Portfolio requirements
We are interested in your creative potential; please prepare a portfolio of work you have completed so far. We are not looking for perfection as we appreciate you may still be developing work. We would like to see:
If you are an international applicant, please send a link to your online portfolio.
Explore every aspect of the Fashion Industry: develop concepts, create designs, construct garments, understand retail concepts, and plan and manage events. You will establish your own brand; from creating your own branding and marketing to graphic design and visual merchandising.
The fashion industry embraces every personality type and skill set you can imagine! Whether you’re good with numbers, a great organiser, a creative designer or a studious researcher who can put great looks together, there are as many job roles as there are personalities.
You can be confident that you’ll be nurtured, supported and developed throughout the course.
Fashion industry employers compliment us on how ‘industry-ready’ our students are. This is because they gain a good all round understanding of the way the industry operates, enabling them to complement many types of professional teams.
You will build core skills in fashion design, illustration, graphics, branding and promotion and will gain additional experience in photography and styling for editorial communication.
We also support you to find a work placement, which will give you the chance to see what the fashion world is about.
More info: Click here
Year 1 (national level 4):
Core modules:
Develop creative and valuable skills including including pattern cutting and garment making, traditional print-making, digital design, brand collaboration, visual merchandising and how to promote and communicate ideas.
Study the entire fashion process, from research and design development, right through to the finished product, including pattern cutting, garment construction and technical specifications.
Learn about the key issues shaping the development of fashion and the main designers, companies and publications in the industry today.
Develop your ability to convey ideas through moving image, by learning techniques that will allow you to design, plan, edit and create movies using motion graphics and special effects. Understand the language used to communicate through time-based media and learn a range of industry-standard software and hardware to hone your skills. Practice the techniques that will allow you to create and synchronise moving graphics, video, sound, typography, animated elements and visual effects to create dynamic and effective movies.
Year 2 (national level 5):
Core modules:
Creative Product Development for Exhibition (40 credits)
Combine exciting design and research to work on a live industry-based brief which focuses on producing unique outfits for exhibition as well as promotional materials including video, photography and poster design.
Fashion Branding and Producing the Event (20 credits)
Further develop your digital design skills and explore personal branding concepts to produce a fashion branding portfolio, as well as planning a Fashion Show and fundraiser event, gaining skills in collaboration, negotiation and self-management.
Commercial Fashion Design and Illustration (20 credits)
Develop your skills in illustration and visual communication in creative and innovative ways to meet client requirements.
Styling for Fashion Editorial (20 credits)
Explore techniques and processes of creative imagery for fashion media, studying past and present stylists, examining historical and aesthetic influences on their work and styling and directing your own photoshoots.
Experiencing the Creative Industries (20 credits)
Experience a short work placement with an employer. Alternatively, gain other experience of working in the creative industries. Examples include: live jobs; competition briefs; a creative placement; and a collaboration with fellow students from relevant subject areas.
Year 3
Work placement (optional)
Final year (national level 6):
Core modules:
Further develop your professional skills by focusing on commercial design and range planning and developing your personal brand identity, while defining your fashion portfolio.
Develop a critical understanding of current contextual issues associated with the creative industries. Apply your research to evaluate, critique, discuss and synthesise your understanding of at least one current contextual issue facing the industry. Demonstrate your skills to produce a media platform to communicate your research, findings, understanding and analysis of the current contextual issues effectively and professionally.
In your final project you get to set your own brief, which will be carefully researched and presented in your Final Proposal. This will provide the framework for your personal project, which you can direct in a number of ways. Past successful final projects have included an ethical childrenswear range for IKEA, an original branding and promotion pack for an urban menswear range and a conceptual collection of mens’ suits inspired by the stages of grief through to acceptance.
Graduates from this course have gone into a wide range of careers, from fashion design, pattern cutting and garment technology to sourcing and allocating, buying, branding, marketing, merchandising, communications, styling and more.
The professional skills graduates obtain from this course also allow them to build successful freelance careers.
Past graduates have gone on to work for well renowned design companies such as Abercrombie and Fitch, River Island, Debenhams, TopMan, All Saints and Matalan.
Insurance-Single: 300 GBP/year
