Fashion Design

Fashion design is the creative and technical discipline at the heart of one of the world's largest industries. It encompasses the conceptual and aesthetic decisions that shape how clothing communicates, the construction skills and pattern-making techniques that realise those concepts in fabric and form, and an understanding of the cultural, commercial and sustainability forces that define the contemporary fashion landscape. Fashion designers must be at once creative thinkers, skilled makers and market-aware practitioners.

At Arts University Plymouth the programme is built to develop independently-minded fashion thinkers and makers who are ready to lead change in the industry. The curriculum equips you with creative, practical and conceptual skills across the full design process, from research and concept development through fabric, construction and the finished collection. You will develop a distinctive design voice alongside the technical capability to realise your ideas and the critical understanding of fashion's role in culture and society.

The programme runs over three years full time and includes a sandwich year in industry and work placement opportunities, giving you direct professional experience in a fashion context.

Fashion design graduates work as designers, pattern cutters, garment technologists, creative directors, fashion buyers, stylists and product developers across fashion brands, retailers, manufacturers and independent labels. The programme's emphasis on creative leadership and innovation prepares graduates not just to work within existing industry structures but to challenge and reshape them. Postgraduate study in fashion design, fashion futures, sustainable fashion or fashion management is a natural further route for those who wish to develop specialist expertise.