In 1841, the world’s first fashion school was founded.
In 1841, during the Second French Republic (1848 – 1852 and 1852 – 1870), the world’s first fashion educational institute was founded in Fontaine street of Paris by Alexis Lavigne, a court tailor of Napoleon III. This is the beginning of ESMOD.
In the same year, he invented the couture mannequin and the measure (tape measure), and developed a logical flat pattern cutting method for women’s and men’s clothing. He published textbooks as the first step to train systematically young tailors and couturiers, for whom apprenticeship was the only way to acquire techniques at that time. Then his daughter Alice Guerre Lavigne took over the school under new name “Guerre-Lavigne school” and started to accept women as students. It was awarded by the homeland and other European countries for its contribution to fashion and cultural activities.
