Postgraduate Fashion: Q&A

CONTENTS

• What is a fashion?
• Why choose this discipline?
• How do I become a fashion designer?
• Pathways into fashion
• What postgraduate courses are available?
• What are the entry requirements for postgraduate fashion degrees?
• Tell me about teaching, learning and assessment
• Career progression: what can this qualification lead to?
• Professional accreditation
• Funding

What is a fashion?

Fashion is the business of designing, making, buying and selling everything from clothes to footwear, accessories, cosmetics and jewellery. Fashion permeates and influences every aspect of our consumer lives. It reflects societal trends and aspirations as well as people’s desire for individual self-expression. It is a robust multibillion-pound industry, and even in times of scarcity, top fashion houses around the world continue to report record growth in sales and profits. Influenced by street culture, high-end fashion houses and even the music industry, fashion has the ability to transcend all ages, cultures and backgrounds, making it a truly global phenomenon. It is constantly evolving to mirror societal trends, shifts in lifestyle and culture; sometimes introducing totally new concepts in style, while at other times going full circle, with retro flashbacks to times past. Whether inspired by future, past or entirely novel genres, the one thing you can be sure of is, it never stands still, making it an exciting, fast paced and truly dynamic industry to be part of.   

The fashion industry encompasses everything from garment and accessory design to textile production, manufacturing, logistics and global supply chains, brand awareness and marketing, all the way through to the retail sector and visual merchandising. As such, this industry offers a variety of career paths for those more creatively inclined to the more business minded, there is something for everyone.

Why choose this discipline?

Many students choose fashion as it allows them to express themselves creatively and work at the boundary between art and business, transforming creativity into market success. There are plenty of career options within the fashion industry depending on your skills and interests, from being a fashion designer and creating the next trend-setting item to fashion buyers, who help their business purchase and stock popular pieces. 

Working in fashion design is an exciting chance to shape and contribute to fashion at a local, national or international level through your industry knowledge, artistic flair and inherent fashion sense. It’s a career path that allows its practitioners to bring together practical skills with fabrics and textiles, fashion history and aesthetic knowledge, market research and business management concepts to deliver a successful product. Few other career paths can boast this, along with the opportunity to work for famous clothing brands or as an independent. From worldwide brands to independent fashion houses, magazines or merchandisers, fashion is full of opportunities for talented postgraduates. 

How do I become a fashion designer?

Formal qualifications, a strong portfolio and professional experience are the name of the game when it comes to becoming a fashion designer. The competition is high, so the greater range of skills and experience you can demonstrate through your studies and work experience, the better your chances of success. 

You’ll typically start by studying a Higher National Diploma or undergraduate degree in a relevant area, such as art and design, fashion design, fashion business or textiles, bringing a blend of technical skills and design flair to the table is essential. 

Though not necessary, a postgraduate fashion design degree will allow you to further hone your craft, build knowledge in certain fashion niches or material technologies, or add complementary skills in areas like marketing or business management. It’s also a good away to build out your portfolio of work, which will be one of the key things that potential employers look at. 

Getting work experience during and after your studies is crucial. The real-world skills industry experience offers as well as the networking opportunities, not to mention more portfolio samples, will help you establish yourself as a fashion designer.  

Pathways into postgraduate fashion design

Which pathway you choose to take will depend on your previous work experience qualifications, career goals and interests. If you are interested in the more creative side of the industry, then having a strong portfolio is essential, and in some cases practical experience such as an internship with a reputable retailer or fashion house can be enough to enter the industry. Industry connections play a significant role in this business, so the more networking and potential internship opportunities you can pursue, the better.

FE vocational courses: Taking a vocational course such as an HND or Level 3 qualification in fashion design, merchandising and marketing can provide good foundations to enter the industry. Opting for an apprenticeship is also another possibility and will give you the hands-on practical experience and training needed to begin your career or enable you to pursue an undergraduate qualification.

Undergraduate degrees: Pursuing a fashion degree from a reputable university can provide the skills, knowledge and industry contacts needed to enter this industry. The university of Arts, London for example has exclusive access to industry internships and jobs, offering opportunities for budding designers to get a foot in the door. Alternatively, studying a fashion business degree, will provide you with you with the background knowledge of the industry from marketing and management to logistics.

Internships: Some of the big fashion houses offer internship opportunities where you can gain practical-hands on experience in the trade, while making valuable connections. Digital platforms such as fashionworkie, Business of fashion and The Dots connect people in the creative industries and provide information about jobs and internship opportunities.

Postgraduate degrees: Pursuing a postgraduate qualification in fashion will enable you to specialize in a specific area and hone your expertise. Choosing to study this subject at PhD level, will not only allow you to pursue research in a specific area of interest but can also prepare you for a career in academia, fashion consultancy or fashion forecasting. Should you choose to study an MBA in fashion design, you will focus on the business side of the industry, opening up doorways into financial management, marketing strategies, merchandising, retail operations, global supply chains and logistics, brand management or entrepreneurship.

What postgraduate courses are available?

