Northumbria

United Kingdom (UK)

Fashion Design | MA

About Program

The MA Fashion Design programme is one of five distinctive and creative full-time, research-driven, practice-based Fashion Masters programmes at Northumbria University that explore innovative, global challenges integral to the advancement of knowledge in the fashion discipline. Choosing from one of these programmes will enable you to graduate with a dedicated Masters qualification within your chosen specialism.

MA Fashion Design

MA Fashion Design(Womenswear)

MA Fashion Design (Menswear)

MA Fashion Design (Performancewear)

MA Fashion Design (Sustainableand Ethical)

The MA Fashion Design programme at Northumbria is suited to students from a range of creative backgrounds, providing you with the freedom to develop your creative-practice by exploring a self-initiated area of fashion research that is reflective of your expertise and future career aspirations.

What can I expect from this course?

MA Fashion Design considers contemporary topics of the wider field of fashion and aims to equip you with the knowledge and expertise necessary to challenge accepted Fashion norms. By crossing traditional boundaries and thinking and responding to new dialogues in design; through exploring innovative materials, techniques and technologies that are shaping our evolving world, this postgraduate taught programme will enable you to develop greater impact through your professional practice.

How will this Fashion Masters prepare me for my career?

Northumbria School of Design has been delivering Fashion education for over 65 years. As a discipline, the Fashion team, alongside their students, work with a variety of high-profile companies spanning the breadth of the market, from high street to key designer brands. Our collaborative work with industry partners creates a space for future thinking with knowledge exchange that enhances the curriculum and enables students to graduate into high profile employment both in the UK and internationally. Throughout the duration of their studies, our students develop a critical awareness of contemporary issues that inform practices across fashion design disciplines. Our graduates leave their studies with an advanced understanding of designing products that have increased purposeful performance across different areas in the industry, where fashion responds to future human and planet well-being.

Design courses at Northumbria are ranked within the UK top 10, and we are renowned for our pioneering and innovative course frameworks which meet the demands of industry and produce graduates who are ready to step straight into employment or further their post-graduate education.

You will learn from award-winning, research-active academic staff who bring a wealth of professional experience from the world of fashion to Northumbria. They have worked as successful designers globally for some of the world’s biggest brands including Vivienne Tam, Vivienne Westwood, Tommy Hilfiger, Abercrombie & Fitch and Nigel Cabourn.

Our staff have extensive industry experience and engage in world-renowned research to ensure their practice remains contemporary and innovative. You will work with a variety of both academic and technical members of staff here at Northumbria, all of who will help guide you through this journey, ensuring an enjoyable, inspiring and productive experience. The Programme Leader and Modules Tutors will all be accessible and ready to help you reach your full potential.

You will also learn from our collaborative partners including; Barbour, H&M, Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch and Pentland. Designers are lining up to work on collaborative projects with students on this course, which we’ve developed in close collaboration with industry.

Our collaborative work with industry partners creates a space for future thinking, which enhances the curriculum and enables students to graduate into high profile employment both in the UK and internationally.

Northumbria School of Design has been delivering Fashion education for more than six decades, and the facilities we have invested in are truly exceptional.

As a postgraduate student you will have access to all our state-of-the-art fashion technology. You will work in dedicated studio space where you can take inspiration from postgraduates across all design disciplines.

The MA at Northumbria’s Fashion Laboratory aims to create world-class designers and communicators in fashion, who have a global understanding of technological developments in materials and processes and how these will energise the next phase of Future Fashion Synergies.

Responsible design in either practice or commercial processes evidences a growing need to act in a restorative, regenerative manner beyond the ideology of sustainability. On the course you will have access to a specialist design laboratory to experiment with new processes and understandings for future fashion paradigms. This will support you to understand and reflect on ‘how’ and ‘why’ you design, enabling you to develop greater impact through your professional practice.

By sharing our research expertise in fashion, craft, smart/intelligent materials, sustainability, international development, ethical practice and supply chains, we aim to produce innovative and original designers ready to shape and challenge the future fashion industry.

You will develop research-informed methods of understanding the complexity inherent in real-world situations, to enable you to make better decisions, advance your practice, and add to new knowledge in your field.

You will be inspired by ongoing staff research and industry experience, and you will be aligned to the tutor with the most relevant expertise to support you through your major project.

Your specialism will be underpinned by the generic research-led contextual modules. These will provide you with a grounding in research methods, creative thinking, cross-cultural communication, contemporary influences on design, reflective practice, innovation and entrepreneurship, all through multidisciplinary and team-based collaboration.

You will graduate with the knowledge and expertise required to become a world-class designer, a design innovator who can inspire and develop products with a high level of integrity and commercial value. Our collaborative work with industry partners creates a space for future thinking, which enhances the curriculum and enables students to graduate into high profile employment both in the UK and internationally.

Contemporary design practice is evolving due to new technologies and changing contexts of design innovation. This means there are more opportunities for graduates with advanced masterly understanding of how fashion and industrial design can collaborate in order to respond to future human and planet well-being.

You will hold a critical awareness of current issues, an analytical knowledge of relevant craft skills, processes and technologies, and the entrepreneurial skills to evaluate and commercialise creative opportunities.

You will have the opportunity to collaborate with organisations from across the fashion and creative industries through your project work, allowing you to build your professional skills, your portfolio, and your network of contacts. You will exhibit your work locally and in London at the end of your course, a remarkable opportunity to showcase your talents to a global audience.

Throughout the year you will have the opportunity to engage in a range of events such as conferences and guest lectures to help further your knowledge and build networks towards your future career aspirations. In addition to working on your personal design projects, you will also have the chance to work on industry-led, collaborative projects within cross-disciplinary teams, reflecting the nature of your future work in the fashion industry.

As well as supporting those seeking to develop independent fashion labels, this course will prepare you for a wide range of career opportunities within the fashion and creative industries and in roles as diverse as: