Fashion and/or costume design careers routes

[SushiGo]

My yr 11 daughter is very passionate about all aspects of clothes design, including theatre/costumes and fashion and wants to go into this as a career. The current advice we have is to do fine art/textiles and drama at A level, plus a third choice and EPQ based on her interests.

Another option locally is a T Level in Craft and Design: Textiles and Fashion Maker (which is equivalent 3 A levels in UCAS points).

All of the University courses emphasise having a strong portfolio. Does anyone know if the fine art textile A level or fashion maker T level be more likely to support her in creating an appropriate portfolio?

I would go for the A Level - strong track record. T levels are still relatively new and some have been a disaster

Eek, I was not aware of issues with T levels (although all the info about it is a bit vague). Thank you.

Can she do an extended diploma in art?

She really doesn’t need drama if she doesn’t like it.

If she only takes one art based subject, she may want to do a Foundation Art Diploma after

Also, she may want to take a short course in dressmaking/ sewing

She enjoys the drama and is doing a lot outside of school, including various courses and costume design for plays. She also makes her own clothes.

So she's got a lot of the technical skills, but hadn't had as mcuh experience with art or putting a portfolio together. A foundation year might be helpful - will look into options. Thank you.

My niece is doing costume design at LCF. That might not be the exact name of the course.

She is clever and did very well at her GCSEs but decided to do a BTEC in fashion and creative skills. There was never really any question that she was not going to work in fashion.

She did level two for years and level three for a year whilst working part time to save up for university. She got a place after the level two and deferred and did the level three before going.

She had time to devote her portfolio. They offered her a place and a deferral during the interview.

That's really helpful, thank you mmmBop.

@SushiGo Time to put a portfolio together is crucial. My DD did a different course at LCF and three A levels. Two were art based (Art and Photography) and did fashion design and making as part of the art A level. Her school really supported this. They did a fashion show and had fashion design input. It was really hard to put the portfolio together for interviews in February in y13. Then A level submissions not long after.

I would suggest contacting LCF for portfolio advice. They used to give a short session on what they like to see. My DD had examples of work and a description of what worked and what didn’t plus examples of working up ideas. Also what inspired her and how she developed her thoughts. It should not be enormous but should demonstrate thinking princess and ability. It must be portable and sequential. They take applicants through it at interview so you have to own it. It’s important to realise it cannot be rushed.

There's definitely a lecture on the portfolio at LCF on the open days that was really useful.

With a degree they are not allowed to offer a place at interview. They must evaluate everyone fairly and then offer a place via UCAS. DD did say some lugged in huge portfolios and others just had a little folder. So taking advice is important.

Re a foundation year post A Levels. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who didn’t do a post A Level foundation year. Many students locally choose to do their A Levels at one highly prestigious sixth form college and then their foundation year at the other main local sixth form college which specialises in preparing people for art degrees. A few of DCs contemporaries took a slightly different route this year and are doing their foundation year the uni/art school where they will do their degree.

Allowed or not it absolutely definitely happened.

To be honest I've never quite understood how some people get offers after subscribing their ucas applications but before the deadline. How do they know that the applicants that are sending their applications in during the second half of the window aren't going to be 'better'.

My DD has just graduated from
a costume degree at Arts University Bournemouth. It was great but one of the things I liked as a parent was that they didn't want a portfolio. Their philosophy was that if you had the A level grades including one in art/design/textiles or similar, the rest was what they would teach you on the course. The pressure of a portfolio when you're also doing A levels is a lot!

Another one cautious about T-levels. I know some providers have had real issues getting the “real world” placements that the students have to have with employers.

The “craft and design” t-level does not look like a replacement for the BTEC extended diploma in art and design - it doesn’t “look” as creative and covers practical knowledge which may be good in some senses but really imo 16-19 creative education should be allowing the student to develop - they can learn regulation and law later. The universities are more interested in seeing that you can think creatively and develop ideas rather than know about regulatory requirements or dei. The specialist area is “fashion maker” which isn’t quite what she is aiming for from what you’ve said. I would want to know how much studio time there is and how directed it is.

