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Undergraduate

BA (Hons) Creative Direction for Fashion

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Still from Alone Together by Jariel Ann | BA (Hons) Creative Direction for Fashion | London College of Fashion | University of Arts London
College
London College of Fashion
UCAS code
W290
Start date
September 2024
Course length
3 years (optional 1 year placement)

Creative Direction for Fashion challenges the intersection between fashion, communication and divergent practices. Projects developed on this course seek to drive meaningful change in the discipline through informed, robust propositions with compelling creative vision, communication design, strategy and criticality at their core.

Course subject to re-approval

Please note that this course is undergoing re-approval. This is the process by which we ensure the course continues to provide a high quality academic experience. During re-approval there may be some changes to the course content displayed on this page. Please contact us if you have any questions about the course.

Why choose this course at London College of Fashion

  • Skill building: you will develop proficient multidisciplinary skills within communication design, which will provide a wide range of graduate opportunities including: art director, trends and innovation researcher, experience designer, producer. Students will also build the range of skills needed to be proficient freelancers.
  • Industry links: you will have exposure to industry practitioners and have the opportunity to respond to knowledge exchange briefs. Past projects have included collaborations with H&M, the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, the Hyman Archive and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
  • Placement opportunity: in your second year on the course you have the opportunity to do an integrated work placement as part of your study.
  • Emerging technologies: This unique course gives students the opportunity to engage with emerging digital technologies and identify innovative opportunities for how they can be used within the fashion media and communication industry.

Open days

There are currently no Open Days scheduled for this course, please check back at a later date.

Scholarships, bursaries and awards

Course overview

Introduction 

BA (Hons) Creative Direction for Fashion focusses on concept generation and ideation, iterative design and proposing ideas that are globally informed and future focussed.  

What to expect 

  • Using the skills of communication design, interface design, art direction and speculative design, students will be equipped to identify, anticipate and respond to communication opportunities as strategic thinkers and skilled communicators for our ever-changing communication landscape. 
  • This unique course gives students the opportunity to engage with emerging digital technologies and identify innovative opportunities for how they can be used within the fashion media and communication industry. 

Work experience and opportunities 

Students’ are supported by industry briefs and collaborations throughout their studies. Recent collaborations have involved H&M, Knomi and the Victoria and Albert Museum. We offer regular guest lectures and master classes with visiting practitioners. Recent visitors have included Jamie Reid, Art Director of Dazed Magazine and Matthew Drinkwater from the Fashion Innovation Agency. Students will be given the opportunity to undertake a short work experience placement during their second year of study. This provides increased industry awareness as well as crucial experience and valuable contacts within the industry. 

Mode of study 

BA (Hons) Creative Direction for Fashion runs for 90 weeks in full time mode. It is divided into 3 stages over 3 academic years. Each stage lasts 30 weeks. 

Climate, Social and Racial Justice

The course is committed to embedding UAL’s Principles for Climate, Social and Racial Justice. 

Course units

Level 4

The units you will study in Year 1, Stage 1, Level 4 are as follows:

  • Introduction to Fashion Communication (20 Credits);
  • Communication Design (40 Credits);
  • Fashion Cultures and Histories (20 Credits);
  • Fashion Interfaces: Designing for Experience (20 Credits);
  • Better Lives (20 Credits).

Level 5

The units you will study in Year 2, Stage 2, Level 5 are as follows:

  • Critical Issues in Fashion Research (20 Credits);
  • Art Direction for Fashion (20 Credits);
  • Inside the Industry (20 Credits);
  • Option: Situating Your Practice (20 Credits);
  • Future Directions in Fashion Communication (40 Credits).

Optional Diploma Year

CCI Creative Computing

Between years 2 and 3, you can undertake the year-long Diploma in Creative Computing. This will develop your skills in creative computing alongside your degree. After successfully completing the diploma and your undergraduate degree, you’ll graduate with an enhanced degree: BA (Hons) Creative Direction for Fashion (with Creative Computing).

CCI Apple Diploma 

Between years 2 and 3, you can undertake the year-long Diploma in Apple Development. This will give you an opportunity to become an accredited apple developer alongside your degree. After successfully completing the diploma and your undergraduate degree, you’ll graduate with an enhanced degree: BA (Hons) Creative Direction for Fashion (with Apple Development). 

Industry DIPS 

This optional diploma can be taken between years 2 and 3. With support from your tutors, you’ll undertake an industry placement for a minimum of 100 days/20 weeks. As well as developing industry skills, you’ll gain an additional qualification upon successful completion. 

