Fashion BA Honours

This module will introduce you to different ways of looking at and thinking about fashion, providing an introduction to key themes, narratives and concepts, and considering their historical and theoretical underpinnings.

The module draws connections between fashions from the past and the present to encourage you to understand the rich cultural and social meanings of clothing and adornment in global traditions. This approach teaches a broad range of visual and material research methodologies that encourage you to be resourceful and explore different objects, archives and historical collections, making context the centre of your creative practice. 

This module facilitates a grounding in the fundamentals of fashion concept creation, mixed media working, the ethos of responsible design, introductory pattern cutting skills and understanding of textiles. You will explore primary and secondary resources to underpin the full design process from concept to 3D realisation. The module runs across the first semester introducing you to core research skills, fashion and textiles design and development skills. 

This module will encourage you to develop an awareness of your role as a designer within the broader fashion and textiles industry contexts, promoting an interdisciplinary experience, the cross fertilisation of practice/s and design presentation skills. The module provides opportunities for the development of technical skills in pattern cutting, garment construction and textile make, enabling you to translate your design ideas into three-dimensional garments within the context of a design brief. 

The introductory nature of this module includes a series of group workshops, to encourage you to take creative risks, experiment and innovate within a safe and supportive environment. You will explore techniques within surface/constructed approaches to textile design and will be introduced to emerging material technologies and responsible ways of working.

The module considers the symbiotic nature of fashion and textiles and helps you explore 2D to 3D thinking and communication skills. Upon completion, you will have the knowledge and experience to identify areas of textile interests for further development.

This module develops your specialist knowledge of critical concepts and issues in contemporary fashion cultures and industry, and skills to navigate in an ethically informed manner the production, consumption and mediation of fashion, as a global aspect of both culture and industry. It will also enable you to identify sources of employment opportunities and help you navigate job specification and make connections with potential employers, collaborators and networks. It will help you position your creative work in a responsible, culturally competent, and industry-savvy manner. Through alignment with Middlesex University’s strategic themes and UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, it will explore how contemporary cultures of fashion approach three interlocking themes:

(1) Equity and wellbeing

(2) Inclusive socio-economic and cultural development

(3) Sustainability of communities and the environment

These will represent the organising principle of the curriculum in three thematic blocks; these will find practical applications in industry through a range of activities that will help you build a professional portfolio and identify a job placement. The module will support your own research interests in contemporary fashion cultures and the industry, enabling you to understand how these relate to each other, and informing your critical awareness of professional contexts.

This module introduces higher level challenges by exploring and personalising analogue and digital processes to develop existing skills and acquire new competencies in the areas of fashion and textile design technologies. You will be encouraged to combine your personal identity and research with the investigation of traditional design techniques and advances in design technology to exercise personal responsibility and decision-making in a personally charted field of creative fashion and textile design.

This module builds on knowledge, values, preferences, and previous skills acquired and encourages you to investigate the value of both traditional and digital methods, to give you the professional confidence in multiple tools and systems for creating and making fashion and textiles and their relative merits and uses in context. 

This module reflects the fast pace of the fashion industry and further develops autonomy, professional confidence and collaborative management skills gained through the internship module. Its goal is to design and develop innovative fashion design, communication and marketing solutions targeted to a clearly identified market segment. It advances your exposure to new technologies in the fashion industry and opens up opportunities for exploring virtual fashion and textiles design. Via industry focused briefs and/or competitions you are encouraged to consider how your personal design/communication practice demonstrates an awareness of professional standards and client specific expectations and audience.

The module builds on previous knowledge and skills in identifying an appropriate career specialisation in the fashion, textiles, and fashion communication industries through a process which requires the exercise of cultural competence, personal ethics, responsibility and decision-making. It will empower you to acquire new competencies that will enable you to assume significant responsibility within organisations. Through a period of professional internship, you will gain an understanding of the qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment in the fashion and textiles industries. The internship experience will provide you with lifelong skills for employability and self-employment.

This module will help you to develop an employment experience to provide an insight into the work methods and operation of a fashion business or freelance role in fashion design, textiles, communication or marketing.

It will enable you to apply your previously acquired skills and knowledge to personal and professional practice and develop an understanding of the principles of reflective practice and their application in a professional context.

This module will help you develop the following skills and processes:

• To engage with the identification, organisation and development of a substantial, in-depth, self-directed Research Project (Dissertation) with a clear and sustained critical argument
• To encourage the pursuit of a research topic related to issues explored in students’ own practice in any area of fashion visual cultures
• To develop critical awareness and self-reflection of historical and/or contemporary contexts of students’ discipline and research topic
• To build on previously acquired knowledge and skills in primary and secondary research, developing your ability to identify, analyse and critically evaluate appropriate sources and research methods
• To support the production of clear, solid, independently researched outputs that can be taken forward into postgraduate study and/or professional practice in a variety of fashion and/or visual, aural and material culture contexts.

This module runs through the second semester integrating and showcasing all previous learning. You will produce a visual record of your individual fashion /textile/ digital outputs; creating a bespoke portfolio of work appropriate for positions within the design and creative industries. 

The focus of this module is risk taking, experimentation and innovation. You will be expected to undertake extensive research and development including experimental 2D and 3D sampling to form a robust creative grounding for the second semester. 

This module nurtures your understanding of 2D to 3D design and encourages the acquisition of detailed knowledge in disciplines across fashion and textiles. You will shape and explore your own design identity through research and the production and showcasing of a collection of work. Work may be realised in material, virtual or hybrid forms and pays attention to the future of the fashion textiles industry. We will foster curiosity, innovation, independence, resilience, confidence and creative identity, and prepare you as independent design practitioners. The module builds on all previous learning to refine advanced scholarship and creative practice in fashion and textiles design. Creative outcomes are negotiated by yourself and showcase techniques of analysis, creative enquiry and technical skill. You will be encouraged to manage your own learning, exercise initiative and identify your intended audience, developing a working practice for industry. You will be well positioned for industry opportunities.

You will be studying at our north London campus in Hendon.

Outside of teaching hours, you’ll learn independently through self-study which will involve reading articles and books, working on projects, undertaking research, and preparing for assessments including coursework, and presentations.

Here is an indication of how you will split your time:

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Whether you are studying full or part-time – your course timetable will balance your study commitments on campus with time for work, life commitments and independent study.

We aim to make timetables available to students at least 2 weeks before the start of term. Some weeks are different due to how we schedule classes and arrange on-campus sessions.

Our excellent teaching and support teams will help you develop the skills relevant to your degree from research and practical skills to critical thinking. Our Sheppard Library is open 24 hours a day during term time. And we offer free 24-hour laptop loans with full desktop software, free printing and Wi-Fi to use on or off campus, even over the weekend.

There are no exams but your coursework including portfolio reviews, design reviews, sample reviews, garment fittings, tech packs, verbal and digital presentations, reflective journals and rationale writing will be assessed. This coursework reflects an industry standard expectation of graduates.

For your dissertation, you'll have a choice between a visual essay, oral presentation, or written essay.

We'll test your understanding and progress with:

• Portfolio reviews  
• Fittings  (review of garments on model) 
• Tech packs   
• Presentations verbal and digital  
• Reflective journals and statements.

To help you achieve the best results, we will provide regular feedback.