Location

Epsom

Start date

Sept 2026, Sept 2027

Duration

3 years full-time

UCAS logo

UCAS codes

Course: WN65
Institution: C93

+1

Foundation year

Optional extra year of study

+1

Placement year

Optional extra year of study

Entry requirements

Check qualifications

Fashion Branding & Communication at UCA

On our BA (Hons) Fashion Branding & Communication degree course, tell stories that move fashion forward. Build brands that people remember.

Learn to think visually

From your first project to your final major work, you'll develop your ability to communicate through visual language – photography, art direction, editorial design, video, and digital media. You'll research, concept, and produce fashion media to a professional standard – and develop the kind of creative instincts that set UCA graduates apart.

The thinking behind the work

Making beautiful work is only half of the job. Through modules in marketing foundations, brand development, audience insight, and data technology, you'll develop the strategic understanding and ability to turn creative ideas into commercial products.

A school built for creativity

At Epsom, fashion designers, stylists, photographers, and marketers study under the same sky – which shapes your experience and your portfolio. You'll produce your own magazines in the print studio, shoot in photo studios, and research using industry platforms including WGSN, Mintel, and the Vogue archive.

Choose your own final project

Your dissertation isn’t a 10,000 word essay, it’s whatever you want it to be. Students have chosen it as an opportunity to launch a beauty brand, produce podcasts, or create visual narratives that blend storytelling and strategy to show off their commercial acumen. Whatever you’re drawn to is a direction you can go in.

Two minute stories


Discover the stories of our Marketing students

What you'll study

The content of the course may be subject to change. Curriculum content is provided as a guide.

UCA’s Integrated Foundation Year is designed to give you the skills you’ll need to start your degree in the best possible way – with confidence, solid knowledge of creative practice, study skills and more.

You’ll explore a range of creative techniques and develop your portfolio, with your chosen subject in mind. We’ll work with you throughout the year to ensure you’re on the right track and give you the tools to achieve your highest potential on your degree.

Find out more about the Integrated Foundation Year

Building foundational skills in fashion branding, creativity, and industry practice, in Year 1, you will develop a strong foundation in marketing, branding, creative communication, and professional practice within the fashion and beauty industries. The year introduces core concepts, tools, and ways of thinking that underpin fashion branding and communications, while embedding sustainability, employability, and digital skills from the outset.

You will study four core 30-credit units:

Foundations of Marketing: 30 credits
You are introduced to key marketing concepts, theories, and models used in contemporary marketing and communications. You will explore the role of marketing within organisations, understand audience research and insight generation, and examine how marketing strategies support business goals. The unit develops both analytical and creative approaches, incorporating visual communication, research methods, and industry-relevant outputs.

Fashion and Beauty Brand Generation: 30 credits
This module focuses on the creative and strategic development of fashion and beauty brands. Through research-led ideation, trend analysis, and market positioning, you will develop a brand concept supported by visual identity, logo design, and product or service propositions. The unit integrates design software and digital tools, linking creative exploration with commercial awareness.

Career Catalyst: Skills & Capability: 30 credits
You will explore fashion branding as a form of cultural communication, developing integrated branding campaigns across visual, written, and digital platforms. The unit emphasises concept development, storytelling, and campaign thinking, while introducing ethical, sustainable, and audience-aware approaches to brand communication.

Campaign Management: 30 credits
Acting in the role of an emerging industry professional, you will respond to a live or simulated industry brief. You will engage in client-facing processes such as meetings, presentations, and pitching, applying research, insight, and creative development skills in a professional context. This unit serves as the capstone for Level 4, drawing together learning from across the year.

Developing creative leadership, media production, and professional identity. year 2 deepens your creative, technical, and strategic capabilities, with a focus on content creation, fashion media production, visual communication, and personal branding within data-driven and digital systems. Employability, self-promotion, and industry-facing practice are embedded throughout the year.

You will study four core 30-credit units:

Principles of Content Creation: 30 credits
In this module you will explore how brand content is conceived, strategised, and produced across platforms. You will develop skills in content planning, copywriting, visual storytelling, and media production, supported by an understanding of platforms, channels, and audience behaviours. Emerging technologies and AI-informed tools are introduced as part of contemporary content practice.

Career Catalyst: Communities & Influence: 30 credits
You will examine the power of imagery in fashion and beauty communication, exploring visual language across photography, video, digital media, and editorial contexts. The unit includes historical and cultural perspectives on fashion imagery while developing practical skills in image-making and visual analysis.

Producing Fashion Media: 30 credits
This module focuses on the creative, editorial, conceptual, and ethical dimensions of fashion media production. You will develop professionally relevant outcomes such as editorials, campaigns, fashion films, or digital media projects, considering narrative, art direction, production processes, and responsible creative practice.

