Margrethe-Skolen is Scandinavias leading Fashion and Design School with students from all over the world. Her Royal Highness Princess Benedikte of Denmark is the schools protector and has established a fund from which the annual ‘Benedikte Prize’ is awarded. It was an honour and a pleasure when the princess herself graduated from the school and she has kept close contact with the institution since that time.

Margrethe-Skolen is located in the heart of Copenhagen and has, during a period of 80 years, trained many of the leading designers, stylists and business people in the Danish and international world of fashion. Today it is internationally known and respected for, as formulated by Createur Erik Mortensen: “not only having interpreted and taught about fashion, but also having insisted on inspiring students to discover the heart of all forms of creativity, fashion and esthetics. The shool has maintained an admirable level of prestige which is too high for those who intend to accept the easiest solutions.”

Graduates of Margrethe-Skolen have achieved great recognition and success both nationally and internationally. Amongst others, can be named: Margit Brandt, Henriette Zobel, Rutzou, Bendikte Utzon, Sand, Rene Gurskov, Rikke Ruhwald and Bitte Kai Rand. The aim of Margrethe-Skolen is to train designers who with their ressources will be capable of developing a quality product encompassing identity and personality. Designers who have learnt to observe and analyse our environment, so that they are able to comply optimally with customers’ wishes.

The school has furthermore taken on the challenge of constantly developing and improving contacts with industry. The staff of professional instructors are all employed in the world of fashion; either in production or with their own brands. Thus they are constantly contributing with the latest trends whilst also creating contact between industry and students.


Philosophy

Fashion is an expression of our time and place. Clothes must both reflect and provoke society. Throughout the training, Margrethe-Skolen seeks to develop esthetic, creative and technical premises to strengthen the students in their creativity and their ability to establish a point of view. The tuition aims to open up for new horizons and thereby stimulate the students towards innovation in the individual design process. Fashion and trends move constantly through rapid change in order to keep the consumers interested. Students must be inquisitive, investigative and willing to experiment. Their clothes must reflect society and show a deeper understanding of the world around them. Art, culture, sociology, esthetics and philosophy are all aspects of this deeper study.

Under instruction, the students are challenged to exceed their own limitations, creating new forms, an original use of materials and colour combinations. The aim is to achieve innovative creations and new interpretations of what already exists. Through research and sketching, students gather a basic insight in inspiration, form and depth; elements indispensable for progress in the process of design. The intention is that students should be able to combine their natural creativity with fashion techniques, so that the challenges faced in working life can be solved as professionally as possible. At the same time it will be the students’ duty to contribute to modern society with innovation and quality.


Profile

Margrethe-Skolens strength lies in the creative approach to education in design. The positive, dynamic and creative atmosphere of the school stimulates the students to develop their personality, originality and individuality. This is a development which, through fundamental, factual and creative studies, endows the graduating student with an ability to realise design projects for industry, brands or their own production.

Achieving this result demands exertion and stamina. Students have to endure hard work to gain the basic “tools of the trade” in order to create new forms and show originality in their designs. They must be clever enough in their sketching to give expression to both creative and technical drawings, so that these can be used as guidelines in the process towards the optimal solution.