Polimoda is known worldwide for its independence in thinking and action by combining business and design across all departments. Considered by the Business of Fashion as the best fashion institute in Italy, and amongst the top ten in the world, Polimoda balances the know-how of Italian design and production with an international vision.

The Undergraduate, Master’s and short courses offered at Polimoda connect the legacy of the past with new research and creativity. Professors offer experience-based learning, adapting courses to changes in the industry as they happen. Polimoda students are taught inside the Renaissance-style building of Villa Favard, a state-of-the-art Design Lab, and the Polimoda Library. With 70% of students coming from countries outside Italy, Polimoda is a cultural force in the heart of Florence.

Concept - Fashion Displacement

Language disguises the mind and fashion disguises the body. Given fashion is language, fashion is thought. The thought-moment is what we call concept. On the contrary, today’s aesthetics of glamour reflect the ethics of possession, mass narcissism, screaming titles, finance and programmed obsolescence of technology. The concept of fashion displacement brings attention back to what really counts: the body and mind of young students, their gaze as it is, full of dreams and nightmares. The greatest aesthetic revolution is therefore the absence of glamour. It is not realism but simply reality, it is the present and future life of subjects, our students, who do not want to be objects. Away with the masks and commercial promises, it is the time to concentrate on content and research the key that opens the doors to knowledge: to become what you are.

Management 

The executive staff of Polimoda have esteemed backgrounds with decades of industry experience. Together they create a visionary future of fashion.

Ferruccio Ferragamo, President of Polimoda, is also the President of world renowned luxury house, Salvatore Ferragamo. As the eldest son of the company’s founder, Mr Ferragamo has a personal understanding and knowledge of the international luxury industry, and oversees the running of the Institute.

Danilo Venturi, Director of Polimoda, is specialised in creative direction and brand architecture. Holding an academic background in politics and a Master in Luxury Management from Polimoda, Mr Venturi has developed an interdisciplinary career across music, e-commerce, retail concepts, luxury and writing, and indeed authored Luxury Hackers (2011) and Momenting the Memento (2014). He was the Head of the Business Department at Polimoda before assuming his current role in 2016.

Linda Loppa, Polimoda’s Advisor of Strategy and Vision, has over 40 years’ experience in the fashion industry, and over 25 specialised in education. As the former Head of the Fashion Department at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Ms Loppa guided Polimoda as its Director for 9 years, before relocating to Paris in her current role, to establish connections and insight from the greater industry for the school.

Courses Overview: Undergraduate and Postgraduate

Undergraduate:

Fashion Technology
Leather Technology
Fashion Design
Business of Fashion
Fashion Marketing Management
Fashion Marketing & Communications
Fashion Luxury Management

Fashion Art Direction
Fashion Design Management

Master's:

Collection Design
Accessories Design
Fashion Design
Fashion Brand Management
Fashion Merchandising & Buying
Luxury Retail Management
International Fashion Business
Fashion Store Concepts
Fashion Marketing & Communications
Fashion Business Management
Luxury Business

Campus Locations

Polimoda’s students thrive across two campuses in Florence. Both old and new, these spaces are hubs of activity, creativity and new ideas that are changing the future of fashion as we know it.


Villa Favard, overlooking the Arno River, this magnificent Villa built in 1858 houses lessons in frescoed rooms, as well as the administrative headquarters of the Institute. Students from the entire institute attend classes here, and in the facing ‘Scuderie’ building. On the lower level of the Villa, students can find The Polimoda Library, the first fashion library in Europe that currently houses 22,000 fashion and photography books and 400 complete collections of magazine archives.


Design Lab, Its strategic position in the heart of the Florentine district famous for leather goods and garment production, gives design students at the Lab a proximity to the industry unknown to any other fashion school in the world. Full of fabrics, colours, mannequins and machines, classrooms and technical workshops are equipped with the latest equipment for patternmaking, knitwear, sewing, garment construction and footwear prototyping.

Exclusive Scholarship Opportunity

To celebrate the launch of Polimoda's new master's course in Creative Direction, NJAL and Polimoda have come together to create a unique scholarship program. To find out more about how you could win a place at this renowned institution and pay no fees for a year, click here.