LUISS Business School - Double Degree: Shiho Umemiya

Ciao, Roma

Ciao! Time flies, and somehow it is already my last week in Rome, the Eternal City, though these past ten months felt anything but eternal. They have felt like a dream.

I had never set foot in Italy before this exchange, yet it had always sat at the top of my travel list. Coming here turned out to be one of the best decisions I have made, and if you are weighing up a year in Italy, my advice is simple: just go.

Studying in Villa Blanc

LUISS Business School sits inside Villa Blanc, and I am fairly convinced it is the most beautiful business school in the world.

I will never forget attending lectures in the grand Ballroom, joining global hangouts in the elegant Mirror Room, curling up for movie nights in the cozy Winter Room, and giving presentations on interactive whiteboards that felt almost too futuristic for a nineteenth-century villa.

LUISS ranks among the most prestigious business schools in Italy, and you sense it the moment you step onto campus. Every corner reminded me that I was studying in the heart of the Renaissance, surrounded by art, history, and fashion.

Discovering Fashion from the Inside

After ten years in ecommerce roles across Japanese and multinational brands, most recently at an American sandal company, I arrived in Rome and realised just how little I knew about fashion, and how much there was still to learn.

The NUCB Executive MBA had given me a holistic view of how senior leaders make decisions. The LUISS Master in Fashion Management took me somewhere else entirely.

Here is a simple example. Buying clothes is such an ordinary part of daily life that I had never stopped to consider that ready-to-wear clothing barely existed before the mid-nineteenth century. Mass-produced garments are only about 150 years old. Before that, most clothing was made to measure.

You still see that heritage in Italian fashion today through its quiet obsession with silhouette, body line, and timeless tailoring.

Seeing Luxury Differently

Before Rome, the great fashion and luxury houses felt very far removed from my world.

In Asia, these brands live inside shopping malls or along luxury streets built for tourists. Because most are French or Italian, they carry an exotic, almost untouchable air. To me, the boutiques always looked intimidatingly empty, with three handbags on display and a security guard following your every move.

In Rome, those same boutiques are simply part of everyday life. You wander in without a second thought.

Over the year, I learned to appreciate the quality, the fabric, the design, and the use of colour in a collection rather than chasing variety for its own sake. I can now recognise how a brand distinguishes itself through its materials, design language, and overall mood.

Finding Where My Passion Fits

From the moment I chose this double degree, my goal was clear. I wanted to work for an activewear sports brand.

I spend my free time bouldering and snowboarding, and there are plenty of sports brands I admire. The catch is that the business models of lifestyle and luxury brands differ enormously, and I worried I might not be able to apply what I learned at LUISS if I moved into sportswear.

Luckily, as the line between lifestyle and luxury continues to blur, I received an offer from a brand that sits right between the two: premium athleisure. It is all about balancing aesthetics and function, which is where my LUISS training suddenly felt especially relevant.

That branding knowledge clearly paid off in the interview.

Looking Back

Now I am excited to carry these lessons back into the business world and continue translating between what consumers want and what the numbers need.

I have found where my passion lies, and this double degree pointed me exactly where I wanted to go.

Grazie, Roma.

Arrivederci, for now!