Fashion MA
Why choose this course?
We were ranked No. 1 in London and 3rd in the UK for fashion in the Guardian University League Tables 2022.
The Fashion MA at Kingston University is a unique and innovative course combining the creative thinking of the Design School core beliefs with a very solid and 'creative' fashion industry focus.
With a heritage and specialism in womenswear, menswear, knitwear, digital or fashion artefact outcomes, the course combines industry standards with a creative and contemporary approach to fashion design developing a holistic and exciting approach to fashion design and beyond.
Our broad design community and positioning as a progressive and highly-rated design institution means that Fashion can actively collaborate and share ideas with others across the Design School.
Key features
The craft and skill of fashion is paramount and is developed through pioneering projects with industry practitioners from our team.
Within the curriculum the modules give 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 design team have diverse and relevant industry experience as well as the academic skills and experience needed to help nurture fashion design talent.
Guest speakers from our well-established industry links and partnerships are invited to talk directly to the students, sharing their knowledge, insight and experience, adding texture and depth to the students' understanding of the fashion machine..
Students have access to the wealth of high-tech workshops and facilities available at Kingston School of Art.
| Mode | Duration | Attendance | Start date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full time | 1 year | 2 days a week | September 2023 |
| Full time | 2 years including professional placement | 2 days a week, plus placement year | September 2023 |
| Part time | 2 years | 1 day a week | September 2023 |
| Location | Kingston School of Art, Knights Park |
Reasons to choose Kingston University
- In Kingston's broad design community, you can connect and interact with designers from a wide set of disciplines. There is a wealth of high-tech workshops and facilities.
- Kingston has well-established industry links and partnerships, enabling you to work on live projects with collaborative partners, such as Raeburn.
- There is the opportunity for work placements at prestigious design houses. Previous placements include Craig Green, Erdem, Eudon Choi, Martine Rose, JW Anderson, Proenza Schoeler, Haider Ackerman, Alexander McQueen, Preen, Per Gotesson, Mother of Pearl, Roland Mouret, Palmer/Harding, David Koma, Osman London, Orla Kiely, Clio Peppiatt, Emilia Wickstead, Roksanda, Studio Nicholson, Berthold, The Row, COS, Hugo Boss, Paul Smith, Gareth Pugh, Aitor Throup, Di Mainstone at Eye Beam New York, Aquascutum London, Sibling London, Clemency London, Holly Fulton, Philips Design, Tatty Devine, Wright Design, WGSN and Kei Kagami.
The Art School Experience
As part of Kingston School of Art, students on this course benefit from joining a creative community where collaborative working and critical practice are encouraged.
Our workshops and studios are open to all disciplines – enabling students and staff to work together, share ideas and explore multi-disciplinary making.
Fashion Showcase 2021
Our MA Fashion students showcase their work.
Fashion Show 2019
Our MA Fashion students showcase their work at the end-of-year show.
Fashion Show 2018
Our MA Fashion students showcase their work at the end-of-year show.
Examples of student work
What you will study
The fashion-based modules will encourage you to think creatively and will challenge you to apply your ideas and concepts to a series of briefs, some of which will arrive directly from industry sources and practitioners. The outcomes are 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, challenging you 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 – creating a clearer understanding of fashion context.
Modules
Optional placement year
The Fashion MA course consists of three Teaching Blocks. In Teaching Blocks 1 and 2 you will take two 30 credit modules. In Teaching Block 3 you will take one 60 credit module.
Core modules - Teaching Block 1
Designing Research
30 credits
The aim of the module is to give you an understanding of the design research tools and methods that are available to you, to inform and support the development of your practical study, and to provide the basis of your further study on your course. Practical research methods are explored, with an emphasis on the development of creative and evidence-based approaches to experimentation, and critical reflection on practical design work.
Fashion Context I
30 credits
This module enables you to develop a contemporary fashion portfolio at masters level. A series of fashion context briefs are provided to engage you in practical fashion skills, working towards a spectrum of physically fabricated and digitally generated outcomes. Project briefs are devised to interrogate fashion developments and trends, and engage you in exploring and debating the role of the body and its clothing in fashion futures. During the research phase of this module you will identify key themes to inform the next stage of your practice in the Fashion Context II module.
You will participate in specialist workshops and inductions provided to enhance your skills. These workshops will include such subjects as pattern cutting, draping, 3D workshop inductions, computing and communications. Guest lecturers will bring an industry perspective to the projects which will be supported by workshop sessions.
Core modules - Teaching Block 2
Fashion Context II
30 credits
Building on the curriculum of Fashion Context I, this module enables you to develop and refine your fashion portfolio, and to enhance your skills set. A series of fashion context briefs are provided to engage you in practical fashion skills, working towards a spectrum of physically fabricated and digitally generated outcomes.
