BA (Hons) Fashion

Course content

Year 1

• Build a technical skill base in pattern cutting, fabric development and manufacturing to produce fully-realised 3D garments
• Develop skills in sourcing and compiling visual research
• Engage with contemporary and historical industry topics and themes from lectures and seminars
• Explore the professional ways of communicating ideas and outcomes, and essential digital skills
• Work collaboratively alongside Year Three students, assisting with their final collections and NUA fashion catwalk show at Graduate Fashion Week

Year 2

• Focus on expanding and refining fundamental skills and developing a personal design practice
• Advance pattern cutting and manufacturing skills
• Enhance your fabric development skills through an applied textile project
• Develop a strong industry awareness to formulate your own career trajectory
• Explore working in a team and developing a creative role through the course and university-wide collaborative projects

Year 3

• Determine your creative direction in the final major project brief by designing your own collection or developing your own fashion-related project
• Develop strong conceptual and practical skills through extensive research, design development and original pattern cutting and craftsmanship
• Take part in industry projects including briefs from Graduate Fashion Week and the British Fashion Council
• Articulate a professional fashion profile through industry-ready portfolio presentation sheets, CV writing and interview practice
• Write a Research Report on a topic broadly related to fashion and your practice

Your fashion skills

With a focus on developing an innovative approach to fashion design, underpinned by a thorough understanding of historical and contemporary trends in fashion, you’ll acquire a valuable range of technical skills in design development and planning, pattern cutting, garment construction and tailoring.

Your strong research and technical skills and extensive knowledge of the fashion industry, as well as the quality of your designs and manufactured garments, will help you build an enviable profile on which to establish your career. We’ll support you in building a professional portfolio – one of your most powerful assets as a designer to give employers an insight into your talents and design aesthetic.

Your fashion future

In our creative and buzzing studio-based environment and well-equipped workshops managed by expert technical staff, you’ll find the space and specialist resources to develop your original ideas and perfect practical skills like pattern cutting, draping and moulage, digital design and drawing.

You’ll participate in competitions and live projects involving major companies such as John Lewis and Hobbs and take your understanding of fashion to a professional level through seminars and workshops run by guests from brands like All Saints and Viktor & Rolf.

In the final year of your degree, you’ll have the chance to participate in major showcases and public events, including Graduate Fashion Week in London.

Graduates work in a broad range of careers including:

• Freelance Designer
• In-House Designer
• Bespoke Tailor
• Creative Pattern Cutter
• Buyer
• Design Consultant
• Fashion Illustrator
• Garment Technologist
• Visual Merchandiser
• Fashion Stylist