Creative Direction for Fashion at UCA

Global fashion and beauty brands need innovative creative directors to communicate their visual messages effectively. With our MA Creative Direction for Fashion course, you'll gain all the knowledge and tools you need to take your place in the industry.

Taught at UCA Epsom, this course provides you with the perfect learning environment to develop both creative and strategic skills in fashion direction.

You will work closely with brand, trend and creative directors to gain vital insight, and explore current issues within the fashion industry, proposing solutions through innovative concepts that push the boundaries.

You'll combine your creative thinking and image-making skills to build a portfolio that is contemporary, diverse and inclusive. 

Course entry options

Select from the options below to find out more about the different study options available for this course:

What you'll study

What you'll
study

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

For our students coming from a non-UK educational background, UCA has launched an Integrated International Pre-Masters year. 

On this course you’ll prepare for postgraduate study with a mix of online and face-to-face learning that will give you the study skills required to complete a Master’s, and you’ll also improve your English for academic study.

Launch
Launch week is a cross-school event bringing together postgraduate students across all disciplines within the School of Fashion and Textiles to get to know each other and form an international, cross-functional, dynamic postgraduate community.

Exploring Creative Practice
You will experiment with a range of approaches to making and constructing work, beginning to define the processes you want to investigate. The work you produce in this unit should comprise of tests and experiments (failure and reflection is encouraged) to be presented at the end of the unit in a visual summary communicating what you have learned, about both yourself as a creative and your primary medium(s).

Critical thinking for Creative Practice
Within this unit you will be introduced to historical and contemporary debates that underpin your creative practice. You will be given the opportunity to expand your historical and contextual knowledge, examine ethical frameworks, and be introduced to social and cultural approaches to fashion and textiles.

Opportunity Week
Opportunity Week is cross-school event bringing together all postgraduate students across all disciplines within fashion and textiles to formally present their work in progress and major project proposal to their postgraduate community. Students will be encouraged to give formative feedback and identify shared interest and potential collaboration opportunities.

Refining Creative Practice
You’ll reflect further upon work made in Exploring Creative Practice to highlight a route forward. It will culminate in an interim exhibition of your work, working with fellow students to plan, fund, curate and promote it at specified venues.

Collaborative Professional Practice
Within this unit you will be introduced to markets, industry connections, contexts and future facing professional development within your discipline, in order to complete a two-stage collaborative professional project. This can be either within your course remit or working with students from the Business School for the Creative Industries for a creative start-up.

Major Project
The culmination of your studies, your major project is the chance to showcase your research and creative exploratory practice. This will require you to produce a significant body of work, which encapsulates the creative ideas, research methodologies, new insights, technical expertise and professional contexts.

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.

Fees & funding

Fees & financial support

Tuition fees

  • 2024/25 entry: £10,500

Tuition fees

Tuition fees

  • 2024/25 entry (MA): £18,000 (£17,500 for May 2024 start date)
  • 2024/25 entry (Integrated International Pre-Masters course - 30 weeks): £17,500
  • 2024/25 entry (Integrated International Pre-Masters course - 15 weeks): £8,750

Please note: the fees listed here are correct for the stated academic year only. For more detailed information about our course fees please see our fees and finance pages

UCA scholarships and fee discounts

At UCA we have a number of financial support information available to assist you with the cost of your studies.

Current UCA students and alumni may be eligible for a tuition fee discount.

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 scholarships and fee discounts.

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.

Facilities

Students at UCA Epsom have access to campus printmaking workshops with dedicated technical support, campus photographic studios with lighting rigs, green screen lighting set up and digital media suites equipped with Macs and PCs, programmed with specialist design software. There is an extensive library on campus with publiactions, magazines and journals for your studies.

View 360 virtual tour

Photograhy studios, UCA Epsom

Digital Media suites, UCA Epsom

Print studios, UCA Epsom

Library, UCA Epsom

Career opportunities

Career
opportunities

Graduates of this course can expect to leave their studies with the option to work in a variety of roles, including:

  • Fashion art director
  • Fashion designer
  • Creative director
  • Design director
  • Brand director
  • Marketing & PR director
  • Social Media account director

You may want to undertake further study or a research degree to specialise even more.

Entry & portfolio requirements

Entry & portfolio
requirements

MA course

  • A good honours degree or equivalent qualification in the subject or a related discipline

and/or

  • Relevant work experience, demonstrating your ability to study at postgraduate level.

Consideration will also be given to applicants who can make a strong case for admission in relation to a particular project and can demonstrate their potential to satisfactorily complete the course.

Portfolio requirements

For this course we will need to see your portfolio for review. You can either submit a digital portfolio or request an in-person portfolio review with the course team. Further information will be provided once you have applied.

More portfolio advice

MA course

The entry requirements for this course will depend on the country your qualifications are from, please check the equivalent qualifications for your country:

Any additional entry requirements listed in the UK requirements section, e.g., subject requirements, work experience or professional qualifications, also apply to international applicants applying with equivalent qualifications.

Portfolio requirements

You will be required to submit a portfolio for review. Further information on specific portfolio requirements and how to submit your portfolio will be sent to you after we have reviewed your application.


MA course with Integrated International Pre-Masters course

  • A recognised bachelor degree or 3 year diploma with a strong portfolio in a relevant subject.

Any additional entry requirements listed in the UK requirements section, e.g., subject requirements, work experience or professional qualifications, also apply to international applicants applying with equivalent qualifications.

Portfolio requirements

You will be required to submit a portfolio for review. Further information on specific portfolio requirements and how to submit your portfolio will be sent to you after we have reviewed your application.


English language requirements

To study at UCA, you'll need to have a certain level of English language skill. And so, to make sure you meet the requirements of your course, we ask for evidence of your English language ability, please check the level of English language required:

Don't meet the international entry requirements or English language requirements?

You may be able to enter the course through the following entry pathways:

Apply now

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