian fashion school Istituto Marangoni is coming to the UAE, with the announcement that it will open a campus in Dubai in September.

Already a global presence, with schools in Milan, Florence, Mumbai, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Miami, London and Paris, the new UAE college will bring the number of campuses around the world to nine.

Scheduled to open in Dubai’s financial district, DIFC, the school will occupy 1,050 square metres, plus has a terrace measuring about 250 square metres. No further details about the building have been released yet.

The new institution is aimed at students across the Middle East seeking higher education in fashion and design. Past students include Lebanese designer Sandra Mansour.

In line with the school’s philosophy of building strong links between its campuses, students in Dubai will be able to spend one or more years at sister venues, with high interest expected between Mumbai and Dubai. Students will also be encouraged to make full use of the unique campus networks around the world.

Speaking to WWD, managing director Stefania Valenti explained the new campus has been two years in planning and seeks to address a market that is currently underserved.

“The area of Dubai is not that developed in terms of fashion and design-focused higher education,” she said. “There’s no vertical offering, but general institutions that have just a couple of courses.”

With regard to the lack of choice in the region, Valenti suggested there may be scope for the institute to bring its interior and product design courses in the future as well.

Founded in 1935, Istituto Marangoni is part of Galileo Global Education Italia, the private higher education company that counts designers Franco Moschino and Domenico Dolce as former students.