Our fashion degree course will prepare for you a fast-paced, challenging career in fashion and related industries.
Ours is one of the most exciting fashion courses in London, with a comprehensive study of fashion’s past and future developments. We are one of the only courses where you will take part in the Degree Show, showcasing your work and increasing your professional network. You’ll get the opportunity to work with a wide range of media and visual communication methods that are central to the fashion industry. We take an innovative approach to the subject and you’ll be encouraged to explore a range of media, all the while considering and developing your own personal style and direction. Besides a theoretical and practical foundation, you’ll also gain essential abilities that will enhance your employability even beyond the fashion industry.
Year after year our students produce outstanding industry-standard work and leave the course with an impressive portfolio to launch their career. Take a look at some of the work from last year’s graduates on our Creative Graduates 2022 exhibition site.
We’re proud to be ranked fourth in London for Fashion (Guardian University Guide 2019).
We strongly believe the best way to prepare you for a career in this exciting field is with hands-on experience throughout the course. That’s why you’ll get the opportunity to apply your theoretical knowledge, like responding to live briefs set by industry experts, not just your lecturers.
During your fashion communication degree you'll take part in a work placement or equivalent activity, allowing you to spend time in a live work environment in your chosen area of the fashion industry. Past students have worked with Hero magazine, Man About Town, Law and Wonderland, and they have also worked closely with editor Alex James Taylor.
You will learn how to engage with and utilise modern communication technologies and facilities available through the University. Inductions, workshops and support facilities including digital software and a full range of studio and photographic equipment are available.
We'll make sure you get the support you need to succeed. From your Personal Tutor to your Graduate Academic Assistant, each one has studied your subject and will provide the support you need based on their own experience. If you need a little help with writing, numeracy or library skills, we can help with that too. Students are also supported by specialised technicians, people who are experienced professionals in their fields, in the studio.
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You will gain an insight into both contemporary fashion and the wider field of visual communication. You will engage with a broad range of professional skills and acquire first-hand experience of current industry practice, through work experience and collaboration:
In Year 1, you will focus on skills. You will learn a broad range of skills and get the opportunity to apply these skills through live and collaborative projects. You will cover topics such as styling, photography, graphic design and art direction, film, illustration and magazine production.
Year 2 is career-focused and you will undertake a six-week work placement and follow a specialist pathway. You can choose from:
Year 3 is self-directed, supported by one-to-one tutorials and workshops. You will work towards the production of a professional portfolio showcasing your specialist skills and a written dissertation.
Taking place in the first term, this module will encourage the exploration of individual style, identity and abilities through a series of introductory projects covering specialist fields of fashion communication. It will provide induction sessions in appropriate workshops within the Faculty and a basic level of training in associated skills. We will give an overview of the range of roles, tasks and creative responsibilities within the fields of fashion communication.
During term 2, you will be given the opportunity to apply the skills you gained in the first term, in relation to the production of fashion communication outcomes. We encourage you to consider your own role within the field of fashion communication, how this role interacts within a wider collaborative network and how project requirements reflect client and audience needs. As the title suggests, the programme of study will typically include a mixture of collaborative and individual projects.
Throughout this year-long module, you will explore a range of visual research methods relating to fields of fashion communication and styling. We will introduce you to networks of communities and their currency and influence on contemporary fashion design, communication and promotion and related audience and markets. We will also investigate cultural and sub-cultural belonging and how this influences and translates into identity and style. You will gather, organise, edit and display a range of personal, original and inspiring research material.
Throughout this year long module, we will introduce to you to different ways of looking at and thinking about fashion, providing an introduction to historical sources and narratives as well as key cultural and contextual theories. You will be encouraged to draw connections between fashions from the past and the present to encourage you to understand the rich cultural and social meanings of clothing and adornment in Western traditions. We cover a broad range of visual and material research methodologies, enabling you to be resourceful and explore different archives and historical collections in a hands-on way.
This term 1 project will enable you to hone skills appropriate to a specific role, ideally reflecting your choice of career pathway. It will engender a developed awareness of fashion communication industry practice through the adoption of a specialism, typically styling, photography and film or art direction, in relation to self-generated themes. We will provide a range of industry-focused project opportunities appropriate to this specialist role.
This module will enable you to undertake a period of work experience within a field of the fashion communication at the beginning of the second term. We support you in identifying possible career networks and areas of employment. The project provides the opportunity for you to apply the specialist and transferable skills you have acquired so far in a professional setting.
When you return from your internship in term 2, this module will build on your awareness of fashion communication industry practice in relation to market and audience. You will further hone your skills in a particular field, as a stylist, photographer or art director, considering how your own creative practice demonstrates awareness of professional standards and client expectations. You will further explore your personal style and direction through the production of a self-directed project aimed at an appropriate market, outlet or platform.
This OPTIONAL module allow you to undertake a year-long internship in the fashion industry, returning to undertake take your final year as a fourth year of study. You will utilise an employment experience to provide an insight into the work methods and operation of a fashion business or freelance role in a field of fashion design and production. You will carefully document the experience, engendering an understanding of the principles of reflective practice and their application in a professional context.
This project will allow you to engage with the identification, organisation and development of a substantial, in-depth, self-directed dissertation with a clear and sustained critical argument. We encourage the pursuit of a research topic related to issues explored in your own practice in any area of fashion. You will further develop critical awareness and self-reflection of historical and/or contemporary contexts of your discipline and research topic, building on primary and secondary research skills embedded in Years One and Two, and developing your ability to identify, analyse and critically evaluate appropriate sources and research methods.
