MILAN — Fashion and design school Istituto Marangoni is expanding its scope and launching courses in cosmetics and fragrances.
The goal is to educate and train the future managers of the beauty industry, which is exponentially growing and “will increasingly demand for professional figures in the upcoming years,” said the school’s managing director Stefania Valenti on Monday, when the initiative was unveiled at the Hotel Magna Pars & Suites here.
“Projections show that the cosmetics and fragrance industry will grow from generating $500 billion in sales to $700 billion by 2027,” continued Valenti. “Istituto Marangoni, which has always supported talents in the world of fashion, design and luxury, couldn’t miss the opportunity to grasp the potential of such a strategic market, that is so close to the DNA of its educational offer.”
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“Our vision and angle is clear: we want to teach our students the skills to create and develop a brand, whether [operating] in ready-to-wear or footwear, bags or fragrances, which are a natural extension of fashion houses,” said the executive.
Valenti noted that the key professional skills required in beauty “follow the same dynamics of those demanded in fashion, including how to position a brand on international markets and promote it with its unique features.” She additionally noted that educational programs targeting such skills in cosmetics are missing, saying “there’s a huge need for training as the industry is rapidly changing” and is already looking to Generation Alpha to study new customers’ demands, habits and values.
Debuting in September, different courses will be offered at Istituto Marangoni’s campuses in Paris, Milan and Florence. These include bachelor’s degrees and one-year intensive programs in fragrances and cosmetics management, as well as master’s degrees in marketing and communication management for fragrances and cosmetics, in brand management and licensing, or in olfactory experience management for the luxury industry.
The syllabus will cover topics such as the history of fragrances, market analysis and trend forecasting, in addition to deep-diving brand and financial management, as well as legal topics including intellectual property, trademark registration and protection, distribution rights and management of royalties, among others.
Workshops on raw materials and perfumery creation at specialized laboratories will add to the programs to “create awareness in future managers also about the technical complexities behind the fragrances,” said Valenti, who stressed that the campus in Florence will offer classes dedicated to home fragrances as well.
In addition to the aforementioned locations, Istituto Marangoni has outposts in London; Mumbai; Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; Miami, and Dubai. Valenti said that the training centers in Shanghai and Mumbai will also be involved in the project, as well as the school in Dubai opened last year.
“China is considered the [next destination] of fragrances, expected to become the second biggest market for the category after the U.S. by 2027,” noted Valenti, additionally highlighting the longtime tradition in beauty in India and the Middle East.
“We aim to have skilled managers not only in Europe but across the world, so we want to bring our experience on a global scale,” she continued. The executive sees cross-pollination with Istituto Marangoni’s other divisions, such as the product design course that could explore special projects in cosmetics packaging, for one.
Overall, the school’s expansion in beauty was developed with the support of the Italian association of fragrance companies Accademia del Profumo in Milan, and partners including Symrise and Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella in Paris and Florence, respectively.
“It’s a strategic initiative for local companies as it enables us to have a pool of talents already trained in our industry,” said Accademia del Profumo’s president Ambra Martone, highlighting that the project is aligned with the organization’s mission of promoting the culture of perfume in the country.
Martone, the daughter of Italian leading perfume manufacturer ICR’s president Roberto Martone, stressed on the importance of the sector for Italy, where 600 new fragrances are launched every year and scents account for 40 percent out of total products sold in local perfumeries. She shared that perfumes’ market value locally reached 1.1 billion euros and reports an average annual growth of 2 percent.
Overall, according to preliminary figures released by Cosmetica Italia earlier this year, in 2022 total sales generated by Italian beauty companies grew 11.4 percent to 13.2 billion euros compared to 2021 and surpassed the industry’s performance in 2019, when revenues roughly reached 12 billion euros. According to projections by the national association, sales are expected to further grow 7.7 percent to 14.2 billion euros in 2023.
“We will stress on the importance of Italy in the history of fragrances,” said Martone about the partnership with Istituto Marangoni, citing the role of Caterina de’ Medici in launching modern perfumery and introducing it in France, as well as the experiments in the field by Leonardo da Vinci. Another focus will be on raw materials, as Martone cited bergamot hailing from Italy’s region Calabria as one of the most-used ingredients in fragrance-making, included in 86 percent of the top notes of perfumes realized globally.
“But what we will try to pass down to students is that the real magic and strength of a fragrance is intangible and relies in its ability to elicit an emotion,” said Martone. “The olfactory memory is extremely important. We remember 35 percent of the perfumes we smell, versus only 5 percent of the images we see every day. Today the sense of smell is undervalued because we can’t digitalize it and transfer it with modern media, hence the need of talents and managers that will leverage marketing tools to enhance it.”
Students enrolled in Istituto Marangoni’s courses will also be involved in Accademia del Profumo’s initiatives, including in assigning the annual awards of the association, which this year will be revealed for the first time with an open-to-public ceremony on Sept. 28, during the second edition of Milan Beauty Week.
Students could additionally apply for the scholarship program Accademia del Profumo established last year in memory of Giorgia Martone, Ambra’s sister who retained creative roles in the family-run business and died suddenly in 2021.
Founded in 1935, Istituto Marangoni is controlled by Galileo Global Education Italia, the Italian branch of the international private higher education company GGE. Well-known alumni of the school include Franco Moschino, Alessandro Sartori, Domenico Dolce, Paula Cademartori and Andrea Pompilio, among others.
Private schools operating in the fashion, art and design fields under GGE Italia’s umbrella also include Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti — better known as NABA — and Domus Academy.