MA Fashion Design - MA

You can opt to complete this module as either 180 credit points, or as 160 credit points with an additional module in Advanced Art and Design Research worth 20 credit points.

Fashion Design

(180 credit points or 160 credit points)

Working with your allocated supervisor, and through discussion with your peers, you’ll develop ideas for your project, creating a project proposal outlining your personal and project aims.

Subject specialist and mixed-discipline tutorials will be used to invite debate and provide a platform to critique the theories and practices you’re interested in. You’ll also be encouraged to evaluate the development of your research and use of methods, your personal engagement and your reflective practice, all of which will inform your project and contribute to discussions about your fellow students’ projects.
As part of your learning you’ll keep evidence of your reflective practice, through recording, analysing and evaluating your ideas, and by considering ways in which your project might progress.

You’ll submit your project proposal at the first interim evaluation presentation in November and receive feedback from your supervisor. You’ll continue to update this proposal before submitting a final version in April. You’ll also be encouraged to apply critical evaluation skills evidenced through reflective writing, which should form part of your final submission in a journal, sketchbook, or blog.

Throughout the module, you’ll experience a series of multidisciplinary fashion, textiles and knitwear design lectures and seminars on themes to support the development of scholarly, critical, and practical knowledge and skills at postgraduate level. This will include lectures delivered by academic staff, postgraduate researchers, MA alumni, designers, industry specialists and other professionals.

You’ll have health and safety inductions in our fashion design resources, introducing you to the different machinery and industry-standard equipment in our studios. This will be followed by pattern cutting workshops later in the module. You’ll also have the option to join other related fashion and textiles inductions, where appropriate, relating to the emerging focus of your project. Inductions into our resources are complemented by workshops in visual research and in 2D and 3D design development, encouraging experimentation in your area of interest in fashion design.

In February and April, you’ll present your work to date in formal verbal and visual presentations to the course leader, supervisors, and your peers. You’ll effectively articulate, critically analyse and reflect upon your progress through examples of theoretical research, practical design work, and reflection on your developing fashion design practice. You’ll also be asked to submit your work to date, including evidence of reflective practice, an understanding of research methods, and project development work.

During the module, you’ll also consider options for sharing your fashion concepts, designs and prototypes in public forums through exhibition briefings and professional practice lectures and seminars. This will provide you with opportunities to present and critique your work, and that of others, in order to support you in the successful and professional resolution of your project. Portfolio tutorials will support you in resolving the visual communication of your project in a format that reflects your individual philosophy and identity as a fashion designer.

Independently organised activities within your peer group, both inside and outside the University, can also be planned in this module to encourage the dissemination of your work in a manner that benefits you and your project. Towards the end of the module, you’ll be invited to join promotional events such as New Designers (London) and a Masters exhibition (NTU) to present your innovative designs to industry and the general public. You’ll also have the opportunity to prepare and deliver a final presentation summarising the outcomes of your MA project.

Optional research module (20 credit points) Advanced Art and Design Research This module exposes you to a range of different research methods across diverse practice-led research projects and research-led practices within Art & Design. If you are interested in pursuing your practice in the form of a PhD this course will give you the tools to prepare for this.