Branding, Marketing and Data Technology: 30 credits
You will examine how branding and marketing strategies are shaped by data, digital platforms, and emerging technologies within the creative industries. You will explore how brands use data to understand audiences, inform marketing decisions, and optimise communication across channels. The unit develops strategic thinking alongside practical skills in branding, marketing technologies, and professional visibility, with a focus on contemporary fashion and beauty industry contexts.

An optional Professional Practice or International Year may be undertaken between year 2 and 3, allowing you to gain industry experience or global exposure before your final year of study.

If you opt to complete a professional practice year, this will take place in year three. You will undertake a placement within the creative industries to further develop your skills and CV.

While on the Professional Practice Year, you will be required to pay a reduced tuition fee for that year. This fee will be determined using government funding regulations. Based on current regulations, we expect this to be a maximum of 20% of the tuition fee rate that you are charged for your second year of study. You will also incur additional travel and accommodation costs during this year. The University will provide you with further advice and guidance about this as you approach your Professional Practice Year.

Critical thinking, future-facing practice, and independent project work Year 3 supports you in becoming an independent, critically aware creative practitioner, capable of responding to global industry challenges and shaping your own future professional direction.

You will study three core units:

Creative Business Futures: 30 credits
You examine constant change in business by exploring innovation and entrepreneurial practice. It focuses on understanding barriers, evaluating challenges and opportunities, and developing original solutions for future-focused decision- making across various business contexts, including post-consumption and product lifecycles.

Career Catalyst: Futures & Direction: 30 credits
This module encourages you to engage with emerging trends, global industry shifts, and future-facing practices within fashion, media, and creative industries. You will explore sustainability, innovation, technology, and evolving professional roles, using this insight to support the development of your Major Project.

Major Project: 60 credits
In your final module, you will produce an independent body of work that demonstrates your creative, strategic, and critical capabilities. Your Major Project allows you to define a specialist direction aligned with your interests and career ambitions, supported by research, professional context, and reflective practice. Outcomes may be creative, entrepreneurial, or research-led, preparing you for graduate employment, further study, or self-directed professional pathways.

This course is designed to offer you (if eligible) the opportunity to study part of your degree aboard at a UCA partner university, while still earning credits towards your UCA degree.

For more information please visit the Study Abroad section

Integrated foundation year

  • Independent study: 72%
  • Scheduled teaching: 28%
  • Maximum percentage of scheduled delivered online: 20%

Year one

  • Independent study: 72%
  • Scheduled teaching: 28%
  • Maximum percentage of scheduled delivered online: 20%

Year two

  • Independent study: 74%
  • Scheduled teaching: 26%
  • Maximum percentage of scheduled delivered online: 20%

Year three

  • Independent study: 76%
  • Scheduled teaching: 24%
  • Maximum percentage of scheduled delivered online: 20%

Professional placement or International year (if undertaken)

  • Independent study: 98%
  • Scheduled teaching: 2%
  • Maximum percentage of scheduled delivered online: 100%

Please note: these details are for 2026 entry and could be subject to change for other years of entry.

Course specifications

Please note, syllabus content indicated is provided as a guide. The content of the course may be subject to change in line with our Student Terms and Conditions for example, as required by external professional bodies or to improve the quality of the course.

Upcoming webinars

We offer a range of webinars throughout the year that you may be interested in.

You can also view recordings of all previous sessions through the UCA webinar archive.


Fees & financial support

Tuition fees - 2026/27

    • Integrated Foundation Year: £9,790
    • BA course: £9,790

    If you opt to study the Professional Practice Year, you will be required to pay a reduced tuition fee, for 2026/27 this is £1,955. You will also incur additional travel and accommodation costs during your Professional Practice year. The University will provide you with further advice and guidance about this.

    Government guidance indicates that tuition‑fee caps will rise annually with inflation from 2026, subject to legislation, so tuition fees are likely to increase each year of study. 

Tuition fees - 2026/27

  • Integrated Foundation Year: £9,790 (see fee discount information)
  • BA course: £9,790 (see fee discount information)

If you opt to study the Professional Practice Year, you will be required to pay a reduced tuition fee, for 2026/27 this is £1,955. You will also incur additional travel and accommodation costs during your Professional Practice year. The University will provide you with further advice and guidance about this.

Government guidance indicates that tuition‑fee caps will rise annually with inflation from 2026, subject to legislation, so tuition fees are likely to increase each year of study. 

Tuition fees - 2026/27

  • Integrated Foundation Year: £18,000
  • BA course: £18,000

If you opt to study the Professional Practice Year, for 2026 you will be required to pay a reduced tuition fee of £3,490. You will also incur additional travel and accommodation costs during your Professional Practice year. The University will provide you with further advice and guidance about this.

The fees listed here are correct for the stated academic year only, for details of previous years please see the full fee schedules.

UCA scholarships and fee discounts

At UCA we have a number of scholarships and fee discounts available to assist you with the cost of your studies.

