Fashion MA

Facts about Fashion

Qualification	MA
Duration	Full time: 1 year Part time: 2 years
Attendance	Full time: 2 days per week (September start) Part time: 1 day per week (September start)
Assessment	Design projects; written submissions; presentations; and major project.
Course structure

Choose Kingston's Fashion MA

The Fashion MA at Kingston continues to develop into a holistic and exciting approach to fashion design and beyond. Retaining our heritage and specialism in womenswear, menswear and knitwear, the course combines industry standards with a creative and contemporary approach to fashion design.

There is a focus on the potential for collaborative design across the Design School delivered through our unique core module structure. Kingston's broad design community and positioning as a progressive and highly rated design institution means that fashion is able to actively borrow and share from designers based in the fields of communication design and product and space.

What will you study?

The Kingston University Fashion MA is a unique and innovative course combining the creative thinking of the Design School core modules with a very solid and 'creative' fashion industry focus.

The fashion-based modules will encourage you to think creatively and will also challenge you to apply your ideas and concepts to a series of briefs, some of which will arrive directly from various industry sources and practitioners. The outcome is non-prescriptive and should be driven by your ambitions and approach to fashion. You will identify design narratives to inspire extensive research culminating in exciting, considered and forward-thinking design developments. You will be expected to observe and respond to contemporary social trends and to create new responses for fashion design. Addressing the contemporary culture of fashion you will engage within important areas of development – social politics, economics, environments, sciences and technology futures.

The core modules offer the opportunity to connect and interact with designers from a wide set of creative disciplines, leading toward original thinking and challenging outcomes. The basis of these modules is to explore fundamentally what design is and to identify its role in your practice.

With the future on our minds we continue to embrace the traditions and craft of fashion and today's global fashion industry, our Kingston fashion heritage is an intrinsic part of who we are and how we shape fashion.

Course framework

With our well-established industry links and partnerships, the craft and skill of fashion is paramount at Kingston University and is developed through pioneering projects with industry practitioners from our Fashion MA staff team.

During the course you will also participate in interdisciplinary modules established across the Design School. This gives you the unique opportunity to expand your current design thinking and methodology, experiment and transform your medium, and work in dynamic teams to exchange and create ideas.

The Fashion MA course consists of three stages:

Stage 1 focus is on identifying and expanding your design signature in a series of critical design projects. You will be required to answer fundamental design questions to investigate your focus for your Fashion MA studies. Through the Process Module you will engage in interdisciplinary-practice and contemporary design processes assisting you in developing significant design techniques.
Stage 2 of the programme characterises your fashion practice through creative development and design articulation. Students engage in live industry briefs maintaining focus. During this stage you will develop your design DNA by sharing, engaging and exchanging with industry practitioners and gaining vital feedback to challenge your practice during which you accomplish your individual Fashion MA methodology. Opportunities are available to work for major designers to assist in preparation for the London fashion shows calendar. You will also identify and build partnerships with potential sponsors, collaborators and industry partners for your Major Project.
Stage 3 of the programme allows the designer to define, resolve and present their design practice. The final stage of the course is then spent developing and defining your work to creative conclusion. The Fashion Scout Presentation and Show at our annual showcase during London Fashion Week will be open to selected designers who will undertake a rigorous selection process to profile their work for the event. This conclusive phase of the Fashion MA programme is a vital opportunity to present your work as tomorrow's fashion designer, communicator, researcher, or even craftsperson.

Course structure

Please note that this is an indicative list of modules and is not intended as a definitive list. Those listed here may also be a mixture of core and optional modules.

Stage 1

Process Module
Process Module

Process involves critical thinking, developing methods of design from a raw starting point. Students often forge cross-faculty hybrid collaborations, resulting in significant creative partnerships.

The module includes:
- observations – identifying the creative eye;
- mind mapping – a series of techniques for design predictions and design themes;
- systems (colour and material design) processes to generate design objects and techniques through material recreation;
- iterations – the redefinition and critique of ideas; and
- work in progress – a contemporary process to showcase ideas.
The Process Module will include a series of leading guest designers, presenting students with critical design workshops or key lectures.

This module is studied in collaboration with creatives from the Design: Product and Space MA, the Design: Product and Space & the Creative Economy MA and Design with Learning & Teaching in Higher Education MA.
Fashion Context I Module
Fashion Context I Module

Fashion Context I is made up of two critical design projects and the introduction of fashion-focused workshops within the studio such as digital draping.

At the end of Stage 1 designers present their portfolio and processes to our Fashion MA team.

Stage 2

Focus module
Focus module

This module invites leading industry and significant organisations to propose contemporary design questions in emerging design 'hot spots' to our Fashion MA students. You will develop intellectual concepts as fashion provocations in response to a problem where design brings added value through your individual practice.

You will also further develop your key skills in the area of design illustration and soft technology workshops.

Past themes have included health, care and wellbeing and multi-sensory design.

Previous partners for the Focus Module:
- The Vassell Centre, Bristol UK
- Givaudan – A global leader in the fragrance and flavour industry
- Kingston Hospital
Fashion Context II Module
Fashion Context II Module

Fashion Context II is about the development of the designers DNA. Two projects set out the designer's focus, brand and style. This module includes Major Project Proposal in which you establish your intensions for your Major Project as a Fashion Futures Forecast.

At the end of Stage 2 designers present their portfolio and processes to our Fashion MA team.
Major Project Proposal module
Major Project Proposal module

The Major Project Proposal module is designed as a fashion forecasting exercise, allowing you to convey your fashion manifesto. The project acts as an artistic and design-led recipe for the Major Project and Exhibition - the final and pivotal stage of the Fashion MA programme.

Stage 3

Masters Project and Exhibition
Masters Project and Exhibition

The Masters Project and Exhibition module is a self-initiated and in-depth practical design investigation. It is the culmination of your MA experience and the most ambitious expression of individual motivation, creativity and the ability to deliver. You will produce a finished portfolio in parallel with a major project, outlining all your previous design modules, competitions and personal ventures.

In 2009 the Kingston Fashion MA entered into an exciting partnership with Vauxhall Fashion Scout who invited us to present Body Laboratory as part of its 'fledgling fashion' day during London Fashion Week. During this event we showcased the work of graduating students through performance, alongside digital projections of incoming students' summer projects. In 2010 we showcased students' work both as exhibition and as a creative catwalk event. Our graduates' work was very well received by leading design industry visitors and the subject of excellent reports and fashion blogs. Vauxhall Fashion Scout and Kingston University will continue to develop fledgling fashion talent together each September.