Digital Fashion MA

Course overview

Our groundbreaking MA Digital Fashion degree course at UCA Epsom takes creative thinkers and designers into an exciting and emerging landscape, giving you the skills and confidence to dress the future.

Taught by an award-winning team of researchers, industry pioneers and academics, this course, which was the first of its kind when launched by UCA, presents you with a cutting-edge programme that spans the fields of fashion and gaming. As brands increasingly require 3D skills from their fashion designers and as others from Louis Vuitton to Dolce & Gabbana make moves into the avatar outfits of games from Fortnite to League of Legends, this course uniquely prepares fashion creators for the future of manufacturing as well as self-expression.

You will learn how to create 3D garments and environments which are free from material constraints – whether they are a virtual catwalk show, a brand's digitised marketing campaign, an interactive AR couture collection, a game's ground-breaking skin launch, or a virtual influencer in need of a fashion edge. This is possible through UCA's first-of-its-kind curriculum built around Marvelous Designer, Substance, and Unreal Engine 5.

Already, the game skins industry is worth $5 billion — outfits for avatars can sell for hundreds of pounds, showing just how large an opportunity the market is as gaming becomes increasingly mainstream.

Fashion’s entry into the fourth industrial revolution sees it broadly adopting smart manufacturing practices based around 3D visualisation, while rapid advancements across AI, VR, AR, and GPUs position us in a renaissance of new possibilities for immersive ways to interact with clothes. From AR outfit try-on to real-time cinema-quality avatar wear, entrepreneurial fashion skillsets can shape these emergent technologies and the Metaverse itself.

Digital fashion innovations also allow fashion brands and businesses to market their physical collections in a more sustainable way, reducing cost and waste by eliminating the need for samples and facilitating made-to-order slow fashion. Owing to the broad range of clients keen to take advantage of virtual fashion, this course is open to both fashion and textiles graduates as well as those with a background in games, film, animation or graphic design – though if you come from one of these fields, you should expect to undertake some intensive learning that will bring you up to speed on creating fashion garments.

During your studies, you will benefit from our extensive industry links and industry standard technology and we’ll provide you with the knowledge and skills to step into a growing and competitive job market with confidence.

MA Digital Fashion students have worked on live projects with Farfetch luxury fashion brand and the prestigious Epic Games company.

You can read more about our course in this Guardian article

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

Integrated International Pre-Masters (if undertaken)

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.

Term one

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.

Digital Practice
With a self-negotiated individual project proposal developed over the course of this unit, you will analyse and reflect on your research ideas and pre-existing analogue and digital skills, in order to identify the digital fashion concept you wish to develop. You will look at contemporary creative industry practice, trend forecasting and abstract concepts to explore how global markets and consumers might interact, identify with, and consume digital fashion.

The unit runs in parallel to Critical Thinking for Creative Practice unit, which focuses on contextualising practice within professional contexts, cultural, social and economic themes, through the development of critical reading, research and documenting.

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.

Term two

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.

Project Development
You’ll use the knowledge you’ve already gained to support and inform the design and modification of your digital fashion concept and project proposal. You start to build a body of work which must be appropriate for your selected market and target consumer.

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.

Term three

Project Realisation
The culmination of your studies, this unit will showcase your skills, understanding and creative approach in a way that’s appropriate to your intended audience, platform or creative sector. Through your Project Proposal, Research Journal and the development of a Project Reflection Document, you will apply the knowledge gained through your research and the skills acquired in the previous units, on this programme, to create a final body of work presented as an industry ready portfolio.

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 & financial support

Fees &
financial support

Fees

Tuition fees - Jan and May 2024 entry

UK students:

MA course - £10,500

EU students:

MA course - £10,500 (see fee discount information)

International students:

Integrated International Pre-Masters course (30 weeks) - £17,500
Integrated International Pre-Masters course (15 weeks) - £8,750
MA course - £17,500

Tuition fees - Sept 2024, Jan and May 2025 entry

UK students:

MA course - £10,500

EU students:

MA course - £10,500 (see fee discount information)

International students:

Integrated International Pre-Masters course (30 weeks) - £17,500
Integrated International Pre-Masters course (15 weeks) - £8,750
MA course - £18,000

Further information
The fees listed here are correct for the stated academic year only. For more detailed information about our course fees and any financial support you may be entitled to please see our fees and finance pages.

Financial support & scholarships

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

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.

You'll find everything you need to know for your level of study on our scholarships page.

Additional costs

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 your Course Information for details of the costs you may incur.

Alana Conlon, MA Digital Fashion, UCA Rochester

Ritambhara Patel, MA Digital Fashion, UCA Rochester

Simran Oswal, MA Digital Fashion, UCA Epsom

Javeria Shahid, MA Digital Fashion, UCA Epsom

Junhao Guo, MA Digital Fashion, UCA Epsom

Hannah Burgess, MA Digital Fashion, UCA Epsom

Mehek Doshi, MA Digital Fashion, UCA Epsom

Career opportunities

Career
opportunities

Careers

Graduates of this ground-breaking course might develop their career within a number of different roles:

These might include:

Digital clothing artist
Digital designer
Insights analyst
AI Fashion Researcher
CGI artist for film or games
Communications Manager
PR Manager
Social Media Executive
Digital Marketing and Ecommerce Manager

Further study

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

Explore our Gradshow

Each year, we’re privileged to be able to share our graduates’ incredible work with the world. And now’s your chance to take a look.

Visit the online showcase

Entry & portfolio requirements

Entry & portfolio
requirements

UK

MA course

A good honours degree or equivalent qualification in 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. We’ll invite you to attend an Applicant Day so you can have your portfolio review in person, meet the course team and learn more about your course. Further information will be provided once you have applied.

More portfolio advice

International and EU

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:

Non-UK equivalent qualifications

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

For this course we will need to see your portfolio for review. We’ll invite you to attend an Applicant Day so you can have your portfolio review in person, meet the course team and learn more about your course. Further information will be provided once you have applied.

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

For this course we will need to see your written or visual portfolio for review. We’ll invite you to attend an Applicant Day so you can have your portfolio review in person, meet the course team and learn more about your course. Further information will be provided once you have applied.

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 chcek the level of English language required: