Institut Français de la Mode carries out research in the fields of fashion, design and more generally the creative industries, from a human and social sciences angle (philosophy, history, sociology, anthropology, ethnology, economics and management).
The aim of IFM's research department is to make intelligible the profound changes in the economy of fashion, design and luxury in France and internationally, covering all disciplines.
The Institut's research activities rely, on the one hand, on studies carried out for the public sector and businesses, on the other hand on in-house academic production that was introduced in 2004. The objective of the IFM's Research department is to develop research into social sciences and management in the areas of fashion, clothes, luxury, perfumes and cosmetics, design and the creative industries at large.
Research concentrates on:
• marketing and sociology in the luxury, fashion and design industries;
• analyzing the changes in the areas of production, consumption, retail distribution and international trade for the fashion industries (textiles, clothing, leathers and accessories).
The themes covered are as varied as the « fashion » object itself is permeable. A major issue is the question of consumption cycles and the immaterial dimension of a sector where the symbolic or cultural values of a brand, its human capital, advertising and communication, aesthetics and imagination matter more than in any other sector. Most of the IFM's research work has been published in the IFM's collection of publications.
IFM's research department organizes a series of monthly public conferences aimed at the general public.
Mode de Recherche, IFM's quarterly research report dedicates each issue to a specific subject covered by a number of academics from a range of different fields.
IFM also provides access to a continually updated data base that lists and evaluates the most important work being carried out in France and abroad as well as a directory of academics.
IFM's research department receives support from Cercle IFM, the Institut Français de la Mode's group of patron companies.
