News

World class fashion

Published 3 August 2011

Fashion at the University of Brighton has been judged world class in a new global survey. Style website fashionista.com has compiled a list of the top 50 fashion schools, ranked on tuition, variety of programmes and famous graduates – and Brighton’s Faculty of Arts fashion and textiles courses were ranked 22nd in the world.

The news came hot on the heels of awards for two Brighton graduates who have received national recognition for their work.

Fashionista's league table formed part of a guide to would-be fashion students. They spoke to employers in the fashion industry to see where they hire their students from and considered individual application process, location and popularity.

Academics at the University of Brighton, whose famous students include fashion gurus Barbara Hulanicki and Julien Macdonald, were not surprised by their high ranking.

Malcolm McInnes, academic programme leader in the School of Architecture and Design, said: "The increased international and national interest of talented students drawn to study Fashion at Brighton is testimony to the perfect balance of skills we offer on both the MDes and BA(Hons) courses.

"A curriculum driving subject-specific skills in design and making, industry knowledge and experience together with entrepreneurial ambition is key to a student's success from the programme. The experience and diversity of staff through the quality of teaching keep inquiry at the heart of the learning environment to ensure fashion studies are relevant to the industry.

"Our decision to offer a greater number of undergraduate places to students in the courses as from September 2011 gives more opportunity to those keen to study fashion at Brighton to be successful on application."

Catherine Harper, head of School, said: "I am delighted by news of our ranking on Fashionista, and especially pleased given our successful graduation this year of an exceptional cohort from our integrated Masters course, the MDes in Fashion with Business Studies, and the re-introduction from 2011 of our four-year BA (Hons) course in Fashion with Business Studies. Both courses include a significant placement – one year and twelve weeks respectively – in the global fashion industry, and our graduates enter the fashion world with a high level combination of creative design skills, historical and critical understanding, industry experience, and an exceptional grounding in business studies."

Find out more about Fashion with Business Studies courses.

Harriet Toogood

Meanwhile, graduate Harriet Toogood has been named winner of the 'Space' prize by Texprint, the UK's premier textile competition, and her work is to be featured at shows in Shanghai and Paris. Judges said her approach uses colour and structures from everyday life, "translating these into bold and fresh woven fabrics."

Sophia Messina and the straw shoes

Sophia Messina

And graduate Sophia Messina has been nominated for another national award, run by H&M. Her outfit creation, including straw shoes that were based on real footwear that helped save the life of her grandfather on the Russian front during World War Two, caught the eye of fashion chain store H&M.

H&M designers attended the university’s fashion show earlier this year and described students' work as of "high standard, diverse, exciting and creative".