BA (Hons) Fashion Communication - Histories and Theories (with Diploma in Professional Studies)

University of the Arts London

An academic course that looks beyond fashion design to explore how it connects with culture, identity, politics and history. Study fashion through objects, images, words and ideas, developing critical thinking and communication skills for specialist roles in the industry.

BA Fashion Communication: Histories and Theories nurtures students to become innovative, informed, responsible researchers, writers, thinkers and communicators, central to the fashion industry's future. It is part of the Fashion programme.

BA Fashion Communication comprises three pathways: Image and Promotion, Histories and Theories, and Journalism. We encourage collaboration at every stage, and throughout the course you will work on projects with the other pathways and with students of the BA Fashion Design course.

Fashion Communication: Histories and Theories investigates the multiple histories of fashion. The focus of study on this pathway is on the research, writing and curation of fashion histories, broadening the geographical scope of fashion. You will draw upon approaches from cultural theory and material history, and will study fashion as image, object and text. You will be asked to consider the design, manufacture, promotion and consumption of fashion in relation to relevant social, historical and cultural contexts. While this pathway analyses the history of fashion, it is also concerned with the contemporary fashion industry.

Fashion Communication at Central Saint Martins has a global reputation for innovation and originality. Our students are encouraged to be adaptable, to think laterally and to challenge existing modes of representation, and critique. All aspects of the course relate to current professional and critical practice in the fashion industries. Some projects are client-led or may include participation in live competitions. Our alumni work at the forefront of an ever-evolving field, in an ever-diversifying range of roles. Students go on to become researchers, archivists, curators and journalists.

In the Central Saint Martins Fashion Programme, we work to be at the heart of the debate about the future of fashion. Learning is our core purpose and our research, and industry and external relationships enrich our approach. We are committed to reflecting and influencing the sustainable transformation of the industry. Social, racial and climate justice are our core values, and we believe in a fairer world for all. Our outlook responds to decolonising the curriculum agendas by focusing on inclusive and diverse fashion pedagogical thinking and practices that reflect the international nature of our community and global fashion systems. We believe we must constantly challenge ourselves to shape ethical approaches in creative practice.