Enterprise DIPS 

This optional diploma can be taken between years 2 and 3. With support from your tutors, you’ll undertake an enterprise placement year where you will explore a business idea from proposal to minimal viable product (MVP). As well as developing enterprise skills, you’ll gain an additional qualification upon successful completion. 

Level 6

The units you will study in Year 3, Stage 3, Level 6 are as follows:

  • Research for Independent Project: Creative Direction for Fashion (20 Credits);
  • Cultural and Historical Studies Dissertation (40 Credits);
  • Independent Project: Creative Direction for Fashion (40 Credits);
  • Final Presentation (20 Credits).

A 20-credit unit is approximately equivalent to 200 hours of learning time, which includes a mixture of taught time, independent study and assessment.

All students are entitled to a tutorial package that consists of:

  • one induction tutorial (group or one to one);
  • one tutorial per block for the duration for their course of study at LCF;
  • group tutorials as required;
  • an appropriate level of confidentiality.

Learning and teaching methods

The assessment programme is designed to follow the learning and teaching methods which are employed to support the integrated achievement of the course outcomes: 

  • lectures, seminars; 
  • workshops, practical demonstrations; 
  • group critiques, projects and peer feedback; 
  • tutorials; 
  • professional opportunities; 
  • and panel discussions.

Graduate Showcase

Explore work by our recent students on the UAL Showcase

LCF BA (Hons) Creative Direction for Fashion Speculate Future Digital Experience

Does digital technology make us connect or disconnect from reality? How is our digital consumption contributing to our sense of wellbeing? Are there more creative opportunities in taking control of our data? BA (Hons) Creative Direction for Fashion collaborated with leading industry innovators and digital designers to explore these ideas through an exchange of knowledge.

UAL Insights: Graduating with Bola Martins

Bola talks to us about her final year as a Creative Direction for Fashion student and her hopes for life after graduation.

Latest news from this course

Staff

Shanu Walpita, Course Leader

With over 13 years of experience as a forecast director, creative strategist and editor, Shanu Walpita’s professional practice sits at the intersection of culture, consumer behaviour, product direction and innovation. Walpita has worked with leading global brands, media organisations and creative agencies on developing value-focused visions of today and the future. She is the co-founder of Emergence of Tomorrow, a visionary online discussion space and community think-tank. As an industry expert, Walpita’s words have been featured in media outlets including Business of Fashion, Highsnobiety, Dazed Media, Vogue, NY Times, The Observer and many others.

Mélodie Roulaud, Lecturer

Mélodie Roulaud is a London-based, French-born film director and photographer with a background in TV commercial campaigns, documentaries, fashion films and portraits. Their professional work focuses on representation, creative processes and lived experiences, all of which Roulaud expresses through a range of formats, including production, advertising, beauty and fashion. From working with a range of commercial brands including Dove, Hugo Boss, Tiffany & Co and Nowness to screening her films at festivals around the world, Roulaud has created work with a desire to challenge mainstream ideas of image creation.

Anthony Price, Lecturer

Anthony Price works as a multi-disciplinary creative – an academic, DJ and creative director of Anomalous, a studio, event space and integrative collective. Over the past two decades, he has gained experience across the fashion and music industries, including in editorial teams at Dazed & Confused, The Face and Mixmag as well as a freelancer. Price’s focus is on archival practices, specifically around club culture and underground dance music, which he articulates through forms of audio, visual and event production. Additionally, his academic research investigates the role of nostalgia within media, namely via the philosophical and political lens of hauntology.

Simone Konu-Rae, Lecturer

Working across creative direction and styling in the world of fashion media publishing, Simone Konu-Rae has been building her portfolio from the ground up – from assisting at publications including Harpers Bazaar, LOVE and Vogue to working as a freelancer for the likes of Vogue Italia, Sunday Times STYLE, i-D and Tank Magazine. In 2018, Konu-Rae founded ALSO Journal, an online platform focused on representation and diversity of women in fashion as well as focusing the spotlight on female creatives. In addition, she has led wardrobe and casting departments across a number of festival-featured short film projects.

Leigh Odimah, Lecturer

With a diverse portfolio of experiences that range from curation to PR and event marketing through co-founding a cult noughties brand Sexie Booda, Leigh Odimah brings a truly overarching perspective to education. Her industry reach is just as broad as she counts brands and artists across fashion, beauty, film,

music and television as her past clients. In her academic endeavours, Odimah has worked as a unit leader and on developing programmes as well as a mentor supporting students of colour as part of the School’s BAME mentoring project. Odimah is also an Associate Fellow in the School of Media and Communication.

