Fashion Design with Foundation BA Honours

This Level 3 module introduces students to the fundamental principles of idea generation, research methodologies, and divergent thinking within the fashion industry. It aims to equip students with the critical and creative skills necessary to conceptualise and develop innovative ideas, providing a foundation for further study and professional practice.

This module develops your ability to turn research and ideas into commercially relevant fashion outputs. Emphasising practical application, critical reflection, and professional communication, it encourages experimentation, peer learning, and awareness of diversity and sustainability, preparing you for higher education and careers in the fashion industry.

This module introduces you to the key academic, professional, and personal skills essential for success at university. It encourages good practices in writing, presentation, and time management, while also fostering reflection to help you build confidence as you transition to higher education. Open to all students enrolled in courses delivered through Westminster Foundation Pathways, the module provides a creative and supportive environment where you can reflect on and develop their academic and professional journey. You'll work with specialist facilitators who play a crucial role in guiding your academic and professional development.

With a focus on managing academic choices in a higher education setting, the module emphasises the importance of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), using methodologies that prioritise equality, diversity, and inclusion. Through these lenses, you'll explore topics that prepare you to address real-world challenges as highlighted in the SDGs in a socially conscious, inclusive, and responsible manner.

This module is designed to enhance your creative, promotional, and research abilities by providing opportunities to experiment, explore, and develop your technical skill set. This includes imaging and promotional techniques, marketing and branding expertise, digital media and photography skills, personal development planning, brand communication, and reflective research methodologies.

This culminating module empowers students to take control of their educational journey, demonstrating the knowledge, skills, and ethical principles developed throughout their studies. Students establish their own thematic focus, research areas, and creative narratives, cultivating genuine ownership within their design process. The self-directed approach promotes diversity, inclusion, and personal agency. Students from diverse backgrounds explore subjects that align with their individual experiences, cultural heritage, and personal interests. This freedom creates an inclusive atmosphere that recognises diverse perspectives while empowering academic responsibility.

Through planning and executing their own progression, students develop essential competencies in project management, time allocation, and self-motivation – vital for successful transition to undergraduate programmes. The resulting variety of themes enriches collective learning, exposing participants to extensive ideas and methodologies that prepare them for the multicultural fashion industry. This approach bridges academic study and practical application, ensuring thorough preparation for professional futures. Students refine capabilities while deepening their understanding of sustainable and ethical practices within fashion design.

The module functions as a vital stepping stone, helping students develop clearer career aspirations and areas for further exploration, ultimately cultivating confident, skilled, and ethically minded designers prepared for the evolving fashion industry.

Critical thinking is fundamental to our ability to progress in an increasingly complex and changing world. It is an essential skill across a range of academic and practice-based disciplines.

This module helps you understand the importance and function of critical thinking both at university and beyond. By working in partnership with academic staff and peers, you will explore how critical thinking aligns with disciplinary practices, shapes scholarly knowledge, and addresses inequalities. Through problem-posing education and anti-racist practices, you will engage with real-world problems, fostering the ability to create a more just and sustainable world.

This module will introduce you to illustration and digital skills through life drawing sessions, computer skills classes, and illustration tutorials. The module encourages you to develop an analysis of 2d garment communication and experimentation to develop a personal illustrative style. By fusing hand-drawn and computer techniques, a series of illustrative outcomes based on the international designer collections are produced. You are also introduced to CLO3D as a digital method of drawing and constructing garments. You will present your work as a digital portfolio.

This module will introduce you to the basics of fashion design through sessions on research, design development, pattern cutting and manufacture of a 3D prototype and digital prototype. You will research denim and sustainably informed creative approaches to innovative design outcomes for a given brief before creating a portfolio of work and a 3D Prototype.

In this module, you will work in groups to research four areas of sustainable practice: Resources – reducing energy, waste, material use, chemicals; Upcyling – using waste rather than virgin materials; Lifecycles – making clothing last longer; Systems – designing a system not just a garment (ie circular system)

This module provides induction and understanding of creative research practice, assessment processes and group working required in creative practice subjects. You will be challenged to experiment individually, undertaking contextual and practical research, which will contribute to a significant group project where you'll be allocated creative roles in groups working collaboratively.

You will be introduced to the use of pre-existing garments as a source of design inspiration and research into original garments to analyse and develop ideas from pre-existing detail, construction and silhouette. You will also be introduced to the skill of draping directly onto the stand as an alternative method of pattern cutting and design development, investigation and experimentation. The detail, construction and silhouette selected in the research is used as a basis for design development to produce a variety of design outcomes for a given brief before creating two outcomes: a 3D prototype and a CLO3d prototype. You'll design a capsule collection and portfolio work based on the design work and produce prototypes.

The theoretical part of this module will cover the notion of ‘transformation’ and how this can be applied in particular to the concept of clothing. It will look at how clothes are indicative of their social and historical context and how their meanings transform when taken out of these frameworks.

