No longer just for princesses
The sign on the door with a stick figure of a man overlaid with a big “X” will have to go now that the last Swiss finishing school, bending to economic reality and social change, is accepting men.
The Institut Villa Pierrefeu, located on a hill above Lake Geneva, is the last in a line of institutions that struggled to shake their image as “schools for princesses” after Diana Spencer, who later became Lady Diana, attended one in the same canton.
In their heyday before feminism stirred in the1960s, European aristocrats sent their daughters to finishing schools in safe, neutral Switzerland to polish their manners and prepare them for married life.
About half a dozen such schools once flourished in the French-speaking Alps, but the others have closed as young women have instead chosen to attend university and pursue careers.
Now part of the demand for the last surviving school is coming from a very different segment of the population — men.
“Men are starting to realize that, like it or not, we are also judged by our manners,” said Philippe Neri, grandson of the school’s founder.
The school has opened its doors to a more international, and older, clientele. This year, it accepted men for the first time as part of the process of adapting its curriculum to stay relevant and compete with rival schools in emerging markets.
Sewing has been dropped and, contrary to the stereotype, students have never had to balance books on their heads, Neri said.
Instead, students want to learn about etiquette and protocol to gain a competitive edge with international clients through courses on small talk, dress codes and the “dos and don’ts of giving gifts.”
Around a dark wooden table lit by candelabras, students on an intensive etiquette course were learning how to behave at a formal British dinner party.
Guillaume Rue, a 26-year-old Frenchman and the only male in the class, began by making polite conversation about holiday destinations but blundered in reaching for his bread roll.
Teacher Irene Vargas de Huber gently rebuked him: “The host will think you’re starving if you eat before the first course.”
A student from China was told off for eating too quickly.
For Yann Olivier Tavernier, the 39-year-old managing director of GMHBI International, which distributes Swiss cosmetics, these are exactly the type of costly faux pas he is seeking to avoid with clients.
“Clients in the luxury sector are very demanding. If we are well-mannered, then they will take that as their first impression of the product,” he said.
While the last Swiss finishing school has outlived its peers, a growing challenge is coming from rival institutes in fast-developing countries to cater to the tastes of an emerging upper middle class. Neri dismissed the new schools. “It’s the same as the watch industry. If you want the highest quality, you stick with Swiss.”