The standard entry requirements for this course are as follows:

One or a combination of the following accepted full Level 3 qualifications:

• Pass at Foundation Diploma in Art and Design (Level 3 or 4) and one A Level at grade C or above
• Merit, Pass, Pass (MPP) at BTEC Extended Diploma (preferred subjects include Art, Art and Design or Design and Technology)
• Pass at UAL Extended Diploma
• Access to Higher Education Diploma equivalent to 64 UCAS tariff points (preferred subjects include Art, Art and Design or Design and Technology)
• Pass at Foundation Diploma in Art and Design (Level 3 or 4) plus equivalent EU/International qualifications, such as International Baccalaureate Diploma

And three GCSE passes at grade 4 or above (grade A*–C).

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

AP(E)L – Accreditation of Prior (Experiential) Learning

Exceptionally applicants who do not meet these course entry requirements may still be considered. 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 cannot guarantee an offer in each case.

English language requirements

IELTS score of 6.0 or above, with at least 5.5 in reading, writing, listening and speaking (please check our main English language requirements webpage).

We select applicants who can demonstrate current ability and potential to:

Work imaginatively and creatively in 2D and 3D visual and material media:

• Engage with experimentation and invention
• Show imagination and ambition in proposals for their work
• Take informed risks.

Demonstrate a range of skills and technical abilities:

• Through the portfolio, demonstrate a range of approaches to design development, originated from personal experience or visual research and progressed through logical stages to a finished design solutions
• Evidence handling a material or medium with sensitivity to its qualities
• Demonstrate engagement and improvement in a recently learned technical skill
• Demonstrate an awareness of planning and time management skills
• Provide evidence of intellectual enquiry within their work.

Demonstrate relevant research skills:

• Evidence your ability to critically reflect on and evaluate your achievements

Demonstrate cultural awareness and/or contextual framework of their work:

• Demonstrate an awareness of contemporary fashion design communication and promotion
• Identify social and/or cultural influences on their work.

Articulate and communicate intentions clearly:

• Discuss their work in individual and group situations
• Present their work appropriately and effectively.

Demonstrate commitment and motivation in relation to the subject and the course:

• Develop their own ideas and address both set and personal project briefs
• Show willingness to collaborate
• Show initiative.

What we are looking for

BA Fashion is for the talented, self-motivated fashion enthusiast. Spirited, informed and mature enough to commit to a course that is demanding in its breadth and depth, you will thrive in the competitive atmosphere that has spawned many of fashion's brightest talents. In this fast-moving global industry it takes hard work, flexibility and passion to succeed.

Communicating with you

After you have successfully submitted your application, you will receive an email confirming we have successfully received your application and providing you with your login details for the UAL Portal.  We will request any additional information from you, including inviting you to upload documents / portfolio / book an interview, through the portal.  You should check your UAL Portal regularly for any important updates and requests.

What happens next

Initial application check

We check your application to see if you meet the standard entry requirements for the course.  If you do, you will be invited to submit a mini portfolio through UAL’s online portfolio review system.

Mini portfolio

The mini portfolio should be no more than 10 pages comprising of your best work showing your skills and thinking. You can create the pages in any layout (For example: presentation boards) but they should be uploaded as jpeg images. It should include:

• Three pages of research images for fashion design, using a range of materials (drawings, notes, photographs, images of items that you find inspirational for fashion design)
• Three pages of fashion design sketches (sketches demonstrating your development of a fashion theme)
• Two pages of finished fashion illustrations (using colour and demonstrating your skills of presentation, these could be hand-drawn, painted, collage or computer images)
• Two pages of any other creative work. We leave the decision of what to include to you.

Following the review of the mini portfolio we select a small number of applicants to move on to the next stage of the process.  These applicants will be invited to a full portfolio review.

Full portfolio review

On the review day, we will first ask you to drop off your portfolio for review.  After this we may conduct short individual interviews in order to clarify aspects of your application or your work.

If you are unable to attend in person, you can submit a full portfolio online and we may interview you by Skype.

Please note that we do not accept portfolios by post.

Portfolio advice

Your portfolio should demonstrate creative development, whether for a college project or in your personal work. By creative development, we mean ideas that have originated through your own experience and research and progressed towards potential visual and three-dimensional proposals. We are interested in seeing your ideas, visual research and experimentation and finished design solutions. It is important that the creative work you include reflects and demonstrates your thinking, initiative and personal commitment to a particular project, theme or idea.

Please remember:

• The quality of the work is more important than the quantity
• Where possible, large or 3D work should be photographed and scanned
• Please organise your work by project, with supporting work presented alongside final outcomes.

How we notify you of the outcome of your application

You will receive the final outcome of your application through UCAS track.

BA Fashion graduates work across a very wide spectrum of careers in fashion.

While a few go on to become household names, the majority choose not to establish their own labels, working successfully and influentially as company designers, freelancers and consultants or as journalists, stylists, photographers, illustrators, editors and retailers.

Each year, a number of BA Fashion graduates go on to study at postgraduate level, many at Central Saint Martins.
Recent BA Fashion alumni activity demonstrates the breadth of student activity within the sector. Many of our graduates go on to work at major fashion labels around the world.

In London, these include Alexander McQueen, Ghost, Holland & Holland, Katharine Hamnett. In the UK, Burberry, Paul Smith, Hussein Chalayan. In Italy, Benetton, Etro, Alberta Feretti, Antonio Berardi, Prada, Versace. In Paris, Martin Margiela, Kenzo, Christian Lacroix, Martine Sitbon, Dior, Chloe, Louis Vuitton. In New York, Donna Karan, Style Council and in Japan, Comme des Garçons.

Some have set up their own labels. These include Boroaksu, Clements Ribeiro, Stella McCartney, Hussein Chalayan, Sinha-Stanic, Matthew Williamson.

Developing your links

Located at the heart of the London fashion industry, BA Fashion is able to link education and industry providing students with 'live' projects and professional feedback. The BA Fashion course has also developed an excellent relationship with the international fashion community, so that placements for its students are drawn from a wide and distinguished range of sources.

Student’s benefit enormously from studying in London. While there are other fashion courses on the outskirts of the capital, none can offer you the daily stimulation and advantages of being in the middle of an international cultural and fashion centre, surrounded by all levels of the retail market and sectors of the industry within which you will later find employment.

Current collaborations across the design pathways include work with L'Oreal Professional, Triumph, Liberty, Tie Rack, Paul Smith, Dior and Christian Dior Couture.