• Undergraduate

Fashion: Design and Accessories BA (Hons)

Overview

Overview

Why study at UWL? 
  • In the top 30% of universities nationwide - The Guardian University Guide 2024
  • University of the Year for Social Inclusion - Daily Mail University Guide 2024
  • Best university for Student Experience and Teaching Quality in the UK - The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024
  • Number 1 London university (non-specialist) - National Student Survey 2023**

If you are passionate about fashion, this future-focused, design-led course from JCA will help prepare you for an entrepreneurial career in the global couture fashion and accessories industry.

Founded by iconic designer Jimmy Choo, after identifying a lack of focused, professional luxury brand training for students, the JCA is run by fashion professionals and has been created exclusively for talented individuals serious about a career in luxury fashion.

As well as teaching about fashion design, the Academy will equip you with the tools needed to establish yourself as fashion freelancers and micro-SMEs and to manage your business successfully.

For those who have what it takes, the JCA is key to a dynamic and successful career in haute couture, taking students seamlessly from education to vocation.

View some of our students' recent work.

Person wearing high heels and carrying a bag

Select your desired study option, then pick a start date to see relevant course information:

Study options:
We support flexible study by offering some of our courses part-time or via distance learning. To give you real world experience before you graduate, we also offer some courses with a placement or internship. All available options are listed here. Your choices may affect some details of your course, such as the duration and cost per year. Please re-check the details on this page if you change your selection.

Start date:

If your desired start date is not available, try selecting a different study option.

Why study Fashion: Design and Accessories with us?

Why study Fashion: Design and Accessories with us?

What our students say…

Education has always been important to me. I started making shoes when I was 11 years old, and through sheer hard work and determination, I progressed to running one of the most successful global accessories brands. I now want to give back and support the next generation of fashion designers through the JCA | London Fashion Academy.

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Course detail & modules

Course detail & modules

This distinctive programme takes a couture-styled, learner-centred approach focused on professional practice delivered within a specialist fashion environment.

The course brings together practical themes such as:

  • fashion and accessory design
  • materials innovation and smart technology (such as smart textiles, 3D printing and wearable technologies)
  • branding and communication
  • enterprise and entrepreneurship.

You will be exposed to both garment and accessory knowledge and application, as well as being encouraged to find your particular area of professional practice. You will also have opportunities to engage with and learn from some of London’s successful luxury accessory designers and fashion brands.

The most effective learning comes not from sitting in a classroom but from real, practical experience, which is why the Academy’s fashion education is founded on a hands-on application of the craft.

The key approach to Academy courses is mentor-led workshops where you can practice your craft and will be supported by industry professionals. Rather than looking at fabrics and materials in a book, as a JCA student, you will be able to touch, smell and work with them as part of your education.

Location

In partnership with the University of West London, the JCA is delivered at Boston Manor House in Boston Manor Park. This beautiful Jacobean house was originally built in 1623 and has been recently restored.

Compulsory modules

  • Fashion in Context One

    You will be introduced to the study of fashion within the contexts of Art, Design and Wider Culture, including the term 'fashion' and its distinctive position within fashion design, communication, and fashion business. This module introduces you to critical thinking and the facilitating of innovative, creative, and critical analysis leading to original conclusions.

  • Creative Fashion Industries

    This module introduces you to the creative fashion Industries from macro and micro perspectives including the basic aspects of market research and trend analysis. You will learn how the creative industries are known for very high-pressured environments where organisational culture is directly influenced by fast changing fashion trends and fast shifting consumer demands. You will also be introduced to primary and secondary research methods relevant to creative fashion industries.

  • Fashion Fundamentals

    This module introduces you to a range of key issues relating to the creative process, visual literacy, and concept development within a fashion context. You will work both physically and digitally by combining traditional image making techniques such as drawing with digital media resources appropriate for fashion design, illustration and communicating fashion ideas in the research and development process.

  • Fashion Materials & Technologies

    This module addresses a range of creative and practical research methods to achieve innovative and relevant visual design concepts. This is a key module to understanding the materials and properties appropriate for fashion. Sampling and analysis of the fabrics and materials will further expand your ability to create a unique the approach to fashion and material exploration.

  • Fashion Design & Make

    This module introduces you to the basic fashion design and making processes involved in the development of a physical fashion outcome. It allows you to build confidence in your practical and manipulative skills, which will, in turn, inform your creative design work and support your development as a designer. The basic principles of pattern drafting through block construction and pattern manipulation are delivered in a technical workshop environment with a particular focus on the relationship between form, structure and silhouette.

