Program Overview

Fashion Design BA (Hons)

Overview

Turn ideas into reality, express yourself through fashion, and get invaluable access to the industry on our Fashion Design degree at UCA Epsom.

Course Entry Options

• BA (Hons) Fashion Design
• BA (Hons) Fashion Design with Integrated Foundation Year
• BA (Hons) Fashion Design with Professional Practice Year
• BA (Hons) Fashion Design with Integrated Foundation Year and Professional Practice Year

What You'll Study

Integrated Foundation Year (if undertaken)

• UCA’s Integrated Foundation Year is designed to give you the skills you’ll need to start your degree in the best possible way – with confidence, solid knowledge of creative practice, study skills and more.

Year One

• Guest Speakers’ Series: You’ll join students across the School of Fashion & Textiles for our Industry Guest Speakers’ Series – you’ll hear from people with diverse backgrounds, skills and career paths representing the diversity of our student community, to inspire you to kick-start your thinking about your own career journey.
• Method: You’ll learn the skills and knowledge that form the foundation for the development of creative and effective design practice. A thorough understanding of all the components that contribute towards the fashion design process is essential to the fashion designer and at the heart of this unit, will be the emphasis on the research and design process to fuel 3D outcomes.
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion - Creative Identities: You’ll develop your awareness and understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion, and promote progressive values and attitudes in creative practice. You’ll learn how our social identities (such as, gender, race/ethnicity, class, disability, sexual orientation, and religion) contribute to the inclusion and/or exclusion of individuals in creative spaces.
• Make: The importance realisation plays in the design process is explored in this unit with a focus on the designer market, allowing you to start exploring and developing your awareness of high-end fashion. You’ll explore in-depth, the work and techniques of a specific designer within the established global creative hierarchy, and build a creative technical portfolio through your examination of designer techniques and methods as well as your own technical experimentation and exploration. Methods of bias cutting and draping on the stand will be introduced to support this.
• Hackathon: In your first Opportunity Week, you’ll work with others on a high-intensity project. You’ll use a new piece of software or equipment to familiarise yourself with the technology that is becoming ubiquitous in the industry. For instance, you may be asked to design a website, an Instagram filter, an avatar, a virtual garment or digital prints.
• Industry: Your knowledge and understanding of fashion will be expanded by exploring the industry in detail from a specific market level. In order to create a successful design product for a particular market, it is important to thoroughly understand it. This unit will run in tandem with the Market Unit to provide a deeper understanding of product development for a particular customer base.
• Market: In-depth competitor and brand analysis is a key role of the designer in order to assess and understand the market they are designing for in order to help them identify a successful approach to creating design packages appropriate to a particular market. In this unit you’ll understand more about this through a written and visual report.
• Business of Fashion: You’ll be introduced to the fundamental principles of fashion business and practices through a global lens. You’ll learn about how the macro environment affects the fashion industry sector and consumer groups and how it operates, introducing you to the various market levels and sectors, as well as industry structure, supply chain, distribution, marketing and commercialisation of products and services to end-users.
• ATOM Activities: ATOM activities are small pieces of individual learning that facilitate interdisciplinary exposure across UCA, and offer a flexible, impactful learning experience. They expand your creative horizon by accessing learning topics that would not otherwise be scheduled on your course specific timetable.
• PLE Digital Outcome: The PLE Digital Outcome is a purposefully edited, self-directed record of your constructive, level 4 engagement with and presence on, digital media platforms across the year.

