BA (Hons) Fashion and Textiles

Why study this subject?

Fashion and Textiles is one of the largest sectors world-wide and continues to offer exciting and rewarding opportunities globally. As the industry faces ethical, social, and sustainable change, employers look for designers and practitioners to have a greater awareness of these topics and to be at the forefront of new and emerging trends. With the right teaching and learning opportunities, it’s possible to turn your passion into a rewarding and successful career.

This course is also offered as a four-year programme, including an initial Foundation Year. The Foundation Year will allow you to develop your academic study skills and build confidence in your abilities, identifying your own strengths and development needs for progression onto an undergraduate programme.

Why study at Buckinghamshire New University?

With a history of delivering expert craft, art and design education for more than 130 years, Buckinghamshire New University is the perfect place to start your creative career.

As part of the Art, Design and Performance School at BNU, you’ll benefit from a practiced-based course, supported by contextual studies. You’ll also have the opportunity to work collaboratively across the school with other courses, ensuring during your studies you are building a varied network, like you would in the real world.

Led by a dedicated and experienced course team, you’ll benefit from their industry knowledge and the industry links they bring to the course. You’ll get direct access to guest lectures, who are specialists in the sector, and can benefit from live project briefs, master classes, and networking opportunities. As a member of the British Fashion Council, UKFT and WGSN our students are supported by industry to reach their full potential. 

We’re proud of the many achievements of our students and staff and throughout your course you will have the opportunity to take part in international competitions, including British Fashion Council reviews, exhibitions and the BNU Summer Show.

We’re also only 30 minutes by train into London, enabling you to visit exhibitions, shows and watch emerging styles from one of the world’s fashion capitals.

Our fashion and textiles programmes are ranked 3rd best in the UK (The Guardian University Guide 2023) and we celebrated 95% overall student satisfaction in the 2022 National Student Survey.

Stay updated with all our latest BA (Hons) Fashion and Textiles news by following us on Instagram @bnu_fashionandtextiles. 

Opportunity modules are a key part of the BNU curriculum. You’ll choose modules in both your first and second year from a broad selection in areas such as sustainability, entrepreneurship, creativity, digital skills, personal growth, civic engagement, health & wellbeing and employment. Opportunity modules are designed to enable you to develop outside the traditional boundaries of your discipline and help you to further stand out from the crowd to future employers.

This fast-paced course will teach you how to excel at every step, from concept, construction through to final creation. You can bring your garments and ideas to life in our fashion and textile specialist workshop. As well as this you will be assigned your own personal workspace where you can continue to work independently around your timetabled lessons.

With our strong links with the fashion and textile industry, you’ll get direct access to guest lectures, master classes, and plenty of networking opportunities with leading designers. You'll have the opportunity to externally exhibit and showcase your work  in our annual art and design show.

Throughout your course you will have the opportunity to take part in international competitions, including British Fashion Council reviews, competitions, exhibitions and the BNU Summer Show.

With London only a short journey away, you can take the opportunity to visit some of the world’s best shops, galleries and museums for inspiration.

What facilities can I use?

We’ve spent a lot of love and care making the Fashion and Textile Studios the perfect creative space and one of the best-equipped workshops in the country. We are extremely proud to be able to offer industry-standard studios, technical machines and high-quality equipment to our fashion and textile-based courses.

You will master materials, both through traditional methods and using digital software. This includes an in-house fabric and yarn store, screen printing facilities, a dye laboratory and sewing and garment production facilities, as well as much more.

In our professional-working studio you’ll have you own workspace which you’ll be able to turn into your own personal area, where you can bring your designs to life and surround yourself with inspiration.

We also have specialist technicians and demonstrators on site to support and share their knowledge with you, when and if you need it.

As well as this you may also have the chance to access to our photography, film and tv and drama studios where you’ll be able to work collaboratively with photography, performance and hair and make-up students to build your portfolio, and network like you would in the industry.

What will I study?

At the core of this degree are creativity, innovative thinking, and an exploration of contemporary approaches to the creation of fashion and textiles.

This fast-paced course will teach you how to excel at every step of the design and creation process, from concept, construction through to final creation. You’ll gain comprehensive hands-on experience, specialist technical skills, knowledge and professional understanding to work as practitioners in the fashion and textiles industry.  

Covering both disciplines of fashion and textiles you’ll explore creative problem-solving strategies and techniques in pattern cutting, manufacturing, textile and fashion processes and materials, and a clear understanding of how these can be applied to realise a unique fashion product.

Starting with the fundamentals, you’ll be introduced to different textile specialisms, along with the core technical and design foundations required for fashion design. These specialisms include knitwear, print and surface design for fashion. As you go through the course, you will continue to develop your understanding and practice of these specialisms, eventually focusing on one chosen specialism in preparation for your final year of study. 

This engaging course which allows the designer to work with a variety of different elements including colour, materials, pattern, structure, and composition. All of which helps you to create a capsule fashion collection based on your chosen specialism or create textile samples for a specific market. 

Upon graduation you’ll have the skills and knowledge you’ll need to face the constantly evolving industry with new technologies, ways of working and changing customer values and expectations. This maximises your career and postgraduate opportunities. 

Industry connections

With regular visiting lectures and workshops led by industry this is just a snapshot of our connections.

British Fashion Council - The Fashion Design course is a member of the British Council collages organisation which allows the students to work on industry-led briefs and competitions and guest lectures from brands such as Burberry, Topshop and Armani, Stella McCartney and many others.

Lara Jensen - Costume designer and milliner, Lara has has worked with some of fashion and film's biggest names, including Karl Lagerfeld, Jonas Akerlund, Peaches, Jessie J and Lady Gaga. Lara has previously led workshops with our Fashion Design students.

Mackintosh - Working on a brief from Mackintosh our students extend their knowledge of attributes that are key to designing outerwear garments, including market levels, trend analysis and customer demographics. With the final garment and technical pack to industry standard.

New Start - New Start are denim specialists in new product development, sustainable innovation and production for the sector across Turkey, Egypt, Bangladesh and Pakistan. New Star create everything from everyday basics to high-end fashion and provide an insight into global working with their visiting lectures.

UKFT - During 2020-21, UKFT provided masterclasses and extended industry connections with the fashion design course. We were one of just five UK providers chosen to take part of the Made it collaboration.

WGSN - Guest lectures by WGSN provide the latest consumer and design trends product design and consumer forecasts, curated data and industry expertise to help innovators create the right products at the right time for tomorrow's consumer.

How will I be taught and assessed?

The BA (Hons) Fashion and Textiles degree encompasses a wide variety of teaching and learning methods. Most of this degree is studio-practice based, here we aim to create the ethos of a professional real-world environment.

As Fashion and Textile student you’ll have to complete a series of modules and projects during your time spent studying with us. Projects are designed to present new challenges to you as you progress through the course. By the end of your time with BNU, you’ll benefit from a full portfolio, and collection, to go to employers with.

We also aim to provide masterclasses and industry brief opportunities for you to apply your knowledge, skills and understanding into real-world contexts, whilst gaining feedback from current industry-leaders. For previous projects, we've collaborated with Alexander McQueen Studio, Chittleborough and Morgan, Mackintosh, Mint Velvet, New Star, British Fashion Council, UKFT and many more.

You’ll also be assessed though; 1:1 or small group tutorials, lectures and seminars, portfolio and presentations, written assessments, sketchbooks, group critiques and self-directed study.