Fashion & Textiles Degree

[modernmillie]

My daughter wants to study fashion and textiles. DH and I both have academic degrees from Oxbridge-Reject unis so looking at potential institutions they mostly shout ex-poly to me (sorry can't help it) So would love to get some advice on where she should aim for and which As/A levels she should study. I was quite arty myself but my v academic school were very against it, it was medicine or law in my day! I know I must rid myself of all my prejudices.

Could you have a look at some of the broadsheet newspaper league tables as a start? For example www.guardian.co.uk/education/table/2011/may/17/university-guide-art-design

Then it's the same as every other subject - look at the prospectuses, go to open days before applying and further research... perhaps looking up where designers you admire studied.

Good luck with ridding yourself of your prejudices. Your attitude sounds very similar to my husband who persistently calls the university I attend by it's former polytechnic name... :o

Thanks Joan, we have made a start by looking at UCAS site and Brian Heap but art seems hard to research. Too many variables and a myriad of institutions!

I've got a BA in Fashion and Textiles, studied many many moons ago..

Of course the Creme de la creme is St Martins.. In my day the other well recognised colleges within the industry were Brighton, Loughborough and Glasgow, but this has probably changed.

The qualifications required will have changed now too, so i'm not much help i'm afraid, but your Dd should talk to her Art teacher (if they're any good) but most importantly look online at various Art schools and their requirements, and as Joan says go to their open days if poss.

Your Dd can also do a Foundation Year after school to get a clearer idea, and build a good portfolio.

I'm in a similar position to the OP and have a child interested in going to Art School. If DC chooses art I will encourage DC to do a Foundation Course first. I agree that choosing Art degrees can be a bit confusing if you don't come from an Art background. I went to Central St Martin's myself donkeys years ago and, as Jellykat says, it is generally acknowledged as one of the best in the country.

However, I've just clicked on the link for the Guardian league table and I'm puzzled by the Art degree rankings as it includes many colleges I've never heard of which are ranked higher than Central St Martins! Central St Martins (or Uni for the Arts as it is called in this table) has been placed as low as No.37? Er? I don't think so. Don't let your DD choose a college for art on the basis of this league table.

"they mostly shout ex-poly to me"
Well they will as most of these courses would have originated in art schools which then combined with technology colleges to form polys. Obviously, you want to choose the best course/institution but it isn't a subject that most traditional universities would do - and as other posters have pointed out there are several "ex-polys" with industry leading courses.
Kingston used to be very good ... but my knowledge is decades out of date.

Agree redfuchsia Confusing! Maybe it's because the table is based on 'The Arts' in general?

modernmillie - Your DD may find this helpful from The British Fashion Council -
www.britishfashioncouncil.com/content/1183/Member-colleges

Thanks all, this is very helpful if still confusing! I do not feel very clear as to whether a foundation course is essential or not from the research we have been doing. Would really welcome any advice from people who have DC with recent experience of any college. DD is very keen on Central St Martins, the Uni of the Arts stuff all sounds so woolly though! The Fashion Council list is helpful though, thank you Jellykat.

Yes, Jellykat it is based on Art in general which IMO is hopeless. The Guardian league table is a useful tool (albeit a crude one) for ranking academic subjects but it is useless when it comes to tabling art subjects (that's Art not 'Arts'). It's a nonsense to rank a History of Art Degree from Cambridge against a Fashion Degree from Central St Martin's. Apples and oranges. If someone were to make a table of the best art colleges in the UK by art subject: Fine Art, Graphics, Industrial Design, Ceramics, Jewellery etc, it would be great for helping students and their parents make a choice. As Lilymaid explained some ex-polys are among the best in the country for their subject.

Absolutely Redfuschia, that's just what is needed. There must be someone out there though who can give us an opinion on where best to go to study fashion/textiles though pretty please? (apart from Central Saint Martins which has been the main one mentioned so far)

It seems ridiculous doesn't it?

Have searched everywhere even Drapers Record, but am no longer a subscriber so i didn't get too far, meh!