Year Two

• Career Week: You’ll start the second year with an intensive, interactive career preparation week. It prepares you for your work placement, through preparing your CV and cover letters, developing personal branding on professional social networks, networking and interview preparation.
• Dragon's Den: Have you ever watched Dragon’s Den on the BBC? Have you ever dreamed of being one of the contestants? Have you got a business idea? Now is your chance to become the next big fashion and textiles entrepreneur. You’ll work in multi-disciplinary teams to prepare a short business plan, a prototype and pitch their ideas to a panel of industry judges.
• Tailoring: You’ll learn an in-depth knowledge of tailoring through the exploration of time-honoured craft techniques and their application to contemporary design practice, you’ll introduced to a range of specialist techniques practiced in the high-end designer market. Technical skills will be further enhanced through the exploration of traditional cutting techniques from a digital viewpoint through digital pattern technology. You’ll produce an innovative tailored product, testing the theory behind the taught technical principles and develop your visual communication skills through the development and presentation of portfolio pages.
• Reflective Practitioner: You will have the opportunity to explore global perspectives and influences on creative practice, drawing upon interactions with varied identities, cultures, politics, and histories. The unit will explore how beliefs, values and attitudes drive behaviour and practices. You’ll reflect on the development of your own creative influences, perspectives, practices, and sense of belonging as developing creative professionals in global and contemporary spaces.
• Design Identity and Realisation: In this unit you’ll further progress your creative, conceptual, contextual and technical understanding of design and three-dimensional garment development practices. You’ll also be encouraged to reflect on your personal viewpoints to explore global debates around societal issues such as inclusivity and sustainability and fashion’s impact on climate change, to inform research, fabric sourcing and product development processes.
• Identity: You’ll be encouraged to take a more experimental and individual approach to design development, challenging perceived notions of fashion and presenting fresh perspectives on design concepts. Your final design outcomes should be presented as a portfolio design package demonstrating a coherent yet personalised design statement.
• Placement: You’ll have the opportunity to undertake one of two options on this unit – a four-week minimum self-initiated work placement that’s relevant to your potential career direction or complete an industry case study which gives you the opportunity to study an aspect of the industry, that you identify as an area of interest, through the method of case study research. For both, you will record, critically analyse and evaluate your findings through a learning journal and present them in your learning journal and a professionally structured Placement or Case Study Report.
• ATOM Activities and PLE Digital Outcome: These units are an extension of the Year 1 ATOM Activities and PLE Digital Outcome.

Year Three

• Project Pitch: Your final year begins with a project pitch week. This is your opportunity to share ideas that you will have developed over the summer about your degree project, receive feedback and finetune it before you start actively working on it as part of your last year at university.
• Portfolio & Career: The Portfolio & Career unit consolidates all the design communication, presentation and professional skills learned throughout the course. The vehicle for you to showcase your design expertise and career aspirations is the final Portfolio. You will be encouraged to develop an individual approach to the development of your portfolio both to demonstrate your strengths and to allow you to focus it toward your career direction.
• Pre-Collection: You’ll concentrate on market analysis, concept research and development and the design and toiling process in preparation for your final collection in this unit. As well as market and concept research, you’ll need to undertake an in-depth exploration and experimentation with silhouette, textiles, cutting, colour, design, detail, and finish are required to achieve innovative design solutions.
• Graduate Career Fair: The Graduate Career Fair takes place during the first week of your second term to help your job search as you prepare for life after graduation. Companies that are actively hiring in your sector will be present to give you information about them, the kind of candidates they are looking for and their hiring process.
• Collection & Portfolio: The Collection & Portfolio unit focuses on producing an innovative, resolved and accomplished design collection and an accompanying professional portfolio. For the Collection, you are required to review, evaluate, and apply the research, design and development work conducted in the Pre-Collection unit to achieve a resolved design package. For the Portfolio, you are required to review the design projects and the approach taken in term 1 to create a focused and innovative final portfolio presentation that encapsulates your individual design aesthetic.

Specifications

• Course information 2025/26 entry
• Course information annex for Integrated Foundation Year 2025/26 entry
• Student regulations

Fees & Funding

Tuition Fees - 2025/26

• UK: £9,535 (BA course), £9,535 (Integrated Foundation Year)
• EU: £9,535 (BA course), £9,535 (Integrated Foundation Year)
• International: £16,950 (BA course), £17,500 (Integrated Foundation Year)

UCA Scholarships and Fee Discounts

• At UCA we have a number of scholarships and fee discounts available to assist you with the cost of your studies.