You will engage with a series of industry and academic thought leaders, to articulate your fashion practice and to build a professional network around your practice. You are encouraged to network and create professional relationships to better inform your practice, be this via workshop participation, brief mentorship schemes, work experience or networking events.
Creative Futures
30 credits
This module is based on the assumption that the best jobs/careers in the creative industries do not exist – they are invented from individual creative ambitions. The module explores how this can be approached in practical terms. The programme of study encourages you to develop a personal and critical approach to your future career, and how this can inform the development of your individual major project for the Major Project.
Core modules - Teaching Block 3
Major Project
60 credits
The Major Project is the capstone module of the MA and most significant piece of work that students deliver on a Master's programme. The capstone project enables students to synthesise and apply the knowledge and skills they have acquired throughout the course and it provides them with the opportunity to craft their own approach to the field through critical-theoretical and/or creative, practice-based research. The Major Project can accommodate research projects developed through a range of academic and professional contexts depending on the motivation and interests of the student. It can be presented either as a dissertation or as a portfolio comprising a chose medium or media with a critical commentary. The Major Project can also provide a platform from which students can launch the next stage of their careers. Based on ideas of material thinking and creative practice the taught elements of the module provide students with a strong understanding of different aspects of contemporary practice of value to both academic and professional environments.
Work placement scheme
Many postgraduate courses at Kingston University allow students to do a 12-month work placement as part of their course. The responsibility for finding the work placement is with the student; we cannot guarantee the work placement, just the opportunity to undertake it. As the work placement is an assessed part of the course, it is covered by a student's Student Route visa.
Find out more about the postgraduate work placement scheme.
Optional modules
Professional Placement
120 credits
The Professional Placement module is a core module for those students following a masters programme that incorporates professional placement learning, following completion of 120 credits. It provides you with the opportunity to apply your knowledge and skills to an appropriate working environment, and to develop and enhance key employability skills and subject-specific professional skills in your chosen subject. You may wish to use the placement experience as a platform for your subsequent major project module, and would be expected to use it to help inform your decisions about future careers.
The information above reflects the currently intended course structure and module details. Updates may be made on an annual basis and revised details will be published through Programme Specifications ahead of each academic year. The regulations governing this course are available on our website. If we have insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this may not be offered.
Entry requirements
Teaching and assessment
Who teaches this course?
This course is delivered by Kingston School of Art, which has its roots in the studio-based approach of Britain's art school system (the original School of Art was founded in the 1890s).
Today, for most courses, learning still takes place in our specialist studios, each subject area having its own fully-equipped studio, where you take part in classes, tutorials and critical reviews with fellow students. This strong studio culture also ensures regular interaction between students and tutors.
For non-studio-based courses, learning takes place in classroom-based seminars, tutorials and lectures, alongside site visits to museums, galleries, auction houses and other creative professional environments.
Postgraduate students may also contribute to the teaching of seminars under the supervision of the module leader.
Our students are encouraged to engage closely with the diverse businesses that make London one of the most important centres for the creative industries. Our industry connections mean we provide unique study opportunities, such as:
- the chance to have your work seen by eminent members of your profession;
- 'live' projects, site visits and placements in prestigious companies or institutions; and
- project work and workshops with visiting lecturers and industry specialists.
Our excellent reputation means that industry leaders regularly visit our student shows to see the best of the new talent.
Fees for this course
Additional costs
Depending on the programme of study, there may be extra costs that are not covered by tuition fees which students will need to consider when planning their studies. Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching, assessment and operating University facilities such as the library, access to shared IT equipment and other support services. Accommodation and living costs are not included in our fees.
Where a course has additional expenses, we make every effort to highlight them. These may include optional field trips, materials (e.g. art, design, engineering), security checks such as DBS, uniforms, specialist clothing or professional memberships.
Facilities
There is a wide range of facilities at our Knights Park campus, where this course is based. The Fashion department has dedicated workshops of both digital and analogue machines to enable the production of high quality work. The Fashion archive houses an eclectic collection of historical and contemporary garments that you can use for reference and inspiration.
Kingston School of Art's workshops and studios are open for creative exploration and offer you plenty of opportunities to collaborate on projects and share ideas, whether you are studying or researching. Building on this open approach, there are many adaptable studio and workshop spaces, alongside active breakout spaces.
