MA Fashion Design at Nottingham Trent University

With over 40 years of expertise in fashion design, this course has been designed to help you to develop your creative, academic and professional potential.

Key features

• Work alongside other MA Fashion, Textiles and Knitwear Design students in our dedicated postgraduate studio
• Benefit from visiting professionals from industry such as Orsola de Castro, Jo Cope, David Telfer, Moxham, Christopher Raeburn, and Rickard Lindqvist
• Have the opportunity to visit London and join European study trips to Florence, Antwerp and Paris
• Take advantage of our extensive links with industry
• Have the opportunity to exhibit your work at New Designers in London
• Work alongside other Fashion, Textiles and Knitwear Design students in our dedicated postgraduate studio
• Opt for an additional advanced research module if you’re thinking of progressing to PhD or Professional Doctorate study
• Work with fellow students, practitioners and academic staff from different cultures and backgrounds
• We are proud to be in the top ten in England and Wales for Art and Design (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2020).

Careers and employability

Career prospects

This course leads to a wide range of career opportunities,  including:

• designer
• creative pattern cutter
• design studio manager
• technologist
• buyer
• merchandiser
• production manager
• trend forecasting
• styling within companies and brands

Some graduates also use this course to support careers in teaching, lecturing, journalism and progression to MPhil or PhD study.

Recent graduates have set up their own successful businesses, or work within related careers in the fashion and textile design sector. Others have returned to their previous job with a renewed focus and enhanced career prospects.

If you are interested in starting your own creative business, the University provides start-up training and support through The Hive, our centre for entrepreneurship and enterprise.

Connections with industry

You will have the opportunity to take up short periods of work experience, learn entrepreneurship skills through business development courses and attend events held by our Employability team and other organisations. You will also be encouraged to undertake research into fashion, textile or knitwear design companies, or appropriate contexts, for retailing or showcasing your completed project.

In addition to the main focus of your project as set out in the project proposal, you are encouraged to enter national and international competitions such as the Redress Design Award, Bilbao International Art and Fashion Design Award, Arts of Fashion Competition and the Levis X Arts Thread Design Competition. Prestigious competitions provide you with opportunities to demonstrate and promote your creative and technical skills and ability to answer an industry brief to a global audience that can lead to employment and press opportunities.

You will be invited to collaborate on projects and attend research events and symposia. Recent exhibitions our students have been involved in include:

• Crafting Anatomies
• Knitting Nottingham
• Journeys in Lace: Parts 1&2 (Lace:Here:Now)
• Lace Unravelled with Nottingham Castle
• Our students also benefit from visits to Nottingham Castle to explore their extensive fashion and textiles collection

You will also be invited to submit your work to be considered for exhibition at London’s New Designers, a prestigious graduate design show, and other subject and student-run initiatives at the University and across Nottingham.

Study trips

Study visits will inspire and inform your projects. Recent visits to exhibitions in London have included:

• Basquiat: Boom for Real at the Barbican
• Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion at the V&A
• North: Fashioning Identity at Somerset House

An optional annual trip to Antwerp and Paris has included visits to:

• Olivier Theyskens: She Walks in Beauty at Mode Museum, Antwerp
• Sheila Hicks: Lines of Life at Centre Pompidou, Paris
• Paris Première Vision
• Li Edelkoort’s Trend Union studio, Paris

YouFirst – working with our Employability Team

Our friendly, experienced careers consultants will work closely with you at every stage of your career planning, providing personal support and advice you won't find in a book or on the internet. You can benefit from this at any time during your studies and up to three years after completing your course.