Karolina Cialkaite, Lecturer

Both a design researcher and a research designer, Karolina Cialkaite merges her skills and experience in graphic design with an interest in cultural production and education futures. Examining systems across physical, digital and 2D experiences, Cialkaite’s work focuses on cross-disciplinary interactions. She plays the role of a creative connector in the design realm – working with everyone from curators and architects to scientists and psychologists. In addition, she is training as a psychoanalyst.

Charlotte Troy, Lecturer

Charlotte Troy’s creative practice is grounded in a curious and restless nature which is expressed across both her artistic and academic work. As a research-orientated educator and a Senior Fellow in Higher Education at UAL, Troy’s work addresses how contemporary theory forms the future of a creative and critical curriculum. This is rooted in pursuing student and facilitator wellbeing through the transformative potential of practising philosophy, arts and humanities. Troy also creates art herself – under the name Victorious Hermit, she works with mixed media; including textiles, ceramics and poetry.

Isabel Wharton

A forecaster, strategist, designer, and creative, Isabel Wharton is fascinated by culture, interdependent and non-binary thinking. As her experience suggests, Wharton’s work covers the intersections of multiple fields, including culture, identity and community. She art directed music festivals, zines and events at a young age, before bringing her presence into the fashion industry. Today, she is an active member of the ESEA (East & South East Asian) community, working with various groups and initiatives. Professionally, Wharton is very excited for the convergence of visual media, technology, sound, science, art, speculative thinking, climate and social issues.

Avril Bown

Avril Bown is a multi-disciplinary academic whose research explores the intersection of fashion, style and psychological processes, both historically and in current culture. Brown’s background ranges from delivering creative education to curating exhibitions and events globally, having worked with brands, institutions and sub-sections of society. Drawing on archival material, panel discussions, interviews, art and fashion, Brown is a leader in important cultural conversations happening in the industry and beyond.

Fees and funding

Home fee

£9,250 per year

This fee is correct for entry in autumn 2024 and is subject to change for entry in autumn 2025.

Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students.

Home fees are currently charged to UK nationals and UK residents who meet the rules. However, the rules are complex. Find out more about our tuition fees and determining your fee status.

International fee

£28,570 per year

This fee is correct for entry in autumn 2024 and is subject to change for entry in autumn 2025.

Tuition fees for international students may increase by up to 5% in each future year of your course.

Students from countries outside of the UK will generally be charged international fees. The rules are complex so read more about tuition fees and determining your fee status.

Scholarship search

Entry requirements

The standard minimum entry requirements for this course are:

One or a combination of the following accepted full level 3 qualifications.

  • 112 UCAS tariff points from two or more A Levels (preferred subjects include Art, Design, English, and Maths);
  • a Distinction Foundation Diploma in Art and Design;
  • Distinction, Merit, Merit at BTEC Extended Diploma preferred subject Art & Design;
  • Merit at UAL Extended Diploma;
  • Access Diploma or 112 new UCAS tariff points from the Access to HE Diploma;
  • 112 new UCAS tariff points from a combination of the above qualifications or an equivalent full Level 3 qualification;
  • or equivalent EU or non-EU qualifications such as International Baccalaureate Diploma at 25 points minimum;
  • and three GCSE passes at grade A*-C or grade 9-4.

Entry to this course will also be determined by assessment of your portfolio.

APEL (Accreditation of Prior (Experiential) Learning)

Applicants who do not meet these course entry requirements may still be considered in exceptional cases. The course team will consider each application that demonstrates additional strengths and alternative evidence. This might, for example, be demonstrated by:

  • Related academic or work experience
  • The quality of the personal statement
  • A strong academic or other professional reference
  • OR a combination of these factors

Each application will be considered on its own merit but we cannot guarantee an offer in each case.

English Language Requirements

IELTS level 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in reading, writing, listening and speaking. Please check our main English Language Requirements.

Selection criteria

The course team seeks to recruit students who can demonstrate:

  • A broad interest in fashion, visual imagery and an awareness of technology;
  • An understanding of the need for a critical and analytical approach to the area of study;
  • An approach suited to the demands of the course and the projected career futures.

Apply now

Application deadline

31 January 2024 at 18:00 (UK time)

If there are places available after this date, the course will remain open to applications until places have been filled.