While completing this module you will research the history of outerwear from its origins through its development in Couture and Savile Row, to the current contemporary designer offering, with specific emphasis on the tailored garment and outerwear. Skills workshops will focus on the importance of construction, cut, manufacture, and fabric choice in the design process.

This module encourages you to design from self-reflective research into the notion of identity. This could be an investigation of historical, current or potential future personal or cultural identity. You'll undertake detailed research of the clothing and culture of your chosen concept. This research may, for example, include cultural artefacts such as objects, art, garments, textiles and technology.

Emphasis is placed on researching and recording historical, contemporary and innovative methods of design, make and construction in the context of equality, diversity and inclusion. This research is used as a basis of design development to produce a variety of design outcomes 3D Prototypes.

Finally, a range of illustrations and portfolio work based on the design work and final physical prototype outcome is produced. A theoretical piece of writing/work is produced based on your self-reflective research.

In Semester 1, the module requires you to create an industry-focused investigation report. This requires research into contemporary global issues facing the industry, in relation to a particular chosen brand. You will also begin to create a concise fashion business-focused CV, which will be updated in Semester 2 and form part of the Personal Action Plan.

In Semester 2, following Semester 1 preparation, you will engage with a defined period as a studio assistant (minimum of 4 weeks) with a final year Fashion Design student. You will work alongside a more experienced Level 6 final year student and assist with practical tasks that closely mirror industry professional processes and required skills, and create invaluable peer-to-peer learning.

A final Personal Action Plan will assimilate the knowledge gained over the course of this module to create a concise set of goals for the year ahead that are achievable and practical. The CV draft that was created in Semester 1 is updated and submitted within the Personal Action Plan.

In this module, you'll work in groups of 5 to develop a capsule collection of 5 pieces, styled as 2-3 looks, for an established brand that the group feels hasn’t yet reached its full potential for sustainable practice. The work should demonstrate an understanding of that brand’s visual style; silhouette, fabrication, and surface details using various minimal waste pattern cutting techniques as a starting point. You may work physically or digitally in CLO3D (or a combination), carrying out in-depth experimentation and research into innovative pattern cutting methods.

The aim is to develop your knowledge and understanding of pattern cutting as a mechanism to reduce waste. This research is used as a basis for design development to produce a variety of design outcomes. 3D garments are produced physically and digitally, clearly showing the pattern lay plans. Lastly, the groups will develop relevant marketing material and portfolio work based on their research, designs and garments produced, this will be in collaboration with BA Fashion Photography students.

For this module, you will select one contemporary international fashion designer that you would like to work for, either during their internship year or on graduation and undertake in-depth research of the designer’s aesthetic and their commercial market. Additionally, you choose an area of interest for your own personal research from which you develop a variety of design outcomes. From all of your research and design a core capsule collection is designed and a final portfolio is produced.

This module aims to extend your knowledge and expertise of fabrication, embellishment, embroidery, fabric printing and dyeing techniques to further the production of innovative and directional fashion design. You will research an area of personal interest from which you will develop individual design concepts within the context of a broad design brief with the emphasis on textiles, surface decoration and print, which allows you to define your own conceptual basis within the design process. This research is used as a basis of design development to produce a variety of design outcomes and 3D prototypes are digitally and physically produced. Finally, a range of illustrations and portfolio work based on your design work and prototype/s is produced.

In this module, you'll carry out in-depth research focusing on an area of personal interest, developing your research in digital, 2D form. This includes sourcing fabrics, creating patterns using digital software and creating renders of garment prototypes and complete looks in CLO3D or similar software. You'll digitally develop a fashion collection for a specific area of the fashion industry, highlighting an area of personal and technical design excellence. This module is a culmination of all your previous design and digital practice, which is manifested into a highly contemporary, innovative and distinguished digital design collection.

This module is a culmination of all your previous design practice and research, which is then exemplified by the production of your final portfolio. You'll complete three portfolio design projects including a brand collaboration project, a pre-collection and final collection. This work then forms the basis for you to construct a portfolio aimed at a specific area of the international design industry, highlighting an area of personal design excellence to the highest industry standards.

This module consists of a substantial period of sustained, individually negotiated research on a subject that is likely to be related to the contextual and/or theoretical concerns of your discipline or chosen area of practice, towards the provision of structured written argument.

The module enables you to engage with a range of research skills, and develop an identified methodological approach, appropriate to your chosen subject area. In devising and effecting a written response to such research, you will be expected to reflect on and articulate a clear and sustained argument that conforms to academic conventions and demonstrates an understanding of the subject area through selected, managed, and detailed analysis and evaluation.

In this module, you'll develop a forward thinking directional runway collection based on your own chosen theme, which you then interpret in relation to a specific market. You'll develop your design work on paper, create fabrications, print samples, and 3D proposals. From this development work you produce two 3D prototype outfits: one physical outfit, one outfit in CLO 3D.