  • Fashion Communication & Brand Development

    In this module, you will explore contemporary luxury, designer and start-up fashion brands and the strategies used to create a unique personality and brand DNA generating appeal and develop a 'desirability factor' for potential consumers. It also looks at how brand identity is used as a strategic tool to promote products and build consumer loyalty. The module will enable you to identify and evaluate fashion brands and the competitive strategies employed by contemporary luxury, designer and emerging fashion brands.

Compulsory modules

  • Fashion in Context Two

    In this module, you will build on critical thinking engaged in Level 4 and your understanding of ‘fashion’ within the context of fashion design and wider culture. The module will develop the historic and social focus of the Level 4 study into an approach that encompasses customer and brand ethos, personal and cultural identity, and environmental and economic concerns in relation to the fashion industry. You will be expected to use a live blog and engage with a wider audience to develop an individual portfolio of research demonstrating a more developed level of critical thinking with respect to key issues and debates.

  • Entrepreneurship & Creative Practice

    In this module, you will explore entrepreneurial and creative practice in the context of a business start-up. You will be introduced to fashion business, the term ‘fashion’ and its distinctive position within the global economy, in addition, you will explore the importance of the fashion business cycle, fashion management processes and the development of creative and contemporary fashion marketing for the micro business. You will learn about the changing market environment through a PEST macro-environmental framework, gain an introduction to the four P’s in the fashion marketing mix and an understanding of how to apply introductory marketing and management research skills and methodologies to a start-up fashion business.

  • Fashion Internship

    This module works alongside the Entrepreneurship and Creative practice module where you will have researched the fashion marketplace, identified the start-up opportunity, and demonstrated this within a business plan and visual portfolio.

  • Innovative Accessory Design

    The content of this module focuses on the exciting and growing area of innovation and technology involved in the design of accessories. In particular, the impact of new material technologies and/or wearable technologies in the practice of creative accessory design for fashion, which is a fundamental part of the module content. Building on concepts introduced at Level 4, this module provides you with the opportunity to analyse and apply innovative and future facing technologies and methods to further develop your design and make skills. The module examines emerging materials, technologies, and processes in the design of new smart materials and methods of design how they can be incorporated into the design of fashion products and accessories. Areas such as 3D printing, smart textiles, biomimicry are areas of current interest in the industry you can explore.

  • Fashion Collection

    In this module, you will develop a collection of fashion concepts from 2D to 3D resolution. Throughout the module you will have access to a wide variety of resources, which will contribute to the production of a diverse, creative, exploratory, innovative, and ultimately directional body of practical and visual work, leading to the design of a fashion collection.

Compulsory modules

  • Critical Research for Fashion

    The module is focused on the production of an extensive research report concerned with your own practice. It will focus upon a topic of your own choice which will consist of a substantial and in-depth academic study based on significant research that addresses a specific argument, issue, theme, or question in relation to your practice/discipline. It is expected that this will have a direct connection to the theme of the final collection and be relevant to your own fashion practice allowing the consolidation and further advancement of your academic and professional knowledge.

  • Pre-collection

    This module focuses on visual research, creative concept development, design, independent study, and self-directed learning. You will be expected to engage with appropriate research methodologies to identify a design problem and critically evaluate key stages of the design process. Time will be spent developing a personal direction for a final collection in the negotiated fashion project in semester 2.

  • Negotiated Fashion Project

    This module is focused on your personal investigation, negotiation, and creative fashion design. It involves demonstrating project management skills, independent study, and autonomous learning.  You will work on exploring concepts, design ideas and viewpoints to formulate a direction for your project demonstrating sensitivity to colour, fabric/material selection and the professional presentation of toile’s, collection of prototypes/garments and fashion portfolio. You will refine your creative, technical, and visual skills using CAD, drawing/collage/illustration to produce design concepts, development, initial samples, prototypes, and a final portfolio, which will make up the final body of the design, two dimensional and three-dimensional work.

  • Entrepreneurship & Creative Development

    This module will expand on the knowledge and skills developed in Level 5 – 'Entrepreneurship and creative practice' in the context of the micro business.  As fashion entrepreneurship serves as a vehicle for economic developments it is important that you are aware of what makes a business succeed or fail. You will focus your work on demonstrating an understanding of core business practices such as creativity and innovation, implementing a business plan, raising finance, sales, and the marketing of fashion products in addition to possessing small business management skills needed to operate and run a creative fashion or accessory design company.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements

80 UCAS points required from level 3 qualifications

Students will be expected to have gained:

  • the equivalent minimum of two A levels at grades B or above
  • three GCSE passes at grade C or above (preferably including English and an Art/Design subject).

