125 years of teaching fashion and design

The Modeco school of fashion and design in Zurich has seen a revolution in textile design since it first opened in 1889. Students’ aspirations may have changed but the quality of the craftsmanship is being kept alive. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)

Phinkha Leng Sok works on the fine fabrics of a dress for a private client, an elaborate creation that requires the highest accuracy and concentration. Phinkha and his colleagues are being trained as part of a three year apprenticeship course in fashion design, tailoring, and dressmaking.
The school is Modeco that started to operate in 1889 with 18 female students. At the time tailoring was a woman’s occupation and the school was an opportunity for them to get out their homes and into a job market traditionally reserved for men.
The school is celebrating 125 years of craftsmanship. Today its core business is niche products like traditional costumes for Sechseläuten, the work of which is done by the school’s 90 students.
Sechseläuten, which literally means “six o’clock bell ringing”, is a tradition dating to medieval times craftsmen would work winter daylight hours until 5pm. As part of the celebrations, the members of 25 guilds dress in traditional clothes and parade the city.
At a time when the textile industry has been taken over by cheap labor and mechanisation, the school can only survive thanks to such orders.