News Saint Laurent Is Creating a Couture Training Program for Young Talent By Faith Cummings Faith Cummings Twitter Faith Cummings is a copywriter, editor, and journalist with over a decade of experience. InStyle's editorial guidelines Updated on July 10, 2017 @ 10:15AM Pin Share Tweet Email Though longstanding fashion houses are the bedrock of couture, new designers will push the industry into its future. Saint Laurent believes this to be true, as the iconic brand is taking a major step toward fostering young design talent. It has developed "a training program for couture savoir-faire" with the Institut Français de la Mode and the École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne—as reported by WWD. Sustainability and innovation are key to the program's agenda, which will span six months. The course will operate similar to an internship at Saint Laurent, with students completing 25 days at the aforementioned schools and the house's offices in an experiential format. At the end of the program, trainees will present a special project to Saint Laurent's staff and the school's faculty jury. When speaking about the program, Saint Laurent CEO and President, Francesca Bellettini, stated: "Preserving our heritage while evolving and being very relevant in our epoch is a pillar of our strategy, and investing in talents is an imperative condition to build on our success even further. I am very proud of this partnership with such renowned and prestigious institutions as the IFM and ECSCP, which will greatly contribute to the implementation of our strategy." Designer Anthony Vaccarello Introduces a Sexy New Saint Laurent at Paris Fashion Week Saint Laurent's course launches in September, just in time for Fashion Week!