fashion design course help

Is doing a foundation year in art and design helpful for fashion design, and what universities are good for these courses?

Reply 1

Kingston Reps

Official Rep

Original post by ovya thuyavan

Is doing a foundation year in art and design helpful for fashion design, and what universities are good for these courses?

Hi there @ovya thuyavan, have you considered Kingston's Foundation Dip in Art, Design and Media ?
I am a placement year student at Kingston BA Fashion course and many of my classmates have done a foundation to develop their aesthetics and expand their portfolio 🙂 It also gives you an extra year to try out different mediums before deciding on what area of art and design best suits you! Foundation courses tend to be more creative and give you the opportunity to experiment and explore your ideas!

Kingston BA Fashion department is well known within the industry and our BA Fashion course is ranked number 2 in the UK! Feel free to ask me any questions about life in Kingston or about our fashion course in general 🙂

Zhi En
(Kingston Student Rep.)

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 2

BCU Student Rep

Official Rep

Original post by ovya thuyavan

Is doing a foundation year in art and design helpful for fashion design, and what universities are good for these courses?

Hi @ovya thuyavan

I honestly can't recommend a foundation year enough.

I did one myself between my A Levels and my degree, and it put me in a strong position before I started at uni. I did my foundation in art and design, and like Zhi En also mentions above, it can be a great opportunity to try lots of different mediums, techniques and artistic disciplines before you specialize in fashion design.

I completed my foundation course at my local college instead of at a university, which was the most convenient option for me. So potentially look of there's anything local to you or a perhaps a commute away.

There are also more specialized fashion and textiles foundation courses too. For example, there is a fashion and textiles foundation here at BCU where you can explore different avenues within this more specified course, such as fashion branding and communication, fashion design, textile design, fashion business, and more. Here's the webpage so you can get a better idea: https://www.bcu.ac.uk/courses/fashion-design-ba-hons-with-foundation-2024-25#:~:text=Your%20first%20year%20will%20introduce%20you%20to%20a

But, an more general art and design foundation can also be really beneficial as you can often cover other areas like fine art, graphic design, 3D design and sculpture, which can all influence your fashion design work.

By the end of my course I felt much more confident within fashion design, I had a portfolio of work when I was applying to unis and I felt like I had a boost in my studies before I started my degree too.

Going from here, I would suggest filtering some foundation course results on UCAS and making note of some you like the look of. Start comparing them and seeing if there's more specific things you like the look of, and it might start to become more apparent which ones you prefer.
Keep an eye out for some open days too, as some unis showcase their foundation year courses on these days, and even if you're not looking to start a degree course just yet, it could be beneficial to have a look at the uni space.

Hope this helps. 🙂
Emily
Student Rep at BCU

Reply 3

ovya thuyavan

Original post by BCU Student Rep

Hi @ovya thuyavan
I honestly can't recommend a foundation year enough.
I did one myself between my A Levels and my degree, and it put me in a strong position before I started at uni. I did my foundation in art and design, and like Zhi En also mentions above, it can be a great opportunity to try lots of different mediums, techniques and artistic disciplines before you specialize in fashion design.
I completed my foundation course at my local college instead of at a university, which was the most convenient option for me. So potentially look of there's anything local to you or a perhaps a commute away.
There are also more specialized fashion and textiles foundation courses too. For example, there is a fashion and textiles foundation here at BCU where you can explore different avenues within this more specified course, such as fashion branding and communication, fashion design, textile design, fashion business, and more. Here's the webpage so you can get a better idea: https://www.bcu.ac.uk/courses/fashion-design-ba-hons-with-foundation-2024-25#:~:text=Your%20first%20year%20will%20introduce%20you%20to%20a
But, an more general art and design foundation can also be really beneficial as you can often cover other areas like fine art, graphic design, 3D design and sculpture, which can all influence your fashion design work.
By the end of my course I felt much more confident within fashion design, I had a portfolio of work when I was applying to unis and I felt like I had a boost in my studies before I started my degree too.
Going from here, I would suggest filtering some foundation course results on UCAS and making note of some you like the look of. Start comparing them and seeing if there's more specific things you like the look of, and it might start to become more apparent which ones you prefer.
Keep an eye out for some open days too, as some unis showcase their foundation year courses on these days, and even if you're not looking to start a degree course just yet, it could be beneficial to have a look at the uni space.
Hope this helps. 🙂
Emily
Student Rep at BCU

hey emily,
thank you for the response, i'm struggling to build a portfolio as i don't know how to get it out. If you have any advice, could you please share it with me?

Reply 4

Kingston Reps

Official Rep

Original post by ovya thuyavan

hey emily,
thank you for the response, i'm struggling to build a portfolio as i don't know how to get it out. If you have any advice, could you please share it with me?

Hi @ovya thuyavan !

In regards to building a portfolio, I struggled too when I had to build mine but its actually easier than it sounds!

Start by collating all of the art work you have done throughout the past years up to now. I would recommend showcasing your best work but also acknowledging work where you have improved from is useful. Lecturers just want to see that you have a passion and interest, can build upon you work and have a variety of skills.

I used a simple, plain PowerPoint deck to present my portfolio, using basic titles and an image per slide of my work. You could always design the slides in different ways to showcase extra creativity!

I would recommend by starting like this and then taking the PowerPoint deck to your current lecturer for help and advice that they can provide you. Pinterest and Google as well are super useful to see others visual portfolios. I would refine the search to university portfolios to not get overwhelmed with post-grad professional grads!

Hope this helps and feel free to ask any other questions!
-Yasmin (Kingston Rep)

Reply 5

Norwich Uni Arts

Official Rep

Original post by ovya thuyavan

Is doing a foundation year in art and design helpful for fashion design, and what universities are good for these courses?

Hiya, I hope that you're well. That's great to hear that you're considering an arts course at uni - very exciting. I'm a Graphic Design Student at Norwich University of Arts. Student Ambassadors from our courses are available to chat to via a platform called UniBuddy. This allows you to ask any questions that you may have about a specific course or campus. You can find our ambassadors here.

Attending open days is also a great way to get a feel for the universities and talk to staff and students there. A list of our upcoming events can be found here: Norwich Uni Arts Open Days. I personally found that attending as many of these as possible and also requesting prospectuses really helped me out. I actually collected quite a few of these before settling on a course/ uni. Our prospectus and information leaflets also provide an insight into where our courses can take us in the future after Uni!

I hope this helps and good luck on University hunting! I know it can be daunting, but I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have 🙂
Charlotte, Student Ambassador

Reply 6

BCU Student Rep

Official Rep

Original post by ovya thuyavan

hey emily,
thank you for the response, i'm struggling to build a portfolio as i don't know how to get it out. If you have any advice, could you please share it with me?

Hi @ovya thuyavan

@Kingston Reps is spot on with their reply! No matter how 'good or bad' you think your work is, get it all laid out in front of you so you can see what you're working with.

PowerPoint can be a great way to layout your work as you can categorize each slide into works or projects. When I was applying, I actually filmed a sketchbook flick through by filming from above my book and slowly turning the pages. I later added a voiceover to talk through my work. This was because I was applying after Covid and interviews and portfolios were all online - but maybe this method could work for you too.

Hope this helps, and if you get stuck in the portfolio process, feel free to get back in touch. 🙂
Emily