Currently, there are 152 postgraduate fashion design degrees available at 49 universities across the UK. Depending on your chosen field of study and academic background. There are several types of postgraduate qualifications open to fashion students. The most common route is a taught master’s degree, such as a Master of Art, or MA. Taught master’s programmes allow you to learn from industry experts, gaining knowledge of the sector and understanding into how business and brands operate. You will also develop advanced technical skills in fashion design and fabrication. Alternatively, it is possible to complete an MFA degree, which is a Master of Fine Art qualification, typically involving a slightly longer period of study. MBA programmes in fashion offer the chance to focus more on the business side of the industry, while MSc qualifications  delve more into the technical and scientific side of this industry, such as fashion technology, textile science and engineering, while also offering opportunities to develeop strategic management and marketing skills, while undertaking extensive research into an area of interest and gain knowledge and understanding of fashion analytics and forecasting. PGDip qualifications are shorter courses, enabling students to gain industry knowledge and expertise. They can also act as an entry point into this subject area at postgraduate level for students who may have studied a different degree at undergraduate level. MDes qualifications provide advanced skills and knowledge in fashion design, such as fashion illustration, pattern-making, textile design and marketing. While PhD and or Mphil programmes offer the chance to conduct indepth research into unique areas of interest.

Examples of postgraduate fashion design programmes available:

• Textile MA 
• Fashion Marketing and Branding MA 
• Fashion Design MA/PGD/ PGC 
• Menswear with professional Experience MFA 
• Fashion Entrepreneurship MBA 
• Textile Conservation MPhil 
• International Fashion Marketing MSc 
• Textiles and Apparel PhD/MPhil 

What are the entry requirements for postgraduate fashion degrees?

The entry requirements for fashion designing courses at postgraduate level will vary depending on the type of fashion design qualification you’re applying for, the university offering the course, and your existing qualifications and experience.

Students applying for an MA or MDes in fashion design, or a similar area, will usually need a 2:2 grade at undergraduate level in a relevant area—in addition to a portfolio that demonstrates your process and ability in a variety of skills. MPhil or PhD applicants will typically need a 2:1 grade at undergraduate honours level in addition to a master’s degree (or international equivalents). 

Tell me about teaching, learning and assessment

A fashion degree will typically take one year to complete if studied full-time, though some may run for 15 or 18 months. This applies to MA, MFA, MSc, MDes and MBA degree types. Studying these qualifications part-time will usually take two years, but could take up to three depending on the course. Completing a doctoral training programme can take up to two years full-time, for an MPhil qualification, or up to four years for a PhD—double that, if studying part-time. 

On a master’s in fashion design, teaching is typically delivered through a blend of lectures, seminars, demonstrations, peer learning, collaborative projects, independent study and studio work or project-based assignments, which is delivered by academics, industry experts and guest speakers. Developing skills in design is a key focus; as such, you will learn how to create, develop and communicate design ideas through various mediums including sketching, draping and pattern making. Technical skills like sewing, embroidery, printmaking and textile design are also part of most fashion degrees.

What Modules will I study?

Modules vary depending on the specific programme, but on a typical MA fashion design course, you can expect to either cover the following or have the option to study them.

• Illustration techniques
• Technical drawing
• Pattern cutting and draping
• Tailoring
• Sewing
• Textile product design
• Technology in fashion
• Sustainability and industry analysis
• Fashion Marketing
• Global supply chains and operations
• Research Methods
• Consumer habits and psychology
• Retail management

How will I be assessed?

• Coursework
• Project rationales
• Presentations
• Visual communication (digital and physical)
• Portfolio development
• Research and enquiry
• Final project or dissertation

Career progression: what can this qualification lead to?

Career options are broad for students graduating from a postgraduate degree in fashion. Pathways range from working in design and creation, marketing, visual merchandising and planning, production of garments and accessories, sales and business development, product technology and engineering, PR and communications and fashion journalism or sustainability and ethical fashion production. As part of your fashion degree, you will develop a wide range of transferable skills that can be applied to various areas within the industry.

Fashion jobs include:

• Fashion designer
• Visual merchandiser
• Retail buyer
• Stylist
• Fashion consultant
• Trend forecaster
• Textile designer
• Clothing and textile technologist
• Journalist

Transferable skills

• Creativity and design
• Critical thinking
• Project management
• Problem solving
• Communication and presentation
• Research and analysis
• Teamwork and collaboration

Professional accreditation

The pathway to accreditation will involve meeting certain criteria in terms of your education, industry experience post studies and professional development. Achieving accreditation can be useful for postgraduates when developing their career as it enhances credibility, offers networking opportunities and in some cases, is a prerequisite for accessing big events such as London Fashion Week. The main accrediting bodies in the UK for people working in fashion include:

• British Fashion Council (BFC) 
• The Textile Institute 
• Association of Suppliers to the British Clothing Industry (ASBCI) 

Funding

Funding options for postgraduate fashion degrees include scholarships, grants and bursaries offered by universities, as well as student loans. Find out more about scholarships for art and design. It's also worth emailing the student finance office at the universities you are interested in to find out more about their scholarship opportunities or speak to their admissions team. Some of the big fashion retailers such as Burberry, NET-A-Porter, Swarovski, among others, offer fashion degree scholarships, so it’s worth researching thoroughly online when looking at options. To learn more about funding, check out our ULTIMATE guide to postgraduate funding.

You may be interested in …

Before you get stuck into your fashion postgraduate journey, you might also wish to consider similar subjects, such as:  

• Textiles 
• Fine Art 
• Design 
• Marketing and Brand Management 
• Illustration 

View all subject guides 

Some of the most reputable universities in the UK for studying postgraduate fashion include:

• University of Arts London 
• Royal College of Art
• University of Westminster 
• Manchester Metropolitan University 

NEXT: Explore all postgraduate fashion degrees