Fashion Styling & Art Direction BA(Hons)

In year one of this degree, you'll take your first steps to becoming a progressive, conscious, professional and courageous practitioner within fashion styling and art direction. You'll start to develop your technical skills, gain an understanding of the varied specialisms within the disciplines and explore storytelling, sustainability, identity and body politics.

Modules

Fashion Foundations

You'll explore the key practical elements within your creative specialisms including, styling, sourcing, casting, location scouting and creative direction. You'll also learn about the roles and responsibilities of the key players within a creative team.

Fashion & Belonging 

Inclusivity and diversity, in the context of global histories and subcultures, are at the heart of this module. You’ll explore the ethical language of fashion and harness your emerging technical skills through a styled fashion photographic portrait project.  

Thinking & Storytelling 

In this module, you’ll develop your research, critical thinking and analysis skills. You’ll be supported to cultivate confidence in fashion reporting, spotting catwalk trends and curating a point of view. 

Body Politics

This module embraces issues around gender, sexuality, race, social position and body image. You’ll deconstruct, customise and reconstruct innovative styled fashion silhouettes, using the latest industry-standard processes and equipment to fulfil your vision. You’ll also have the opportunity to collaborate with your wider network within the Fashion & Textiles Institute. 

Earth Action

In this sustainability module, you’ll produce an environmentally conscious art directed zine/publication. This is a further collaborative module where you’ll extend new creative partnerships within the broader creative community at Falmouth. You’ll learn the foundations of magazine design and art direction, including harnessing persuasive contemporary layout and magazine design principles. 

In your second year of the Fashion Styling & Art Direction degree, you'll begin to acquire a tenacious, resilient and visionary set of skills for professional practice. You'll take on real-world briefs guided by icons of industry and embrace new technologies and advanced digital processes.

Modules

The Fashion Space 

You'll learn how to develop styled characters and write plotlines for fashion film. You'll also learn key art direction techniques for set design, window displays and fashion installations. Creating fashion stories for digital spaces, including Augmented Reality & Green Screen, are also at the creative heart of this exciting module.

The Fashion Show 

Taking on the role of fashion editor and influencer, you'll foster vital communication skills by reporting on the fashion season - incorporating fashion histories, the arts and contemporary street fashion.

The Fashion Client 

Acting as a real-life fashion consultant, you'll create an exciting visual direction for a contemporary designer or brand. You'll harness industry brand communication platforms such as look books, fashion shows, fashion presentations, catalogues, advertising campaigns, advertorials, social media, event launches and e-commerce.

Collaboration

Working as part of a team, you'll work on 'Challenge Briefs' that reflect the sort of assignments you could expect to be working on in industry. Developing your 'soft skills', like communication, problem-solving, critical thinking and leadership, you'll sharpen your ability to work well as part of a group to produce outstanding work.

You can choose to take an optional professional placement after your second year on a three-year programme, or after your third year if you’re studying for a degree with an Integrated Foundation Year. 

You’ll be responsible for finding your own placement, with support from the Employability team. 

Choosing this option will enhance your industry experience and skills while studying. 

How you’ll study during your professional placement

You’ll spend time working in a professional context, as part of a business or organisation. This can be in one role, or up to three, and must be for a minimum of 24 weeks. 

You’ll develop in-demand workplace skills, deepen your insight into industry and grow your network of contacts, all of which could help you get ahead in your career after graduation.  

Throughout this year, you’ll develop a portfolio of work that includes critical self-reflection on what has been learned from the experience. You’ll be required to evidence your experiences, the skills you’ve learned and your professional growth. 

The final year of the degree consolidates your ground-breaking creative critical thinking, advanced technical skills and professional practice know-how. Modules will give you the leverage to launch yourself into industry as a visionary fashion stylist and art director.

Modules

The Fashion Consultant 

You'll work with pre-selected iconic global clients, experience working in advanced professional teams and nurture authentic relationships with casting directors, location scouts, photographers, hair & make-up artists, model agencies and creative directors.

Breaking Ground

You'll be challenged to explore research ideas and issues that are central to your emerging fashion identity. You'll identify a topic, formulate a research strategy and plan and execute a piece of creative writing that reflects your practice and future career aspirations. Inspired by your research journey, you'll also produce a Project Proposal for your Final Major Project.

Fashion Visionary 

You'll embark on an extended Final Major Project. Harnessing sophisticated modes of visual communication, you'll draw upon your understanding of specialist styling and direction techniques, and aligned communication platforms, to realise your new professional identity. Your Final Major Project will be showcased in an end-of-year exhibition.

Future Skills 

You'll cultivate your professional journey, developing an understanding of your skills in the context of industry and employment. You'll be equipped with the confidence to articulate your knowledge and abilities, and evidence how you can apply them to real world challenges.

Working on a collaborative or solo project, you'll deliver real results, whether that's a profit on some seed funding, a professional portfolio of work, or a solution to a real-world challenge from industry.

Why study an Integrated Foundation Year route?

If you’re taking on a new subject that you haven’t studied in depth before, have been out of education for a while or have a non-standard educational background then an Integrated Foundation Year degree may be the right choice for you. It is a four-year degree with an Integrated Foundation Year to start, which allows you to explore the primary elements of your subject before progressing on to the remaining three years of the BA(Hons) degree.

What you'll learn

If you choose this pathway, you'll study five core modules in your Foundation year. These are all designed to help you explore the foundational elements of your subject. You'll gain relevant technical skills, learn to experiment and take risks, develop an understanding of professional practice, have opportunities to work across disciplines and collaborate with other students on live project briefs.

Modules

Explore

You'll begin your foundation year by working collaboratively with others to explore themes of the future. You'll take risks, experiment through play and be supported to break through barriers.

Technique

You'll take subject-specific workshops and develop essential technical and practical skills in your area of study. You'll also enhance your analytical and organisational abilities.

Apply

You'll work with your peer group to think beyond discipline by addressing a societal or global issue. You'll then showcase your work to your peers and deliver and accompanying evaluation of your process.

Industry

You'll enhance your creative and practical skills in your subject specialism by responding to typical industry briefs, underpinned by focused research and experiments. You'll also gain industry insights through guest lectures and workshops.

Launch

You'll develop your unique identity in your specialism through the production of a self-initiated body of work. Your final project will be the bridge to your next year, fully supported by evaluative reviews and critical analysis of the work you have created.

After the Foundation year, you progress into Year One of the full three-year degree, equipped with a deeper knowledge of your subject, a clear understanding of your strengths, and develop a practical and technical skillset and the confidence to excel in your chosen subject.

If you apply for and enrol onto a degree with an Integrated Foundation Year, you’ll have the option to switch onto a five-year version including a placement year. That means you’ll complete the first three years of your course before completing a placement in industry in your fourth year and returning to Falmouth for the fifth year of your programme. 

Based within the Fashion & Textiles Institute, you’ll learn through a blend of lectures, seminars, tutorials, workshops and practical demonstrations. You’ll also develop professional practice skills by collaborating with peers across the University on project work. 

At Falmouth, we use a 'digitally enhanced learning & teaching' approach. Your experience will always be predominantly in-person, including seminars, tutorials and studio teaching, with some, more targeted elements, being online either live (synchronous) or pre-recorded (asynchronous). You can read more here.

You'll be assessed through coursework and practical submissions.

Assessment methods

Assessments can take many forms, including:

• Practical projects
• Presentations
• Portfolios
• Critical writing

Foundation year assessments are 100% coursework based.