Fashion

In your first year, you take three units within the Fashion programme.

1. The Platform-based unit ‘Thinking’ (20 credits) helps you develop new perspectives on your work.
2. On ‘Material’ (20 credits), you’ll develop your independent research through materiality, provenance and form.
3. Finally, studio-based ‘Practice’ (20 credits) develops your overarching vision as a fashion design thinker.

In addition, you’ll take both an interdisciplinary, cross-School project, the ‘Grand Design Challenge’ (20 credits), and Critical & Historical Studies, 40 credits.

In your second year, you build on your person practice through the units ‘Initial Practice’ (30 credits) and ‘Critical Practice’ (30 credits), culminating in your final project, ‘Independent Practice: Total Landscape’ (60 credits).

All students present two completed looks or objects as part of their final assessment, selected from a number of completed prototypes, in addition to a portfolio of all final work and other relevant projects completed at the RCA. A complete language, iteration, prototype and manifesto of self.

Integrated within the Fashion MA but with their own dedicated studio facility machines and technicians, our Footwear, Accessories, Millinery and Eyewear (FAME) specialisms offer students the platform to explore these niche areas of study that form the backbone of the fashion industry.

First established in 1996, the exciting new addition of eyewear opens up a whole new vision for fashion design, incorporating VR, AR and mix of realities that are yet to be fully explored by the industry.

Facilities

The FAME studio has its own machines specific for leather, fur and plastic, with cutting tables, glue and sanding rooms.

Staff

FAME is led by hat and accessory designer Flora McLean, supported by specialist RCA technicians who currently include Natacha Marro, celebrity footwear designer, and Stephanie Freude, luxury bag designer and leather crafter. Workshops, masterclasses and visits are held throughout the year by industry guests and master craftsmen. Recent visitors include Florence Druart, Rob Goodwin, Benjamin John Hall, Tom Murphy and Atalanta Weller.

Alumni

Many FAME alumni boast prestigious jobs in high-end luxury fashion footwear and accessory labels, while others work on innovation and sustainable research projects examining the leather economy, waste, the re-purposing of fashion accessories and future systems for footwear.

Our alumni are currently designing at Vivienne Westwood, Valentino, Jimmy Choo, Tom Ford, Aquazzura, Adidas, Reebok, Issey Miyake, Sophia Webster, Burberry Accessories and Sunshine Bertrand Eyewear.

How to Apply

Applicants should apply for the Fashion MA, specifying their interest in a FAME specialism in their statement. You should ideally have an undergraduate qualification in one of the areas, or experience in the fashion, product, jewellery, metal design or hat industry. Your portfolio should focus on your chosen specialism and demonstrate a passion for this area.

Today knitwear is radically changing in its perception. Possibly one the most sustainable methods for producing fabric, knitting has evolved from a traditional craft into a highly technological process that has changed the economies of many high-end fashion global businesses. Students from the RCA over the past few years have investigated various realms of our social fabric through the eyes of knit, analysing the relationship between the analogue and the digital, the ‘hand-crafted’ versus the ‘technological’, exploring narratives around communal design, the female gaze and the molecular structure of the yarn itself. Our mission is to push forward in new ways that might add to this gamut of investigation.

The RCA Fashion programme has a radical edge, pushing students on the programme to critically assess how knitwear can evolve as a medium through cross-discipline contaminations and technological interactions. As a student you will be invited to reflect on how the wealth of information that you bring to the course such as your cultural background, your life experiences and your overall creative skills can be understood through larger social narratives and you will be invited to evaluate your design position in the industry of the future.

Staff

Key lead is Carlo Volpi , creative director of UPW, a freelance knitwear designer who has previously worked for various Italian fashion houses as well as his own label. Carlo also contributed extensively to the ‘Spazio Ricerca’ at Pitti Filati, designing and making experimental fabrics and show pieces for the trade fair every season. Knitwear industry experts regularly teach on the programme, bringing their wealth of experience to enrich the students’ learning journey. Knitwear students are equally introduced to a diverse range of equipment and technologies, not strictly related to knitwear, that allows them to broaden their thinking and have a more imaginative vision of what this craft could become in our future society and industry.

Alumni

Our alulmi work at: Nike, Tom Ford, Celine, Burberry, Label hood, Alexander McQueen, Christopher Kane, Calvin Klein, Kenzo.

Other alumni have gone on to set up their own labels:

• Archie Dickens, based in Lisbon
• Katharina Dubbick, working through curation, scent and knit
• Congregation, led by Marie Maisoneuve with sustainability core to each project, valorising social and natural resources at every stage
• Shasha Wong and her elegant pieces from Shanghai
• Alex Po of Hong Kong co-creative director of menswear label Ponder.er (liquifying modern masculinity)
• Kahn Ngyuen and his new innovative design studio space in London
• Rebecca Marsden, who was a finalist on the Santoni Pioneer Programme & Woolmark Performance Challenge 19
• Krystal Panigua and her Puertorican routes
• Lingxiao Luo who researched how knitwear could evolve alongside 3D printing.

RCA alumni have shown to be consistent winners of Feel the Yarn and Wool Mark competitions.

How to Apply

Applicants should apply for the Fashion MA, specifying their interest in a Knitwear specialism in their statement. Your portfolio should focus on your chosen specialism and demonstrate a passion for this area.

All studio-based MA students follow a weekly schedule of Critical & Historical Studies (CHS), a College-wide initiative that provides you with the intellectual framework to build a coherent relationship between theory and practice.

CHS delivers exciting, thought-provoking and inspiring lectures by experts within the programme and high-profile visiting lecturers. You’ll have the opportunity to explore the theoretical background and aspects of your chosen discipline through a tutored dissertation process, as well as receiving individual tutorial support from our team of expert tutors.