Fashion Design with Business Studies BA(Hons)

Course structure 

There are two routes through this course and you will choose which one is for you while you're with us. For now just apply to Fashion Design with Business Studies BA(Hons). The routes are three or four years long. They are:

• BA(Hons) three-year course
• BA(Hons) four-year course with industrial placement year.

If you would like to discuss this, please call 01273 643211 or email fte@brighton.ac.uk.

Making sure that what you learn with us is relevant, up to date and what employers are looking for is our priority, so courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. When you have applied to us, you’ll be told about any new developments through our applicant portal.

Year 1

In year 1 you will develop the technical skills of fashion design, including pattern cutting, draping and garment manufacture, while designing and exploring the cultural and commercial contexts of fashion.

Modules

• Market Research and Business in the Creative Industries

  This module introduces you to and equips you with a range of transferable skills, qualities and attitudes that will prepare you for professional career paths in the creative industries. Through investigation and critical reflection, you will have the opportunity to develop your knowledge and appreciation of the scale and scope of the creative industries and begin to locate yourself, your interests and your practice within a vocational context.

• Fashion Fundamentals

  This module provides an introduction to fundamental fashion design knowledge, research and technical skills. You will be introduced to historical and contemporary fashion designers and 2D and 3D design methodologies used within the fashion design process. You will also be introduced to a range of technical aspects applied in the fields of both men’s and women’s apparel within the context of the course and in industry.

• Design and Make

  This module enables you to develop your creative and technical abilities and gain a greater understanding of the fashion design process through project work that encourages the use of visual, textual and materials research to extend your experimental approach to fashion design.

• Personal Design Development

  This module enables you to begin to articulate a personal fashion design identity and design approach. You are introduced to relevant social, cultural, ethical and environmental issues in relation to fashion design. You will learn to apply a range of design software to enhance your fashion design presentation and communication.

• Design and Culture Under Scrutiny

  This module introduces key debates relevant to the analysis of the past and present in fashion, textiles and fashion communication. Through lectures, seminars and exhibition visits, you will be introduced to, and engage with, critical ideas and academic approaches relevant to your field of study.

  The module is designed to support studio work through the development of critical thinking and formal written skills.

Hear from 2017 graduate Samantha Snow discuss her experience of Fashion with Business Studies at Brighton

Year 2

In the second year, design projects will broaden your knowledge of different fashion market sectors through diverse projects which test your design skills. You’ll build a body of design work and garment samples to add to your professional portfolio. During year 2 we will help you decide which course route suits your study needs.

Modules

• Preparing for and Engaging with Business
• Fashion Concepts, Contexts and Market Awareness
• Fashion Design Specialism
• Creative Collaboration in the Fashion Industry
• The Clothes and Fabrics of Society

Placement

In your third year you will have the opportunity to complete a year in industry, working for high-profile designers, brands and organisations in the fashion and textile industry.

There is a dedicated placement team which will support you in your research, preparation and application for placements. This process begins in the second year when you will complete a compulsory professional practice module which will support you to develop skills and promotional material to make applications for placements.

You will also receive an individual service to guide you towards your first choices and to support you while on placement.

The department places students with different skills and interests with a wide range of organisations, covering a variety of roles in the industry. Opportunities are available to work for high-profile designers and brands, high street retailers and their suppliers, trend and prediction agencies, textile design studios and fashion and textile manufacturers. Students work for companies in the UK and overseas, particularly in Europe and the US.

The placement year in industry is academically assessed and your degree award will reflect your industry experience. The placement is for a minimum of 20 weeks.

See the careers section below for current placement destinations. 

Hear from placement students

Sandrine Melville

"The course includes a valuable business aspect and a placement year, which makes it a cut above other courses, I spent my placement year at JW Anderson which was hard work but great fun." 

Laura Dean

“My year in industry was invaluable and an enormous learning curve on every level. Although not always easy, I learned so many aspects of design, production, craft and print, as well as about the fashion industry. Without the year in industry, the pressures and management of my final year would have been much more of a struggle and I would not have furthered my technical skills.” 

Hannah Gibbens, winner of the 2018 Debenhams Menswear Award at Graduate Fashion Week

"During my year in industry I interned in New York with GAP, and in London for Craig Green and E.Tautz. The placement is an excellent way to gain an insight and create motivation for your future career and life after university. The experience allowed me to understand all the career possibilities within the fashion industry but also, most importantly, taught me a range of important skills and confidence in using them." Hannah Gibbins, winner of the 2018 Debenhams Menswear Award at Graduate Fashion Week 

Trevor Tam – nominated Graduate Fashion Week People’s Choice Awards 2019

Final year 

On the BA(Hons), in your final year, whether on a three or four-year programme, you will design and make a collection of market-specific outfits for womenswear or menswear. You will also produce a professional portfolio of design work, a dissertation and business plan.

