Institut Alpin Videmanette

{{Short description|Former finishing school in Rougemont, Switzerland}}{{Infobox school

| image = Chateau d'Oex.jpg

| caption = Château-d'Œx

| schooltype = Finishing school

| gender = Girls

| language = French

}}

The Institut Alpin Videmanette was a finishing school in the municipality of Rougemont, Switzerland. It was an all-girl school where the lessons were skiing, cooking, dressmaking and French.

In 1973, the school was headed by Monsieur and Madame C. L. Yersin."Institut Alpin Videmanette" in Schools 1973 (London: Truman & Knightley Educational Trust, 1973), p. 799 In 1981, it was reported to have an age range between sixteen and twenty and to teach language and commercial programmes through the medium of the French language."Institut Alpin Videmanette" in Karlene N. Dickey, Switzerland, a Study of the Educational System of Switzerland and a Guide to the Academic Placement of Students from Switzerland in Educational Institutions of the United States (American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, 1981), p. 118

The main facilities were in Château d'Œx.{{cite book |last1=Courtney |first1=Nicholas |title=Diana, Princess of Wales |date=1982 |publisher=Holt, Rinehart, and Winston |location=UK |isbn=9780030632297 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_QvlBUMbTX8C |access-date=28 November 2020 |quote=Lady Diana went to the Institut Alpin Videmanette at the Chateau d'Oex near Gstaad.}}{{cite web |last1=Thornhill |first1=Emily |title=The history-breaking reason that made Princess Diana different from all other royal brides |url=https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/bazaar-brides/news/a41854/diana-royal-bride-job/ |website=Harper's Bazaar UK |publisher=Hearst Magazines UK |access-date=28 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171205160151/https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/bazaar-brides/news/a41854/diana-royal-bride-job/ |date=2 June 2017 |quote=Prior to her engagement, Diana worked as a teacher at Young England School in Pimlico. The charitable princess took on the role after returning to London from the exclusive Chateau D'Oex finishing school in Rougemont, Switzerland in 1978. |archive-date=5 December 2017}}

Tamara Mellon was at the school in the mid-1980s, when it had some sixty girls and was still headed by Madame Yersin. She later wrote of it that "The assumption was that you were a dunce and that the only hope for you was to attach yourself to what was known as a good provider." In her day there was a smoking room and in the winter months there were skiing lessons every afternoon. Girls would often meet boys from Le Rosey at a nightclub in Gstaad. The winter campus of Le Rosey was nearby.Tamara Mellon, In My Shoes (London: Penguin, 2013), [https://books.google.com/books?id=y-xvr4ZtrUkC&pg=PT38 pp. 38–41]

The school closed in 1991.{{cite magazine

|title = Lessons from the Last Swiss Finishing School The New Yorker

|magazine = The New Yorker

|url = https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/08/lessons-from-the-last-swiss-finishing-school

|date = 2018-10-02

|archiveurl = https://archive.today/20181002222322/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/08/lessons-from-the-last-swiss-finishing-school

|archivedate = 2018-10-02

|access-date = 2020-11-28

|url-status = live

}}