University of Bedfordshire

BA (Hons) in Fashion Design

What will you study?

Studying our Fashion Design BA (Hons) course will equip you with in-depth knowledge and skills in the areas of fashion, art and design. In core areas of art study, you will be introduced to key theories on art and design as well as its effect on culture and society in our Context and Ideas unit. With a particular focus on fashion, you will have various opportunities to express your creativity in our Fashion Design: Exploring Materials and Methods unit by exploring ways to translate your ideas into a reality through design. Here, you will discover a variety of production methods such as pattern cutting and sewing and turning 2-D designs into 3-D while developing your understanding of industrial garment production. In addition, you will explore and experiment with a range of textiles and materials while also considering the ethical and environmental concerns behind them.

You will then get to practice this knowledge in our Fashion Design: Developing Materials and Methods unit by researching, testing and experimenting with creative production methods while also learning to manage creative risk. This is closely linked to our Thinking Through Making unit that will encourage you to take creative risks and develop an aesthetic sense through using various technologies, processes and ideas. To further deepen your insight on contemporary art and design practices, our unit in Critical and Creative Contexts will allow you to explore issues and critical debates around art and design that you will use to inform your Final Major Project: Fashion Design. This research-based project is a brilliant opportunity for your development as a designer to pursue your creative and artistic interests as you will be made to produce a fashion collection and present this to the public.

Another area of project work involves our Collaborative Enterprise unit where you will work to apply your knowledge and expertise gained throughout this course into a collaborative interdisciplinary project. To help you with the research and analytical skills needed for project work, our unit in Context and Meaning will allow you to critically examine a range of texts on art, design and visual culture while placing this theory and practice into global contexts. To diversify your skill set, our Introducing Studio Practice unit will allow you to develop discipline-specific skills and experience such as independent learning, self-confidence, collaborative working and reflection, and apply them in other areas of study.

To prepare you for your career in a professional creative role, our unit in Creative Futures will provide you with the skills and knowledge you need for a professional creative role. Whether you aspire to become a freelance artist, designer, teacher or pursue further study, this unit will support you in developing a career that suits your ambitions and interests. Furthermore, this unit will encourage you to participate in live projects, competition briefs and other group work while developing your ability to professionally present yourself and your portfolio. You will be taught how to market and self-promote your work using online media tools. To add to this, our unit in Developing Professional Practice will teach you to incorporate independence and professionalism in the presentation of your work while also developing your confidence to take creative risks.

How will you be assessed?

A range of appropriate assessments will enable you to grow in confidence and demonstrate your acquisition of knowledge and skills. The formative and summative assessment methods used across the course include: Coursework to include examples of Fashion Design research sketchbooks/portfolios professional portfolio research assignments garment manufacture 3-D development essays contextual writing and blogs. Assessments based on individual and group presentations. Portfolio reviews are a key means of assessing but they are also important for collating work for a professional portfolio. This instils the right attitudes towards professional work whereby you can use your portfolio to promote yourself in professional contexts. Essays and reports feature in developing writing skills helping you to express ideas in a variety of ways and styles and to develop academic writing skills that are of particular benefit in producing the final year contextual rationale for your major project. A midpoint Formal Formative Assessment to review all work in progress Key-making skills are embedded in the teaching and learning of the course and will be taken into account in all assessments.

The assessments will develop incrementally across the course and allow you to gain skills confidence and knowledge receive feedback and develop thus allowing you to implement this knowledge and feedback into subsequent assessments. At the end of the course, completion of the assessments will demonstrate your ability to analyse current art and design practice - in relation to Fashion Design - and communicate this in both written and visual formats as well as demonstrate a range of transferable skills relevant to your professional employability.

Employability and professional practice skills are integrated into the course and provide you with an awareness of the real-world context of the creative industries in general and fashion design in particular. You will be helped to develop a strategy for obtaining appropriate employment at the end of your course with a work-related learning unit that will especially help you to become more focused on managing your career. You will be helped with the preparation of a professional portfolio including a CV and learn the social-media skills needed to promote yourself in a social-mediated art and design world.

Typical graduate destinations for Fashion Design students include work within the field of contemporary fashion and textile design as a fashion designer fashion stylist textile developer and selector or pattern cutter. Many graduates also choose to work in areas related to design practice such as teaching garment technology and production.

Previous graduates have gone on to work with Alexander McQueen Mary Katranzou Lulu Liu Sopie Webster Amanda Wakeley Zandra Rhodes Love Magazine and Denza International. Some of our graduates have started their own label such as Aaugust who won Young Designer of the Year at Africa Fashion Week London.

Another avenue is further study at Master's level (Level 7) in areas such as advanced design studies accessory design fashion business and promotion.