Fashion Design – (B.A.)

British fashion education is now regarded as among the best in the world, and Cambridge School of Art offers a creative and dynamic learning environment where you will be encouraged to develop your own creative path, supported by our highly experienced teaching staff. Our degree will introduce you to fashion design and costume design, together with a range of related disciplines.

Our course aims to give you an understanding of the materials, processes and techniques involved in design, with a particular focus on the methods used within the industry. In your final year you will have the opportunity to exhibit the extent of your skills through your final collection. The focus is on contemporary professional practice. Our course offers an excellent opportunity to get closer to the issues and challenges in modern design. A focus on the practical elements of fashion design: including pattern cutting and draping techniques, styling, applied decoration, illustration, CAD, fashion trends, consumer lifestyle, brand and market awareness, and enterprise; and costume design: script breakdown, character analysis, costume design, and collaborative live theatre and film productions. Along with contextualisation of your practise, this means you will be well equipped with the kind of skills much valued by potential employers.

Additional course information
Level 1 (Year 1)

Through a series of projects, you will be introduced to the design process and key skills: primary research, design development, illustration techniques including computer-aided design, pattern cutting, draping techniques, toiling, manufacturing techniques, technical drawing, surface textiles and contextual studies. Teaching will comprise of formal lectures, informal seminars, workshop sessions and one-to-one tutorials according to your individual project work. Introduction to Pattern Cutting emphasises the importance of manufacture and technical aspects of industry demand and the Introduction to Surface Textiles module enables you to experiment creating fabrics in an exploratory manner. At the end of Level 1 you will specialise in either fashion and costume design.

Level 2 (Year 2)

Level 2 builds and develops skills taught at Level 1. For those specialising in Fashion Design, conceptual lifestyle, brand and market factors, and trend analysis will be a key focus for level 2, along with professional portfolio development. For those specialising in Costume Design, you will focus on live collaborative theatre and film productions with Film, TV and Theatre Design students. You will be encouraged to interact effectively within a team, for both fashion and costume and manage your time and learning resources in a professional manner. Geared towards the industry, the Pattern Cutting module will provide significant technical expertise in garment creation and manufacture. Surface textile techniques will also be developed and realised further within the context of the industry. Contextual elements will be integrated into studio work (presentations, reports, or critical reviews). Other modules, e.g. Surface Textiles will develop your practical skills further.

Level 3 (Year 3)

The focus of Level 3 is planning for your future, whether it be having your own business, working in industry or post-graduate research. Building on your awareness of fashion brand and market or costume design, the Specialised Practise, Research Project and Research in Practise modules in semester 1 allow you to focus and test a particular idea/research within a specialism such as womenswear, menswear, childrenswear, and an area such as eveningwear or casualwear (Fashion); or a particular play/film (Costume). Following on from this work, in semester 2, the Major Project module provides the opportunity to create a final collection for a fashion/costume show and supporting portfolio; along with a 'portfolio collection' focused on a different market/category, to demonstrate your versatility as a designer.