GuideFashion & Creative Industries

How to Get Into the Institut Français de la Mode (IFM)

IFM’s two bachelor’s programmes in Paris select on opposite principles: the BA in Fashion Design and the BSc in Management for Fashion and Creative Industries. What an international applicant submits, how selection works and what the first year costs. Based on IFM’s official pages, last reviewed September 2026.

Author The EDMONT editorial teamLast reviewed
The short answer

Applicants with a non-French school certificate apply directly on IFM’s website, with a €60 fee. For the BA in Fashion Design the first stage is a file with a portfolio and an “imaginary museum” of ten works, followed by a day of creative tests and an interview. The BSc in Management has no portfolio: a file, an English test and an online interview with a panel. Both run for three years and confer the grade de licence. The first year for a non-EU applicant costs €23,900 (design) and €22,600 (management).

City
Paris, Les Docks
Status
Grade de licence
Programmes
BA Fashion Design · BSc Management
Length
3 years
Language
Design: French or English; management: English
Non-EU fee
€23,900 / €22,600 in the first year

Request a private admissions assessment A substantive answer: which schools are realistic, what is missing and what to finish in time.

How BA Fashion Design selection works

  1. 01

    The online file

    Applicants outside Parcoursup apply on IFM’s website: CV, grades, portfolio and imaginary museum. IFM advises non-EU applicants to apply in the first session to leave time for the visa.

  2. 02

    The portfolio

    At least four projects must show the whole creative process: from iconographic research and first sketches to experiments with material and volume and the finished piece.

  3. 03

    The imaginary museum

    Ten works in the broadest sense (painting, photography, performance, music, literature, architecture) that define the applicant’s creative signature. No own work; no more than ten pages, up to two works per page.

  4. 04

    Test day and interview

    Shortlisted applicants complete creative tasks and an interview, bringing a fuller physical portfolio with real collages, hand drawings and fabric experiments.

  5. 05

    The English track

    Applicants who are not native speakers and have not studied for three years in English in an English-speaking country need a certificate: IELTS 6.0 or TOEFL iBT 80.

What this means for an international applicant

IFM says that 60% of those admitted to the BA in Fashion Design come from general secondary schools and that drawing and sewing are taught on the programme. What cannot be taught in advance is visible creative thinking. That is good news for an applicant without art school behind them, but the portfolio still has to be built early: four projects with a full process are not a month’s work.

IFM gives two portfolio lengths: 20–25 pages in its portfolio requirements PDF and 15–20 on the French programme page. We check the current version before applying. IFM Foundation scholarships are open only to EEA nationals, so a non-EU family’s budget is built without them.

Coco Chanel in a hat and a pale suit, lying on a sofa in front of bookshelves, black and white
IFM’s imaginary museum asks what this picture asks: what an eye is made of.

What IFM looks for in a portfolio

The published criteria: inventiveness and uniqueness, variety of tools and techniques (2D and 3D, collage, traditional and modern methods), artistic and intellectual curiosity, quality of presentation, and clarity of process from theme to outcome.

The imaginary museum is not a list of favourite designers. It is read as a map of cultural reference points, and a narrow or predictable choice says as much about an applicant as a strong one.

BSc Management: selection on the file, then a 20–30 minute online interview with a faculty panel that opens with the analysis of an image. An English test is compulsory for everyone: IELTS Academic 6.5, TOEFL iBT 90 or Cambridge 176. Applications for September 2027 open in October 2026.

How much IFM costs

BA Fashion Design, 2026/27: €23,900 for the first year for non-EU/EEA applicants, €15,600 for EU. BSc Management: €22,600 and €15,600.

Also: a €60 application fee and a €470 lifetime alumni association fee. After admission to the BA in Fashion Design, a non-EU applicant pays a €6,000 deposit to confirm the place.

Common mistakes

  • Filling the imaginary museum with fashion houses rather than works that genuinely shape the applicant’s eye.
  • Showing only finished pieces without research and sketches.
  • Applying in the last session with a non-EU visa to arrange.
  • Counting on an IFM Foundation scholarship without EEA nationality.

Who it suits

  • An applicant with a broad cultural grounding who can explain what inspires them.
  • Those who want to study fashion in Paris in English.
  • If making a piece at the admission stage and doing without a portfolio matters more, compare IFM with ESMOD.

How this school compares: portfolio, set tasks, interview, language and fees at 13 schools in Italy, the UK, France and the US in the EDMONT Fashion Admissions Matrix.Fashion Admissions Matrix 2027

Primary sources

The school’s official pages used for this guide. Last reviewed: .

  1. Institut Français de la Mode — Bachelor Fashion Design
  2. Institut Français de la Mode — Portfolio requirements, first-year entry (PDF)
  3. Institut Français de la Mode — BSc Management de la mode et des industries créatives
EDMONT / FASHION & CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

An assessment for IFM

Tell us where the applicant studies now, the intended year of entry and a link to their work. We will say which programme fits, how to build the portfolio and museum, and when to apply given the visa.

EDMONT / admissions discussion

The applicant’s profile

Tell us which curriculum the applicant follows, the intended year of entry and the discipline under consideration: design, business or communication. That is enough for a first substantive reply.