What you will study
You will study all aspects of the design process from research and design development to creating garments using cut and construction. Critical and historical studies will underpin and inspire your studio projects.
Modules
Year 1
Year 1 introduces design process covering all the 2D aspects of fashion design, and design product covering all 3D aspects. You will explore knitted and printed textiles, fashion styling, photography, pattern cutting and draping to create shape. Our fashion illustration classes and workshops in Photoshop, Adobe, pattern cutting, knitting and sewing techniques are delivered to support studio classes.
Core modules
Design Process 1
30 credits
Design Process will complement FN4003 - Design Product 1. Throughout the delivery of Design Process 1, there will be an emphasis on challenging traditional methods and innovation through Research Design Development and Presentation, which is continually underpinned by drawing and the realisation of 2D sketchbook work in relation to initial 3D prototypes.
Design Product 1
30 credits
Design Product 1 will complement Design Process 1 in the realisation of a final toile and/ or knitted piece. Projects will focus on various aspects of the design resolution process leading to the making of a product using taught technical skills. Research will include studying the in-house dress archive to replicate and produce a contemporary piece.
Professional Practice 1
30 credits
This module complements Design Process 1 and Design Product 1 modules and introduces broader fashion skills such as textiles, imagery through photography fashion illustration and digital design skills. The module is made up of a number of projects which focus on historical research, contemporary design and social aspects. This module introduces students to professional world skills such as time management and presentation skills.
Design, Style and Image: Themes in Fashion History
30 credits
This module presents thematic approaches to the study of fashion as an historical subject through image-based lectures, screenings and study visits. Students will be introduced to the historical development of fashion and dress from the 1750s to the present day. Each session is intended to address particular ideas and practices that have shaped and constructed our contemporary understanding of fashion as both a productive profession and as a meaningful social and cultural activity.
Year 2
In Year 2 you will participate in live, sponsored projects and international competitions. You will experience professional practice through a careers module, including talks by concept designers, retailers, stylists and recruitment agencies, plus CV writing workshops and role playing for interviews.
You will explore trend through concept design and work in teams on a sustainable design project that is exhibited in London.
Core modules
Design Process 2
30 credits
This module is split into different projects sponsored by different professional practitioners and industrial sponsors. Building on students' prior learning, students will continue to research and design to a given brief. The projects are two-dimensionally based and will be assessed by the submission of a portfolio including all development work and a final presentation suitable to show to external sponsors.
Professional Practice 2
30 credits
The aim of this module is to enable you to build on prior knowledge to assess yourself in relation to the profession of fashion design. It is expected that you will be developing a body of work as evidence of your achievements through group work, interview techniques and CV writing. You will begin to plan your professional portfolio as preparation for Professional Practice 3 module in Level 6.
Design Product 2
30 credits
This module is split into projects and covers the three-dimensional aspect of industrially sponsored projects. The designs in the two-dimensional portfolio within Design Process 2 will inform the realisation of a prototype (toile) garment or finalised outfit. The garments will either be completed in calico or in appropriate fabric depending on the project brief. The project may include knitwear as a final three-dimensional piece and be produced in the appropriate yarns.
Critical Issues in Fashion: Research and Practice
30 credits
This module builds on the historical and thematic content introduced at Level 4 and emphasises the theorisation of contemporary fashion practice. A series of lectures, seminars, workshops, tutorials, screenings and visits informs and supports your own emerging research interests and the development of independent visual and academic research skills that cross history/theory and design practise. Lectures and seminars will deepen critical and theoretical engagement with contemporary issues in fashion. Seminar tasks and assessments are carefully designed to foreground projects that support the location of fashion as a discipline. Research methodologies are introduced though case studies and practical activities that reflect the issues explored through the module's contemporary content.
Optional year
At the end of Year 2, you will have the opportunity to take a year out to study abroad and gain work experience overseas.
Final year
The final year is about creating your own collection and portfolio and entering the British Fashion Council competitions including Mulberry, Burberry, Pringle and Chloe. All students show at the degree fashion show in Kingston; selected students show at the London press show and exhibit at Graduate Fashion Week in London. Kingston Fashion Show hosts a pre-show reception for press and industry contacts, which has previously been sponsored by Fenwick, Brooks Brothers, Dewhirst, Overbury and Bentalls.
Core modules
Design Process 3
30 credits
This module is a combination of a preparation for the Final Major Project in the form of a pre-collection project folder and the choice of a selected external competition.
Final Major Project
60 credits
This module covers all 2D and 3D aspects relating to the development of the final collection and exit portfolio. It is the 'capstone' project, which is the culmination of your learning over the three years. The module will cover the three main stages of designing for fashion, research, design development and presentation. As a designer you will be supported by a design tutor and a pattern cutting tutor to realise the main body of work, this will reflect industry practice and enable you to engage with a team collaborating to create original work.
The 2D Project Folder will contain collection development, promotional package and a technical folder. Collection development within this module will support the three-dimensional outcome of a capsule collection. Through discussion with the teaching team and with formative feedback you will decide the focus of your major project (Final Project Folder), which will be either 2D or 3D focused.
Dissertation: Research and Reflection
30 credits
Building on the links between research and practice embedded at Level 5, the Critical and Historical Studies (CHS) Dissertation: Research and Reflection module focuses on in-depth research, critical enquiry and reflection on questions and critical issues emerging in students' own practice, and pertinent to the practice of their own discipline.
Over the module, students will initiate and develop an individual research topic; identify and evaluate appropriate archives, bodies of critical literature, visual/material sources and research methods; manage their study time; engage with and respond to tutorial dialogue and peer feedback, and apply critical and analytical skills to produce a 7-8000 word written Dissertation, supported by a series of lectures, seminars and tutorials.