Not sure if the BTEC extended diploma is still running - it is still funded but maybe some colleges are moving away from it before it gets the chop. If it’s available it is a good course and will allow plenty of help with portfolio prep. If not then a-levels rather than t-levels imo.

Arguably the A-level route allows better development of essay skills etc that will help the student at level 4-6 and beyond. Imo the level 4 Foundation in Art and Design (free if under 19) is beneficial, particularly if going down the A-level route. Some universities offer this but although the fees are covered, the student isn’t entitled to a maintenance loan so most do it at a local college (or local uni if they have one).

Being offered a place in interview is definitely a “thing”. Not hugely common but I’ve know it several times as recently as this year - all with art/studio based courses, not medicine etc. It is still confirmed through UCAS in the normal way a week or so later but invariably the students think they’ve dreamed it and are manically pressing refresh on their ucas until it updates. I’m slightly skeptical about “equal consideration” for studio based and placement (eg nhs) courses where the numbers really matter, but offering someone a place before everyone is interviewed is no different from sending out offers before all the applications are in and that is standard practice. It’s really common to have 5 offers before Christmas. When one of my own dc applied, before the early application deadline mid October, one of her offers came through less than 24 hours later for a course with a Jan 31 deadline. I doubt they read it and decided she was definitely more marvellous than anyone who was going to apply in the next 3.5 months - it’s just an algorithm. They offer 100% of applicants with that a-level profile a place so it was offered pretty much automatically. Interviews are scored so by the same token if they offer 100% of applicants with above a certain score a place then they can just do it.

There are millions of videos on YouTube about portfolio advice and the universities will tell you what they want. Lots of them will run talks at open days and do online and face-to-face “workshops” specifically about the portfolio. You can even go on residential courses (you absolutely don’t need to). She may find she can’t send the same portfolio to different universities because of what they ask for and how they want it laid out. It’s all done digitally for most places. Requests for portfolios can come in fairly quickly after the application is submitted so students should have their portfolio pretty much finished before they apply. I would forget about the EPQ and focus on the portfolio if time is an issue.

I agree. EPQ is not worth it. I also know the portfolio is hard work when doing 2 art A levels too. It pays to think about it very early in y13.

When interviewing they should score all applicants. They cannot possibly know who else might follow if the interview is 10 am on day 1. I agree about equal consideration being a bit of a joke though. However DD had no interviews before application closing date. Some courses wanted work submitted before they called the applicant for interview so presumably some cull took place.

The most annoying thing was not hearing from two unis at all (well not by 1 May) and one was after an interview in February. There are some shambolic departments!

By definition, interviews are not algorithms.

Just want to say thank you so much for all the detailed advice. We have looked through and none of the local colleges are offering the BTEC in art and design anymore. Only the craft T level (that I am concerned isn't the right fit for someone who wants to be a designer in the future.)

So it looks like A levels it is, and lots of research about the portfolios! I understand that she can do an 'artefact' for the EPQ so possibly another opportunity to do something for her portfolio rather than worry too much about it by itself.

Who will need the EPQ in the format required though? I don’t think the course will. The portfolios are serious work alongside the inevitable stress of arts based A levels and coursework deadlines. I really would look at the portfolio as being the most important aspect of this as A level grades can be pretty low for these degrees. DD just had to get CC.

The EPQ is required at the only school that offers the textiles A level! Struggling with lack of choice for schools because it's a very tech heavy area with a lot of kids aiming to be engineers etc.

And she can make something for the EPQ as an 'artefact' so viewing it as an opportunity to create something that will be part of her portfolio. The rest of it, as you say, doesn't really matter.

I think there might be more to the EPQ than just an artefact. However you are stuck so just investigate portfolio requirements. If it’s a costume, you cannot take it with you. Well not easily!