Manchester Metropolitan University

MA in Fashion Design Technology

Study

• Full-time 25% lectures, seminars or similar; 0% placement; 75% independent study

Assessment

• Full-time 100% coursework; 0% practical; 0% examination

Course Information

MA Fashion Design Technology is one course in a suite of exciting programmes within Manchester Fashion Institute.

The historically fashionable and culturally rich city of Manchester is an important characteristic of the course, acting as a ‘laboratory’ in which students will work with independent and commercial organisations, while researching the practical implications and processes of fashion marketing and its multitude of elements. The established reputation of Manchester Fashion Institute has allowed us to collaborate with iconic brands like Fred Perry and Chanel while also developing working relationships with industry leading and popular local brands, which facilitate exciting student opportunities for placements, internships and live project briefs each year.

With highly qualified and expertly trained academic staff, students on the course will benefit from a joint approach to teaching and learning, where the unique teaching and assessment methodologies will offer students a robust academic and industry facing understanding of different roles and functions in organisations, as well as contemporary issues facing fashion marketing. In order to be truly effective, the teaching and learning experience is one of collaboration, where students work with academics and peers to critique existing knowledge and behaviours in a creative, critical and reflexive way. Through innovative teaching practice and exciting methods of assessment, the course fosters a critical appreciation of marketing as a cultural belief system whose role in shaping fashion and society must be better understood.

The programme has been developed in response to rapid shifts in the way fashion is designed, manufactured and consumed; and driven by the need to address unsustainable practices in response to the environmental and social consequences of the current fashion industry.

Manchester Fashion Institute has an international reputation in this field, our professoriate are recognised for their impact on new sustainable fashion practices, we have established staff research in the use of 3D technologies and the body, and we are at the forefront of developing new digital technologies such as Clo3D.

Whilst the focus on the teaching and learning will primarily be practice based, technology-based knowledge will enable you to acquire the most relevant digital skills to be able to understand the contexts in which creative practitioners operate within the global fashion industry.

You'll receive a series of creative and technical workshops to support your creative practice and theoretical underpinning through lectures, seminars and tutorials. You'll work in an open studio environment that encourages diversity and exchange in design disciplines.

Year 1

MA Fashion Design Technology is made up of five core modules.

Core modules

• Design for Impact
• Digital and Material Innovation
• Fashion Bodies
• Negotiated Project
• Sustainable Solutions

By the end of their course, students will be equipped to design and manufacture innovative, fashion prototypes, products and ranges for specific target markets that impact positively on society and the future of the industry they are joining. Most graduates will enter the fashion industry in design, pattern cutting and advanced product development roles, aspiring to senior creative positions. They are also expected to be driving change in emerging roles in industry 4.0. The self-directed, project-based programme also provides a platform for progression onto doctoral study.