At the heart of Knights Park campus are new, professional-standard workshop facilities, which include:
- 3D workshop, with ceramics, concrete, resin-casting, plastics, metalwork, woodwork and a bronze-casting foundry, as well as a Big Build space for Architecture, set design and large scale model making
- Animation and post production studios
- Digital Media workshop
- Fashion (knitting and sewing workshops), with digital and analogue facilities, plus a working dress archive which includes pieces from 1750 to the present day
- HackSpace (for collaborative, creative, solutions-focussed projects)
- Letterpress and printmaking workshop, with digital and analogue facilities, to experiment creatively
- Moving Image workshop, with studios, editing suite, and industry-standard equipment
- Photography workshop, including studios, colour, and black and white darkrooms, processing facilities
All our facilities are open access, meaning you can use them whenever you want, and irrespective of what degree you're studying.
The University also has its own on-site galleries, including:
- Dorich House - the former studio home of the sculptor Dora Gordine and her husband the Hon. Richard Hare, a scholar of Russian art and literature. Now Grade II listed, the building was completed in 1936, to Gordine's design, and is an exceptional example of a modern studio house created by and for a female artist.
- Stanley Picker Gallery - one of the leading examples of a university gallery in the UK. Its public activities are dedicated to the research, commissioning and presentation of innovative new practice across the fields of art, design and architecture for general, academic and specialist audiences.
- Project spaces at Knights Park campus, which you can book for the exhibition of large-scale work.
Resources in London
Kingston is just a 30-minute train journey from central London, where you can access world-famous museums and galleries.
After you graduate
Many of our recent graduates are setting up their own businesses internationally (China, Brazil, Korea), freelancing across the creative industries, and gaining positions in world leading design houses. Employers of recent Kingston MA Fashion graduates include- Craig Green, Urban Outfitters, AllSaints, French Connection, Victoria Beckham, Karl Lagerfeld, Sonia Rykiel, McQ Alexander McQueen, Tommy Hilfiger, Matthew Williamson.
Recent graduates have also gone on to work as lecturers at Middlesex University, De Montford University, Bucks New University.
We encourage design research practice during our Fashion MA programme and several of our students go on to develop their postgraduate practice at MPhil and PhD level.
Work placements and student competitions
Since the course started in 2008 our students have carried out internships at prestigious companies such as Aitor Throup, Alexander McQueen, Aquascutum London, Berthold, Clemency London, Clio Peppiatt, COS, Craig Green, David Koma, Di Mainstone at Eye Beam New York, Emilia Wickstead, Erdem, Eudon Choi, Gareth Pugh, Haider Ackerman, Holly Fulton, Hugo Boss, JW Anderson, Kei Kagami, Martine Rose, Mother of Pearl, Orla Kiely, Osman London, Palmer/Harding, Paul Smith, Philips Design, Preen, Per Gotesson, Proenza Schoeler, Roksanda, Roland Mouret, Sibling London, Studio Nicholson, Tatty Devine, The Row, WGSN and Wright Design.
2019 saw MA Fashion student Camilla Ceccardi shortlisted for the ‘URBN Design Day 2019', resulting in her being offered a design position at Urban Outfitters, USA.
2017 saw MA Fashion student Dardana Djantio Etchike win the international ZARA/Inditex ‘Shape the Invisible' competition with a prize of 20,000 Euros.
Hanbyeol Lee (Baylee), a Fashion MA student, worked as a fashion design intern at Craig Green, a menswear designer with accolades such as British menswear designer at the Fashion Awards 2016 and more. This was her integrated work placement as part of the two-year postgraduate course.
What our students and graduates say
Links with business and industry
Students from our Fashion MA worked on live projects with industry. In 2019, London-based design studio Raeburn provided the brief; Christopher Raeburn has established his eponymous brand with sustainable and intelligent fashion design for a global audience. The RÆMADE ethos in particular has pioneered the reworking of surplus fabrics and garments to create distinctive and functional pieces.
Alongside this, a highly collaborative spirit informs luxurious, handcrafted and award-winning products with integrity and purpose. This innovative approach, with an unusual balance of high concept, accessibility and wearability, is applied to menswear, womenswear, luggage and accessories.
With its RÆBURN Lab in the heart of east London, RÆBURN is stocked in the best stores globally and receives media coverage worldwide.
Research areas
Kingston School of Art has a well-established research culture that encourages activity across a wide range of visual, spatial and material practice and culture. This rich spectrum includes practitioners, theorists and historians engaged in the creative and performing arts, curating, design, architecture, fashion, film, and town planning.
Our aim is to foster a stimulating environment that encourages an exchange of ideas within and across the disciplines. Support from the public sector includes the Department of Trade and Industry, the Arts Council, and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
There is also the option to study research-specific fashion and body themes through our Fashion MA by Research, MPhil in Fashion and PhD in Fashion.
