4 years with the foundation
This year will prepare you for the rest of your course. We’ll focus on general skills such as researching and referencing, numeracy and ICT, and communication. But we’ll also start to look at topics such as art history, and develop our practical design skills using both traditional and digital media.
Introduction
Create your own fashion designs from Year 1 in our workshops at Cambridge School of Art, and launch your career with a professional portfolio and stand-out final collection.
Our BA (Hons) Fashion Design degree will help you forge an identity as a designer, specialising in menswear or womenswear.
You’ll be hands-on from day one, creating your own fashion designs and engaging with all aspects of the design process in our studios, including pattern cutting, draping, textiles and digital media.
You’ll also learn about contemporary fashion promotion, including marketing, styling, fashion photography and art direction – and create campaigns to attract consumers and influencers to your brand. Alongside this you'll learn about the ethics of the fashion industry, and consider issues of sustainability that will help you to develop as a responsible industry professional.
You’ll work closely with students from across our creative community, including fashion students in other years, photographers and filmmakers to create eye-catching campaigns and digital content. Perhaps most importantly, you’ll get time, guidance and support from our team, including technical staff and course leader Mark Hart, who's worked with brands such as Chloe, Alexander McQueen, Warner Bros Records, and London Records.
Read more
As a BA (Hons) Fashion Design student at ARU, you’ll have the chance to find placements and internships with high-profile fashion houses and contemporary designers, including Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Mary Katrantzou, Marcus Lupfer and Mother of Pearl. You can also take an optional placement year.
We also attend trade fairs, such as Pure in London – the UK’s leading fashion buying event – or the fabric and trend show Premiere Vision in Paris; and visit suppliers and other businesses connected to the fashion industry.
Many of our students go on to establish their own labels or work for fashion houses and other well-known brands:
- Micaela Sapinho is now Creative Director of her own label, and has twice shown her collections at Lisbon Fashion Week
- Thanh Cong Vu has gone on to establish his own brand since graduating. While studying Fashion Design at ARU, his designs were shown at Pure and featured in Urban Coco magazine
- Priscilla Acquah Arhin is a textile designer with Samsonite
- Agnieszka Zabek works as Apparel Designer with Reebok
- Tracie Sell is Head of Menswear at Bolongaro Trevor in London
- Olivia Welsh is Creative Director of her own label, Olivia Annabelle
- Stephanie Cornforth is Lingerie Designer for Something Wicked
- Yasmin Lucy Greener is Assistant Accessories Designer at John Lewis.
By the end of the course, you too will have a new collection ready to show to the fashion industry at Graduate Fashion Week, and to the public at our own Graduate Fashion Show and Degree Show.
Workshops and studios
Study at Cambridge School of Art and benefit from:
- dedicated fashion workshops
- industrial sewing, finishing, embroidery and seam sealing machines
- use of the WGSN trend forecasting digital platform.
Visit our Creative Showcase site to explore campus facilities in more detail.
Industry-standard equipment
All our students have access to:
- the full Adobe Creative suite
- Apple iMacs
- wide-format printers and scanners
- vintage printmaking presses
- letterpress machine
- a 3D workshop
- photography equipment, including digital cameras and lighting kits.
Our team of technical officers will be on hand to offer training and support.
Take a closer look
Our Creative Showcase shines a spotlight on what makes ARU creative and cultural – our spaces, places and people. Find out more about our community, the difference we make, the stories we tell, and the things that inspire us.
Meanwhile, Present is an exhibition that you curate for yourself. Explore the work of our graduating students in this eye-catching virtual degree show.
Careers
Many of our students go on to establish their own labels or work for fashion houses and major brands.
Our BA (Hons) Fashion Design degree will help you develop your individual style as a designer, with a portfolio ready to present to fashion houses. Or you might pursue other roles, such as styling, buying, pattern cutting and trend forecasting.
If you’re a budding entrepreneur, you can explore the prospect of starting your own business – supported by the commercial know-how you’ll gain at ARU.
Whichever path you follow, you can be sure you’ll graduate with the knowledge, skills and abilities that employers need. They help us review what we teach and how we teach it – and they offer hands-on, practical opportunities to learn through work-based projects, internships or placements.
Graduation doesn’t need to be the end of your time with us. You might decide to stay at ARU and study for a Masters. Take advantage of our Alumni Scholarship and get 20% off your fees.
My name is Kavisha Prince Anthony, and I always had a dream of studying abroad. Thankfully, that dream came to life since I applied to the Study Advisor. I was able to receive my visa within four days. I also had some visa refusals in the past; I had about six UK visa refusals in the past, but thankfully, it was not an issue since the Study Advisor was able to make things work this time. I highly recommend Study Advisor for your dreams of going abroad, whether it be the UK or any other European country there is.