Financial support

There are lots of ways you can access additional financial support to help you fund your studies - both from UCA and from external sources. Discover what support you might qualify for please see our financial support information.

Additional course costs

In addition to the tuition fees there may be other costs for your course. The things that you are likely to need to budget for to get the most out of a creative arts education will include books, printing costs, occasional or optional study trips and/or project materials.

These costs will vary according to the nature of your project work and the individual choices that you make. Please see the Additional Course Costs section of the Course Information Document for more details of the costs you may incur.

Find out what's included in your tuition fees.

Fashion Branding & Communication career opportunities

This course is highly regarded in the fashion world, and we have forged many strong industry connections, including:

  • Nike
  • Swarovski
  • CROWTHER/PLANT
  • Good Ordering
  • Lazy Oaf
  • Patternity
  • K-Swiss
  • LSN Global
  • BERTHOLD
  • The Future Laboratory
  • BBH
  • WGSN
  • A.P
  • Paul Smith

Visiting professionals

We host a number of visiting lecturers, including:

  • Laura Vent: art director
  • Susannah Jones: PR expert
  • Nick Maroudias: photographer
  • Cian McConn: artist
  • Mark Wells: designer
  • Louise Naunton Morgan: artist
  • Mark Thomson: art director
  • Chris Colville-Walker: art director
  • Jason Hughes: fashion editor
  • Anna Lomax: set designer
  • Sophie Stephens: illustrator
  • Willem Jaspert: photographer
  • Carolina Daher: art director
  • Jacqui Ma: trends researcher
  • Ruth Marshall-Johnson: trends researcher
  • Simone Konu: stylist
  • Katja Mayer: photographer
  • Ivana Bobic: director
  • Greta Ilieva: photographer

Our graduates have secured many rewarding career positions throughout the fashion industry, for example as:

  • Fashion editor
  • Showroom manager
  • Art director
  • PA to artistic director
  • Press officer
  • Set designer
  • Artist
  • Editorial assistant
  • Trend researcher
  • Producer
  • Prop assistant
  • Researcher
  • Illustrator
  • Filmmaker
  • Film editor
  • Graphic designer

Our graduates have progressed these roles at the following companies, to name but a few:

  • ASOS
  • Celine
  • Paul Smith
  • GQ Style
  • Margaret Howell
  • L’Oreal
  • Benefit
  • Asprey
  • Aromatherapy Associates
  • Farfetch
  • Porter
  • Oki-Ni
  • Burberry
  • Chanel
  • Dazed & Confused
  • Artistry
  • A.P
  • Alexander McQueen
  • Fashion East
  • Juergen Teller
  • Katie Shillingford
  • Benjamin Bruno
  • Storm Models
  • The British Fashion Council
Dorcas Omoyi Woho, BA (Hons) Make-Up & Hair Design

What careers can you do with a fashion degree?

Studying fashion at university will open doors to various creative, technical and business-focused jobs.

Your training on this course will prepare you for a wide range of postgraduate courses.

We offer postgraduate opportunities in our Business School and we will help you find the correct course for you and support you in your application should further study be for you.


You didn't select a valid content link for Staff Profile 4

Fashion Branding & Communication entry requirements

These courses don't require a portfolio but, if you're UK-based and you receive an offer, we'd still like to meet you at an Applicant Day. Further information will be provided once you have applied.

UCAS applicants should check our UCAS personal statement guides for a fashion and marketing applicants.

Select your country to find the equivalent requirements
Headshot of UCA graduate Jay Thapar, wearing a blue shirt

What our Fashion Image & Styling students say

"We all learned from each other, being open-minded to different lifestyles, cultures and classes. You can’t be inspired if you’re not open to other people’s ways of living... At UCA, I never felt isolated. It was so welcoming, and we were encouraged to be ourselves and bring freshness to the university."

Read Jay's story

Chat to our Fashion students

Mary, a BA Fashion Design student

Mary - Fashion Design BA (Hons)

From: Greece 🇬🇷

Chat to Mary

Savana, a BA Make-Up and Hair Design student

Savana - Make-Up & Hair Design BA (Hons)

From: United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Chat to Savana

Viktorija, a BA Fashion Business & Management student

Viktorija - Fashion Business & Management BA (Hons)

From: United Kingdom & Lithuania 🇬🇧 🇱🇹

Chat to Viktorija

Fashion Atelier Studios, The Wells

Find more Fashion students to talk to

Explore more students profiles and chat to them about their UCA experience

See more students

Apply to BA (Hons) Fashion Branding & Communication

Please use the following fields to help select the right application link for you:

UCAS codes

  • UCA institution code: C93
  • Three year degree: WN65
  • Plus professional practice year: WN66
  • Plus integrated foundation year: WN6A
  • Plus integrated foundation year and professional practice year: WN6B

BA (Hons) Fashion Branding & Communication key statistics

Related Courses