Apply to UAL

Home students can apply to this course through UCAS with the following codes:

University code:

U65

UCAS code:

W290

Start your application

Apply now

Application deadline

31 January 2024 at 18:00 (UK time)

If there are places available after this date, the course will remain open to applications until places have been filled.

Apply to UAL

International students can apply to this course through UCAS with the following codes:

University code:

U65

UCAS code:

W290

Start your application
or

Apply with a UAL Representative

Based across the world, our local UAL representatives can support you with your application from your home country. Check to see if there is a representative available in your country currently.

Find your representative

How to apply

Follow this step-by-step guide to apply for this course

Step 1: Initial application

You will need to submit an initial application including your personal statement.

Personal statement advice

Your personal statement should be maximum 4,000 characters and cover the following:

  • Why have you chosen this course? What excites you about the subject?
  • How does your previous or current study relate to the course?
  • Have you got any work experience that might help you?
  • Have any life experiences influenced your decision to apply for this course?
  • What skills do you have that make you perfect for this course?
  • What plans and ambitions do you have for your future career?

Visit the UCAS advice page and our personal statement advice page for more support.

Step 2: Digital portfolio

We will review your initial application. If you have met the standard entry requirements, we will ask you to submit a digital portfolio.

You’ll need to submit this via PebblePad, our online portfolio tool.

Digital portfolio advice

Your portfolio should consist of recent work that reflects your creative strengths.

It should:

  • be maximum 30 pages
  • include examples of creative visual imagery such as fashion imagery and graphic design
  • include work in progress and finished pieces to demonstrate your ability to experiment and strategically develop ideas from initial concepts to final outcomes
  • demonstrate your engagement with technology for image production
  • include research demonstrating your knowledge and awareness of the social and cultural contexts behind the fashion industry.

For more support, see our Portfolio advice and PebblePad advice.

Step 3: Interview

You may be invited to an interview following our review of your application. All interviews are held online and last 15 to 20 minutes.

For top tips, see our Interview advice.

You also need to know

Communicating with you

Once you have submitted your initial application, we will email you with your login details for our Applicant portal.

Requests for supplementary documents like qualifications and English language tests will be made through the applicant portal. You can also use it to ask questions regarding your application. Visit our After you apply page for more information.

Visas and immigration history check

All non-UK nationals must complete an immigration history check. Your application may be considered by our course teams before this check takes place. This means that we may request your portfolio and/or video task before we identify any issues arising from your immigration history check. Sometimes your history may mean that we are not able to continue considering your application. Visit our Immigration and visas advice page for more information.

External student transfer policy

UAL accepts transfers from other institutions on a case-by-case basis. Read our Student transfer policy for more information.

Alternative offers

If your application is really strong, but we believe your strengths and skillset are better suited to a different course, we may make you an alternative offer. This means you will be offered a place on a different course or at a different UAL College.

Deferring your place

You must apply in the year that you intend to start your course. If you are made an offer and your circumstances change, you can submit a deferral request to defer your place by 1 academic year. You must have met your conditions by 31 August 2024. If you need an English language test in order to meet the entry requirements, the test must be valid on the deferred start date of your course. If not, you will need to reapply. Requests are granted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Contextual Admissions

This course is part of the Contextual Admissions scheme.

This scheme helps us better understand your personal circumstances so that we can assess your application fairly and in context. This ensures that your individual merit and creative potential can shine through, no matter what opportunities and experiences you have received.

Careers

All of our undergraduate courses offer career development, so that you become a creative thinker, making effective contributions to your relevant sector of the fashion industry.

LCF offers students the opportunity to develop Personal and Professional Development (PPD) skills while studying through:

  • An on-course work experience or placement year. Please note, this is not available on every course; please see the Course Details section for information about work placement opportunities.
  • Access to to speaker programmes and events featuring alumni and industry.
  • Access to careers activities, such as CV clinics and one-to-one advice sessions.
  • Access to a graduate careers service
  • Access to a live jobsboard for all years.
  • Advice on setting up your own brand or company.

Graduates who wish to continue their education at postgraduate level can progress to suitable courses within the College, the University or elsewhere.

Career paths

Graduates from this course are well placed to take up a number of positions within the fashion media industry. Design and technical skills learnt on the course equip graduates to work as effective fashion communicators, where an overview of brand strategy and the ability to create and realise an effective creative vision across multiple platforms with a team of creative practitioners is required. Graduate destinations include Insight and Innovation Consultant at Brand Genetics, Digital Concept Designer at LVMH, Visual Studio Communications Assistant at COS and Team Assistant at The Communications Store.