Menswear with Professional Experience MFA

Program Overview

This two-year menswear design program combines academic coursework with an industry placement year. Students develop skills in design, brand management, and entrepreneurship, preparing them for careers as menswear designers, brand managers, or fashion consultants. The program features renowned faculty, industry connections, and cutting-edge facilities, including the renowned Westminster Menswear Archive.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

This two-year pathway is designed for prospective students who are interested in developing their menswear design skills and applying them in an industry setting. It is designed for individuals who are particularly interested in establishing their own menswear brand but who would like to gain industry experience while doing so. The course includes a year of project-based study and a placement year within the industry. You are required to have a BA in a fashion subject or a significant amount of industry experience. Additionally, you must have an awareness of the international marketplace and your positioning within it to launch your brand upon successful completion of the course.

Outline:

• Core Modules:
• Menswear 1:
This formative module progressively develops your confidence and encourages imaginative, practical and critical knowledge to the highest level. This module is based upon a taught programme of projects aimed at bringing your research, design, specialist abilities and thinking to postgraduate level. This module helps to consolidate and complement skills.
• Menswear 2: MA Menswear should be viewed as a single unit that progressively develops your confidence and encourages imaginative, practical and critical knowledge to the highest level.
• Menswear Industry: This project encourages and enhances employability skills with industry experience.
Employability is embedded in the module through a live brief in collaboration with an industry partner which will be the prelude to a work placement where you’ll gain professional work experience. You’ll attain commercial awareness, entrepreneurship skills and resilience within the world of work with a global outlook. Learning and achievement will be evidenced through a design project and a reflective, analytical report based on work placement that demonstrates critical understanding of the context of their practice within industry.
• Course Structure:
• The course is a two-year program, including a placement year in the industry.
• Students have the option of studying the one-year course (Menswear MA), which allows them to develop their own clothing brand.

Assessment:

• Practical: Presentations, podcasts, blogs
• Coursework: Essays, in-class tests, portfolios, dissertation

Teaching:

• Teaching Methods: Lectures, seminars, workshops, problem-based and blended learning, practical application.
• Faculty: Experienced academics and industry practitioners.
• Unique Approaches: Live project work with exclusive fashion brands, often with new up-and-coming brands and entrepreneurs.

Careers:

• Potential Career Paths: Menswear designer, brand manager, stylist, fashion journalist, fashion buyer, fashion consultant.
• Opportunities: The University has strong links with the sector and students often find internships and employment opportunities.
• Outcomes: Graduates from this course have found employment at organisations including: Bottega Veneta, Givenchy, Alexander McQueen, Charles Jeffrey, Adidas.

Other:

• Industry Knowledge: You’ll be taught by a teaching team with a wide range of experience both in industry and academia, as well as working closely with fashion industry professionals, role models and mentors.
• Facilities: Outstanding industry-level facilities and equipment, a broad range of networking opportunities and visiting industry practitioners as guest lecturers.
• Location: Based at the dedicated Arts campus at Harrow, which offers one of the richest portfolios of creative industry research and learning in Europe.
Recent awards include: FENTY design project (2020), Fashion Makes Sense Award (2018), British Fashion Council x Coach Design competition (2017) and many more.
• Westminster Menswear Archive: Founded in 2017, the archive is home to over 1,000 menswear garments and is designed to advance the general knowledge of menswear as a design discipline, and to be used as a resource tool to inform contemporary menswear design.
Some of the designers that we have in the collection include Alexander McQueen, Craig Green, Stone Island, CP Company, Jean Paul Gaultier, MA.Strum, Adidas, Nanamica, Belstaff, Barbour, Burberry, Jeremy Scott, Vexed Generation, Comme Des Garcons, and Aquascutum.

• UK Tuition Fee: £11,500 (Price per academic year)
• International Tuition Fee: £22,000 (Price per academic year)
• When you have enrolled with us, your annual tuition fees will remain the same throughout your studies with us.
We do not increase your tuition fees each year. This opportunity is available if you have a personal tuition fee liability of £2,000 or more and if you are self-funded or funded by the Student Loans Company.
• Students are encouraged to attend Premier Vision and are required to arrange and pay for their own travel and accommodation.