Here's an interesting piece tho', note the comment in the last paragraph
www.independent.co.uk/student/into-university/az-degrees/fashion-671652.html

Bumping for anyone else

My niece is studying a Textiles degree at the moment, and I'm following her progress with interest as, though DP and I followed very traditional academic routes, and we know loads about academic university courses and options, our dc are all bizarrely good at things like textiles, art, craft, design and I could see at least one of them studying such things, so I have started paying attention to these courses.

It seems from dniece that some of the good textiles courses are in the cotton and wool industry areas, so Mancheter Metropolitan university, Huddersfield, Preston etc - all places with strong history of textiles. Obviously those will be quite different from St Martins but it might be worth checking them out. All ex-polys but very strong in this sort of course.

OP - you should go with your daughter to as many art foundation course open days as possible. The reason that art courses are so hard to research for pupils/parents is that nearly all prospective art school students do a Foundation year (basically an extra year of school, totally art-based) while applying to Art School. The course research takes place as an integral part of the Foundation course.

Art Foundation courses are free to all those pupils who are under 19 at the start of the course because they are "school" not "further/higher education" . Good to know!

Fashion BA (hons) at Northumbria is very highly regarded. They interview to admit their students a lots go on to design, become buyers, fashion journos etc. it's modular so you can opt into the textiles modules, etc

I'm v sympathetic to your DD as I'd like to have studied textile design but ended up at Durham reading something v sensible and academic. I know three people who did the Northumbria fashion course - one is now a FTSE director, another runs her own retail consultancy and the third designs corsetry and period costume for TV and the theatre and occasionally helps museum curators around the world with their costume textiles.

details here

I've just asked a friend and she says Northumbria if she's worried about employment prospects afterwards and Brighton if her ambitions are more purely creative.

Brighton here

Hello, any update on what your daughter did and employment prospects afterwards?

I have navigated higher education with 2 DC who chose the arts and design route. Like you I started off knowing v little As has been said above, many of the “ex polys” offer the best courses and routes to employment for these degrees and disciplines. This is particularly the case if your DC is interested in the doing/making/creating. Other institutions that you may be more familiar with could have similar named courses but you may find they are not as well resourced or respected in the industry. Look for internships, placement years, links to industry, brands etc

My DS is currently in his second year at London College of Fashion studying Menswear Fashion Design and Technology (one of UAL colleges). Also on his UCAS short list were Central St Martins, Kingston, Manchester Met and Edinburgh Uni.

For Kingston, CSM and LCF, he needed an art foundation so he went to local further education college and did a level 4 UAL art foundation. Excellent choice for him as he lived at home and did a part time job alongside. There are lots of options for foundation year - and it’s same qualification either level 3 or 4 that is needed for some uni courses. Some people do get in without foundation but most seemed to have. A v strong portfolio might get you in without. His offer from LCF required a distinction. All required specific portfolios which need to be provide in Jan/Feb. It was helpful that DS was doing this in foundation year not a levels.

CSM has a great worldwide reputation and DS said if he’d had an offer he would have found it hard to turn down. However our experience of open days and what we have heard from others is that students are very much left to own devices. On open day we couldn’t even find a member of staff to speak to, students were not from the course and talks were so full we couldn’t attend! DS still says he may one day do an MA there. The brand name is strong!

Some courses v commercial ( eg links with M&S, ASOS) others more brand, Burberry etc. So worth visiting to see what best fit is.

DD studied a different design discipline at a post 92 uni. She had a placement year and got a relevant design job post uni. So if the aim is a career don’t rule it out! She chose that uni over other offers as the course and industry links matched her interests best.

For textiles there may be others to look at - it wasn’t DS’s specific interest so not sure. Kingston seemed to have opportunities for knitwear if I recall correctly.

There are a few good threads from a couple of years ago where those of us going through the design route used to swap notes.

haha didn’t notice the original post was from 2012 🤪 Hope my ramble is useful to you @BreezySwan !