This is your final major project. The year-long module will provide the opportunity for you to research, develop and produce a series of self-directed projects that reflect your understanding of industry standards within a chosen field of fashion communication, demonstrate a clear personal style and direction and show awareness of current and innovative practice. The aim is to produce a graduate portfolio of creative output appropriate to a specific role or field of fashion communication.
More information about this course
See the course specification for more information about typical course content outside of the coronavirus outbreak:
Optional modules are usually available at levels 5 and 6, although optional modules are not offered on every course. Where optional modules are available, you will be asked to make your choice during the previous academic year. If we have insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, or there are staffing changes which affect the teaching, it may not be offered. If an optional module will not run, we will advise you after the module selection period when numbers are confirmed, or at the earliest time that the programme team make the decision not to run the module, and help you choose an alternative module.
Each year we take final year projects from students on BA Fashion Communication and Styling to be displayed at the Arts and Creative Industries degree show, usually held at the Truman Brewery.
Follow us on Instagram for upcoming events, student work and degree highlights.
Created by our programme leaders and showcasing the best of our student work, this website is dedicated to this course, it's students and their work.
Take a look at this years Look Book to see a showcase of our students work.
Click the images below to have a look at some great examples of student work.
This degree leads to a diverse range of fashion media roles including stylist, photographer, fashion editor, art director, casting agent, graphic designer, PR consultant and illustrator.
Graduates from the fashion courses at Middlesex include internationally known illustrator and art director Richard Gray, menswear designer Martine Rose and Richard Sloan, stylist and art director who has worked with Kylie Minogue and Lily Allen.
Elise Watson
Elise graduated in 2018 and specialised in photography during her studies. Since graduating she has become interested in the subject of gentrification in London and was featured in Hero magazine as the photographer helping to save London’s vibrant South American community from gentrification.
Truths about being a queer person of colour
More recently, graduates Ana Catarina Almeida and Chanel Baker have produced this collaborative film
You will have access to a broad range of resources and facilities, including:
Photography studios
Photography studios
Grove building facilities
David is a graduate of Fashion Design from the Limerick School of Art and Design, Ireland. David's work is primarily concerned with the space that exists between particulars, in the connectivity between processes of abstraction and the realisation of concepts in visual language. Working professionally across image making, photography, illustration, design and education, but also in education, David has worked collaboratively across disciplines in art, design and education. This is most evident in Slashstroke, a multilateral creative organisation, which brings together creatives from around the world to discuss and produce new work exploring central questions around creativity, process and practice and reaches out directly through public interaction in live events, work shops and exhibitions.
A graduate of the Royal College of Art, Lucy's MA Menswear collection focused on translating multi-cultural London through design and styling, which is still a fundamental theme of her work. She has worked with, amongst others, Top Man Design, Dexter Wong, and Electronic Sheep. Lucy is co-founder and project manager of Slashstroke, a creative organisation working in art, fashion, design and education. It delivers live interactive workshops and events, educational programs, creative direction and production. Clients include The Victoria and Albert Museum, London College of Fashion, The Sunday Times, Create London and The Barbican. Slashstroke is developing research and educational programs exploring the relationship between communities, educational institutions and creative industries. The Hackney Street Style School is a project launched in association with Middlesex University, Create London and Hackney Council making tangible links between local youths, career paths and education.
Gavin joined Middlesex University in autumn 2011 and after lecturing part-time at London College of Fashion where over a period of thirteen years saw a selection of his students emerge as graduates to become successful creatives in the fashion communication industries - these include current fashion stylists and editors Anna Treveylan, Anders Sølvesten-Thompson, Jack Borkett and Dan May; fashion PR owner Ella Dror; fashion photographers Matt Irwin, Angelo Pennetta, Sean and Seng, Neil Bedford, Ben Morris, Nadia Lee Cohen and Kasia Wozniak, and photographer/film makers Laurence Ellis and Paul Gore. Gavin's own professional practice is creative fashion direction in which he incorporates both his own fashion styling and photography disciplines to encompass complex and provocative socio-political discussions around themes of cultural identity, religion, feminine empowerment and gender. His photographic narrative "Empire Line" was exhibited at Harewood House, Leeds as part of their 'Victorian Harewood' season.
Matt studied Fashion Design at Central St. Martins and has worked as a stylist and Fashion Editor for Arena, Dazed & Confused, Exit, Nylon, POP and The Face magazines. In addition he has collaborated with numerous designers on runway presentations internationally. Matt publishes various ‘zines that explore themes of identity, sexuality and gender that he exhibits internationally. Matt is also the Programme Leader for our Fashion MA.
We’ll carefully manage any future changes to courses, or the support and other services available to you, if these are necessary because of things like changes to government health and safety advice, or any changes to the law.
Any decisions will be taken in line with both external advice and the University’s Regulations which include information on this.
Our priority will always be to maintain academic standards and quality so that your learning outcomes are not affected by any adjustments that we may have to make.
At all times we’ll aim to keep you well informed of how we may need to respond to changing circumstances, and about support that we’ll provide to you.
Start: , September 2024
Duration: 3 years full-time, Usually 5 years part-time
Code: N567
