Postgraduate Studentships - Search for funding opportunities.
Postgraduate Studentships - Search for funding opportunities.
Study Details: 15 months
MA Fashion Futures places sustainability at the heart of fashion practice to help shape the next generation of fashion practitioners who prioritise environmental, social, economic and cultural criteria. Students are encouraged to critique the nature and purpose of design in a rapidly changing world, imagining and envisioning alternative ways in which fashion will be created and experienced in the future, whilst grounding their research in an understanding of the immense challenges that face the industry and wider society today.
In this ground-breaking course, you are encouraged to explore and develop experimental fashion practice and theoretical perspectives in parallel in order to conceptualise a transformed fashion system, one that values nature first and creates economic prosperity in service to this goal. Using your own knowledge, practice and experience as a starting point, you will identify new territories for fashion and work in new spaces with novel technologies, to communicate ideas in relation to design for sustainability to varied audiences.
Through a combination of taught content and independent study, you will examine a diverse range of methodologies and forms of communication, including film, digital platforms, garment and artefact prototyping, publishing, events and performance. Key to MA Fashion Futures is critical fashion practice and reflexive thinking to test, reframe and make responses to existing paradigms. This will enable you to develop a very personal response to, and a critique of, the current paradigm and the role and activities of fashion in a changing world.
Through a systems thinking approach, the course has been developed to connect fashion’s social, cultural, environmental and economic aspects, examining perspectives from local to global scales and embracing fashion practice from both traditional and technological spheres. MA Fashion Futures offers a space to experiment with new ideas and physical/digital prototyping to challenge existing narratives as well as being a place to put principles into action in a manner that aligns with each student’s individual strengths, interests and future aspirations.
Students are encouraged to read widely, attend internal and external lectures, events and symposia, engage with UAL research hubs and researchers, and collaborate both across other postgraduate courses and across the wider University of the Arts community.
The course seeks to recruit students from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds and welcomes applications from mature students.
The course seeks to recruit students who can demonstrate:
Your future employability is central to all our courses and as a student with us you’ll have access to a wealth of resources to prepare you for your future career in the fashion industry. Graduate Futures is our dedicated employability team who will work with you throughout your time with us to get you ready for employment. There are also a variety of opportunities on the course to enhance your employability.
Industry engagement
Students on the course have the opportunity to engage with the fashion industry through a range of live projects, collaborations, guest lectures and public showcases. Each year, we invite a diverse group of guest speakers from across the sector – recent contributors include representatives from Meta, Padma Textiles, Peut-Porter, VVFA, and Studio Sanne Visser.
15 months, level 7, 180 credits
September to February:
New Fashion Perspectives (40 credits)
In this unit you’ll explore key concepts and approaches in design for sustainability. You’ll develop theoretical, visual and practice-based research to develop and expand your fashion practice in relation to sustainability. You’ll be encouraged to balance a playful experimental approach together with a rigorous investigation of sources, resources and academic research, married to your design thinking. Your research should consider ecological, sociocultural, technological, economic and political drivers and emerging schools of thought around fashion and design.
Collaborative Challenge (20 credits)
This unit is your opportunity to innovate and explore developmental processes and engage with collaborative working practices. You’ll develop your professional negotiation, teamwork and networking skills that are essential in the cultural, entrepreneurial and creative industries. The emphasis of this unit is on cross-disciplinary student-led collaboration. You can engage with industry and college-based briefs.
February to June
Re-Imagining Fashion (40 credits)
Through analysing and critiquing the fashion system, this unit uses speculative methods to inform and shape your enquiry. A speculative approach allows you to explore design for sustainability in previously unimagined ways and to define and conceptualise alternatives for a transformed fashion system. You will be encouraged to prototype and experiment using mixed media, including emerging technologies, and to develop your work in previously unexplored directions. It will be an opportunity for you to research, critique, test and attempt to understand the challenges and opportunities of a range of methods and practices that may shape the future of fashion.
Research Proposal (20 credits)
Developing effective research approaches is key to success in your Master’s project and career. This unit explores theoretical perspectives on your practice and discipline, helping define your research philosophy. You'll build core capabilities and create a theoretically grounded proposal using primary and secondary methods. You'll develop a framework connecting theory and practice, formulate research questions, and ensure your study is ethical, achievable, and critical, with potential for interdisciplinary exploration.
June to November
Masters Project (60 credits)
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