Career Week
You’ll start the second year with an intensive, interactive career preparation week. It prepares you for your work placement, through preparing your CV and cover letters, developing personal branding on professional social networks, networking and interview preparation.
Bespoke tailoring
You’ll develop your ability to use informed research, design and technical processes to apply to the cut, fit, balance and finish in the development of contemporary bespoke tailoring. As well as developing your understanding of details and finishing touches based on historic practice, such as buttons and buttonholes, you will also examine the inner workings of the jacket: canvases, felts, seam tapes and generations-old methods of pressing and hand sewing. By doing so you will expand your vocabulary of product development processes, as well as both flat and three-dimensional pattern cutting, to further inform your understanding of atelier practice skills.
Reflective Practitioner
You’ll have the opportunity to explore global perspectives and influences on creative practice, drawing upon interactions with varied identities, cultures, politics, and histories. You’ll reflect on the development of their own creative influences, perspectives, practices, and sense of belonging as developing creative professionals in global and contemporary spaces.
Dragon's Den
Have you ever watched Dragon’s Den on the BBC? Have you ever dreamed of being one of the contestants? Have you got a business idea? Now is your chance to become the next big fashion and textiles entrepreneur. You’ll work in multi-disciplinary teams to prepare a short business plan, a prototype and pitch their ideas to a panel of industry judges.
The Flou Studio
The drape and behaviour of cloth plays a key role within the creative cutting processes for this specialist unit. You’ll focus on “soft sewing,” where traditionally crepe de chine, georgette, mousseline, lace and other fragile or unstructured fabrics are used. They are notoriously hard to work with, but you will learn to handle these fabrics successfully as a core Atelier skill. You’ll be expected to research the work of relevant historical and contemporary designers to identify and utilise all types of bias cutting, and fabric manipulation approaches to support the transition from 2D to 3D forms.
The Flou Contextualised
The bias cutting techniques of Madame Vionnet and the fabric manipulation techniques of Madame Gres have been a rich source of inspiration for contemporary designers all over the world, so understanding and experimenting with their working methodologies will underpin the core technical delivery of this unit. You’ll be expected to research their body of work along with other relevant historical and contemporary designers to identify and utilise all types of bias cutting and fabric manipulation approaches to support the transition from two dimensional to three dimensional forms. Flou will also be contextualized through feminist theory and body politics.
Placement
You’ll have the opportunity to undertake one of two options on this unit – a four-week minimum self-initiated work placement that’s relevant to your potential career direction or complete an industry case study which gives you the opportunity to study an aspect of the industry, that you identify as an area of interest, through the method of case study research. For both, you will record, critically analyse and evaluate your findings through a learning journal and present them in your learning journal and a professionally structured Placement or Case Study Report.
ATOM Activities and PLE Digital Outcome
These units are an extension of the Year 1 ATOM Activities and PLE Digital Outcome.
You also choose one elective unit from the list below:
Elective - Business Start-up
In this unit, you will identify, develop and present a design, product, service or mini collection using your previous unit outcomes as a starting point for your start up idea/ proof of concept. You’ll be required to research market trends, explore cultural, ethical and sustainable considerations, and look your idea’s brand identity and promotional plans. You’ll also be required to work out a specification sheet and budget plan.
Elective - Product Styling and e-Commerce
In the fast-paced world of e-commerce, product imagery and styling are a crucial tool in driving sales. In this short-sharp portfolio-enhancing unit, you’ll produce a range of e-commerce shots and accompanying documentation (style numbers, materials, etc) for a specified brand and product of your choice.
Elective - Digital Fashion
The creation of virtual worlds in fashion is becoming more and more popular. In this unit you’ll stretch your own understanding of your practical skills through the digital enhancement of images of the face through creation of avatars, from designing the skin to impressions of facial accessories.
Elective - Global Fashion Cultures
You’ll be introduced to the landscape of current academic research in Global Fashion Cultures and explore the ways in which fashion exerts behavioural, economic, environmental, political and social change in different geographical historical and contemporary contexts.
Elective - Fashion Film
Taking the technical and conceptual understanding you’ve developed, you’ll have the chance to work collaboratively on a resolved Fashion Film. A fast-paced unit, this brings together multiple skill sets in a controlled environment and perfectly reflects the commercial environment that you may be working in after graduation.
Elective - Design for Print
Many of our best-known designers have been inspired by examples of historical textiles. In this unit, we will introduce you to historical examples of prints and heritage textile objects from around the world, from our very own International Textile Study Collection, and learn about the current trends and colour forecasts in textiles/print.