Financial Support

• There are lots of ways you can access additional financial support to help you fund your studies - both from UCA and from external sources.

Additional Course Costs

• In addition to the tuition fees there may be other costs for your course. The things that you are likely to need to budget for to get the most out of a creative arts education will include books, printing costs, occasional or optional study trips and/or project materials.

Facilities & Equipment

• At UCA Epsom there are design, pattern and production studios. There is also specialist sewing areas with technical assistance. There are also campus screen printing facilities and photographic studios with professional quality lighting rigs.

Opportunities

• Industry links
• Careers
• Further study

Entry & Portfolio Requirements

• We’ll need to see your portfolio for this course:
  • UK applicants: We will invite you to attend an Applicant Day so you can have your portfolio review in person.
  • International applicants: We will ask you to submit an online portfolio.

Standard Requirements

• The standard entry requirements* for these courses are one of the following:
  • 112 UCAS tariff points, see accepted qualifications
  • Pass at Foundation Diploma in Art & Design (Level 3 or 4)
  • Distinction, Merit, Merit at BTEC Extended Diploma / BTEC National Extended Diploma
  • Merit at UAL Extended Diploma
  • 112 UCAS tariff points from an accredited Access to Higher Education Diploma in appropriate subject
  • 27-30 total points in the International Baccalaureate Diploma with at least 15 IB points at Higher level, see more information about IB entry requirements.
  • And four GCSE passes at grade 9-4/A*-C including English (or Functional Skills English/Key Skills Communication Level 2).

Foundation Year Requirements

• The standard entry requirements* for foundation year entry are one of the following:
  • 32 UCAS tariff points, see accepted qualifications
  • Pass at Foundation Diploma in Art & Design (Level 3 or 4)
  • Pass, Pass, Pass at BTEC Extended Diploma / BTEC National Extended Diploma
  • Pass at UAL Extended Diploma
  • 32 UCAS tariff points from an accredited Access to Higher Education Diploma in appropriate subject
  • 24 points from the International Baccalaureate, see more information about IB entry requirements.
  • And four GCSE passes at grade 9-4/A*-C including English (or Functional Skills English/Key Skills Communication Level 2).

English Language Requirements

• Please see the English Language Requirements section for more information.

International Requirements

• Please see the International Requirements section for more information.

Staff

• Programme Director of School of Fashion & Textiles: Sharon Ting
• Senior Lecturer in Fashion Design: Ezinma Mbeledogu
• Senior Lecturer in Fashion Design (Pattern Cutting): Seuk Lee
• Senior Lecturer in Fashion Design (Creative Pattern Cutting): Anette Fischer
• Lecturer and Year 1 Lead in Fashion Design: Jenna Young
• Lecturer and Year 3 Lead in Fashion Design: Julia Smith-Rose
• Visual Communications Lecturer: Richard Kilroy
• Lecturer in Fashion Design (Pattern Cutting): Sophie Hughes
• Lecturer in Fashion Design: John Harrison
• Technical Tutor in Fashion: Valentina Elizabeth
• Technical Tutor in Fashion: Breda Palmer
• Technical Tutor in Fashion: Anne Harman
• Technical Tutor in Fashion: Aimée Collins
• Technician in Fashion: Jamie Backshall

Related Courses

• Fashion Atelier BA (Hons) at UCA Epsom
• Fashion Branding & Communication BA (Hons) at UCA Epsom
• Fashion Business & Management BA (Hons) at UCA Epsom
• Fashion Design BA (Hons) at UCA Epsom
• Fashion Image & Styling BA (Hons) at UCA Epsom
• Fashion Photography BA (Hons) at UCA Epsom
• Make-up & Hair Design BA (Hons) at UCA Epsom
• Studio Practice (Fashion Design) (top-up) BA (Hons) at UCA Epsom
• Studio Practice (Fashion Image & Styling) (top-up) BA (Hons) at UCA Epsom
• Studio Practice (Make-up & Hair Design) (top-up) BA (Hons) at UCA Epsom
• Textiles BA (Hons) at UCA Epsom