Modules

• Design Management and Business Plan
• Fashion Design Research
• Fashion Design Collection and Professional Portfolio

Dorothy Williams – nominated Graduate Fashion Week People’s Choice Awards 2019

Facilities

• Industrial sewing machines
• Industrial knitting machines, industrial linkers and embellishers
• Looms – 16 shaft power loom
• Screen printing and digital printing
• Photo studios
• Darkroom
• Laser cutters
• Letter-press
• Access to Mac suites
• Adobe Suite Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Premiere
• Media Centre, including specialist equipment including materials for sound, film and photography available for short term loan, computer rooms with contemporary software for digital image processing and manipulation, graphic layout and typography, animation, film and sound production and editing.
• Digi-hub featuring laser cutting, plasma cutting, CNC 3-axis milling, CNC routing, 3D body scanning, portable 3D scanning and rapid prototyping.
• One of the country's best-stocked specialist art and design libraries
• Internationally important Design Archives
• On-site supplies shop

Staff profile

Craig Higgins, course leader

Craig graduated from the University of Brighton in 1996 and has worked with international designers including Sonnentag Mulligan, John Galliano, Emma Cook and Roland Mouret. He has an in-depth understanding of contemporary fashion design and industry practice as well as expert skills in fashion design, creative pattern cutting and garment manufacture.

Craig has taught at undergraduate and postgraduate level for over 14 years at a variety of universities and in 2011 received a Student Experience award in recognition of his work and contribution to the subject.

Student views

International requirements and visas

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visas and immigration advice

Portfolio and interview advice 

Applying for a place in 2020?

Online portfolio
Applicants who meet the minimum entry requirements will be asked to submit a sample portfolio via Flickr for pre-selection. This sample portfolio should include 20 pages or images showing an informed awareness of fashion and textiles, a good understanding of drawing, composition, form, proportion and colour, as well as three to five pages that show an understanding of visual research and the design process.

Applicants who show potential in the sample portfolio are invited to interview to which they will be required to bring a full portfolio.

Interview and portfolio
A strong portfolio will include and expand on all of the above, plus demonstrate an experimental and enquiring approach to different media, include a substantial body of experimental work in 2D and 3D, have a personal identity to the work which demonstrates creative potential for fashion design. Include at least two good sketchbooks which show your design development process.

The interview process has three parts: portfolio review by two academic staff, a short written questionnaire which assesses your fashion knowledge and awareness, and the face-to-face interview.

Applicants will be taken on a tour of the department by student ambassadors. This is a chance to see the studios and working environment and to ask our students questions to get an understanding of the course from a student perspective.

Course fees

If you choose to take the professional placement (sandwich) year offered on this course you will pay a reduced fee during this year. Our fee for the professional placement year is £1,290 for home students and £2,076 for international students. This fee may be subject to small increases, in line with inflation.

What's included

You may have to pay additional costs during your studies. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. A summary of the costs that you may be expected to pay, and what is included, whilst studying a course in the School of Art are listed here.

• For most courses you will need to budget for the cost of specialist materials, equipment and printing and are likely to spend between £50–£300 per year.
• Costs in your final year of study are very likely to be higher than in earlier years as you bring together your final body of work and portfolio, and you may need to budget between £200 and £1,000.
• For some courses you may also need to budget up to £100 for specialist personal protective clothing which, with care, will last for the whole of your course and beyond.
• For most courses you will have the opportunity to attend field trips and off-site visits, for example to galleries, exhibitions and studios both in the UK and overseas. These are optional and are not required to pass your course. The amount spent would be based on location and number of trips taken, and typically range between £100 and £700 across the duration of your course.
• You will have access to computers and necessary software at City campus and at other locations across the university. However, many students choose to buy their own hardware – usually a laptop, software and accessories. The amount spent will depend on your individual choices but this expenditure is not essential to pass any of our courses.
• Course books and a wide range of magazines and journals are available in the university libraries. You do not need to have your own copies, but if you wish to, you should budget up to £200 over your course to buy them.
• For courses in which there is an optional placement year, you will need to budget for living costs (rent, food, travel etc) in that city/country, as if you were on site at the university.

You can chat with our enquiries team through the Stay in touch panel at the end of this page if you require further information. Or check our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships, as well as more information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2020–21.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK/EU students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full-time or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

Local area

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

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