Fashion with Foundation Year

Fashion as a creative discipline sits at the intersection of art, craft and culture, concerned with the design, making and presentation of clothing and accessories as expressions of identity, beauty and social meaning. A fashion degree develops your technical and creative skills across garment design and construction, pattern cutting, material sourcing and the visual and conceptual thinking that drives original design work. It also situates fashion within its broader cultural, historical and commercial contexts, developing your understanding of how fashion communicates and how the industry operates.

At the University of Derby, this four-year full-time programme includes a foundation year that develops your creative confidence, skills and portfolio before you progress to degree-level design study. The degree also includes a sandwich placement year, a year abroad and work placement opportunities, giving you substantial industry experience and international exposure alongside your academic and studio practice. You will develop your design work through practical studio projects, build a professional portfolio and have the opportunity to exhibit your final collection at the graduate fashion show, the culminating public event of your studies that demonstrates your creative achievements to industry professionals and potential employers.

Fashion graduates go on to careers as fashion designers, garment technologists, stylists, buyers, merchandisers, fashion journalists, creative directors and brand consultants. The fashion industry is international in character and highly competitive, and the combination of creative skill, industry experience and professional networks built during your studies is central to establishing a career within it. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in fashion design, fashion management or related creative disciplines, and others move into adjacent fields such as costume design, textile design or fashion communication.