Applicants are also required to provide a portfolio of their own work in Art and Design, and a sample of written work demonstrating an awareness of current affairs and debates in the fashion industry.

Mature applicants (aged 21+): If you do not hold the qualifications listed but have relevant work experience, you are welcome to apply. Your application will be considered on an individual basis.

6.0 IELTS or above

You need to meet our English language requirement - a minimum of IELTS 5.5 for each of the 4 individual components (Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening). Visit our English language requirements page for information on other English language tests we accept. 

You also need academic qualifications at the same level as UK applicants. In some countries where teaching is in English, we may accept local qualifications. Check for local equivalents

We offer pre-sessional English language courses if you do not meet these requirements.

Find out more about our English Language courses.

Mature applicants (aged 21+): If you do not hold the qualifications listed but have relevant work experience, you are welcome to apply. Your application will be considered on an individual basis.

Fees & funding

Fees & funding

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The fee above is the cost per year of your course.

If your course runs for two years or more, you will need to pay the fee for each academic year at the start of that year. If your course runs for less than two years, the cost above is for your full course and you will need to pay the full fee upfront.

Government regulation does affect tuition fees and the fees listed for courses starting in the 2025/26 academic year are subject to change.

If no fee is shown above then the fees for this course are not available yet. Please check again later for updates.

Funding your studies

You may be eligible for a student loan to cover the cost of tuition fees, or a maintenance loan. Additional funding is available to some types of students, such as those with dependants and disabled students.

We offer generous bursaries and scholarships to make sure your aspirations are your only limit. In recent years, hundreds of students have received our Full-time Undergraduate Student Bursary. 

View full details, including conditions and eligibility.

{{ formatCurrencyValue(currentVariantData.field_p_cv_int_main_fee.name) }} per year

The fee above is the cost per year of your course.

If your course runs for two years or more, you will need to pay the fee for each academic year at the start of that year. If your course runs for less than two years, the cost above is for your full course and you will need to pay the full fee upfront.

Government regulation does affect tuition fees and the fees listed for courses starting in the 2025/26 academic year are subject to change.

If no fee is shown above then the fees for this course are not available yet. Please check again later for updates.

International students - funding your studies

We offer scholarships for international students including International Ambassador Scholarships. 

Further information about funding and financial support for international students is available from the UK Council for International Student Affairs.

 

Study & career progression

Study & career progression

Fashionable person carrying shopping bags

You will likely want to establish your own enterprise or to join a larger company with the key transferable skills the industry so desperately demands.

You are likely to find careers within large fashion companies that carry garment and accessory lines or specialist careers within the accessory design fields of bag and luggage design, footwear, sports and many other sectors.

This practice-based programme is grounded on entrepreneurship. To support this, you will be encouraged to find and undertake a professional internship that provides context and reflection into a single, applied learner experience.

Popular career choices include:

  • fashion designer
  • accessories design
  • materials developer
  • research and development
  • fashion print designer
  • pattern cutter
  • garment technologist
  • stylist

Following this programme, you may want to further develop your specialism through postgraduate study.

How to apply

How to apply

ARTSFEST

A collage of images demonstrating fashion at the University of West London.

Find out more about the work our students produce and view some of their recent work by visiting our Fashion ARTSFEST page.

Important notes for applicants

Disclaimer

*Modern universities - defined as higher education institutions that were granted university status in, and subsequent to, 1992.

**The National Student Survey 2022 and 2023 - Based on an average of all 27 questions. Excludes specialist institutions.

Testimonials - our students or former students provided all of our testimonials - often a student from the course but sometimes another student. For example, the testimonial often comes from another UWL student when the course is new.

Optional modules - where optional modules are offered they will run subject to staff availability and viable student numbers opting to take the module.

Videos - all videos on our course pages were accurate at the time of filming. In some cases a new Course Leader has joined the University since the video was filmed.

Availability of placements - if you choose a course with placement/internship route we would like to advise you that if a placement/internship opportunity does not arise when you are expected to undertake the placement then the University will automatically transfer you to the non-internship route, this is to ensure you are still successful in being awarded a degree.