Whether it’s textile design, fashion styling, advertising or the magic behind costume creation for film and television, Falmouth University offers a transformative educational experience for future creative industry leaders. The University has professional-grade facilities, industry-practicing lecturers and locations like no other.
Falmouth University
Falmouth University offers students an exceptional educational experience across diverse creative disciplines, from textile design and fashion styling to advertising and costume creation for film and television. With a strong emphasis on nurturing future leaders in the creative industries, Falmouth combines traditional craftsmanship with cutting-edge technology to prepare students for success.
Recognised for its commitment to sustainability, creativity, and professional collaboration, Falmouth equips students with the skills and knowledge to thrive in the competitive world of fashion and creative industries. Whether it’s the Textile Design BA, where students combine digital and artisanal techniques, or immersive programmes in Fashion Marketing and Fashion Photography, Falmouth ensures that each student receives a holistic and forward-thinking education.
Falmouth’s alumni continue to make headlines in the creative world. Beth Somerville, a graduate of Textile Design BA, won the prestigious 2023 New Designers Award and the Wilcom Prize for her groundbreaking work in digital embroidery. She was also one of only six graduates selected for the Chanel and Kings Foundation Métiers d’Art Fellowship, focusing on haute couture embroidery.
Alice Selwood, an alumni who founded her own textile brand, collaborated with Harrods and The National Portrait Gallery, with her designs appearing in Vogue. Meanwhile, Hamish Thompson, a 2020 graduate, has become a sought-after script reader, working with leading production companies.
Falmouth University continues to foster creative minds, ensuring that its students are prepared to meet the demands of the industry – and shape it. Let’s explore the creative courses at Falmouth.
Textile Design BA
During this three-year Textile Design course, students master traditional and digital processes as they innovate with weave, print and mixed media techniques, from 3D construction and natural dyeing to exquisite hand-embellishment with beading and embroidery. Based in industry-linked studios, they will develop confidence, technical expertise and critical judgment evidenced through original and environmentally conscious textile designs.
Students learn essential skills for woven, printed and mixed-media textiles, with sustainability embedded; use industry-standard industrial sewing machines, screen printing workshops, digital embroidery machines and weaving looms; have opportunities to collaborate with degree students in fashion design, fashion marketing and interior design, across a range of projects; and take on live briefs set by companies such as The Natural Fibre Company, to boost their professional portfolio.
They embrace artisanal, traditional craft methods such as hand-dyeing using plants from the Dye Garden alongside the latest mechanical and digital production techniques mirroring industry practice; get support from the Worshipful Company of Weavers, which offers scholarships and educational grants; and travel to events such as Première Vision, the international textile and trend forecasting show in Paris.
Fashion Styling And Art Direction BA
Future art directors and stylists have the opportunity to curate fashion stories for catwalks, editorial shoots, window displays, fashion films and immersive spaces. Collaborate with fellow creative thinkers and makers from across the University to produce real work for clients under the guidance of lecturers. From garment fitting and editorial art direction to producing advertising campaigns, students develop the skills to break into the global fashion industry.
They develop confidence as a future fashion visionary, committed to harnessing the power of storytelling through multimedia production; gain practical skills necessary to operate at a professional level in styling; engage in the practical and theoretical context of fashion communication; and work on industry-led briefs as part of a team of supportive, risk-taking global practitioners, in preparation for a future creative career. Students also create a professional fashion styling portfolio and have access to industrial sewing machines, specialist construction equipment, a dye lab and a contemporary dress and textile archive.
During this degree program students will learn how to construct fashion narratives in visual merchandising and fashion shows, as well as immersive 3D digital spaces. They will become proficient in styling and directing for magazine editorials and advertising campaigns, master garment fitting and construction for runway and celebrity dressing, and consider the environmental and ethical considerations of the industry.
Costume Design For Film And Television BA
Costume designers play a powerful role in the storytelling process, working from script to screen to create a character’s style. This course equips them with expertise in garment design, acquisition, alteration and creation, as well as the knowledge to achieve their vision. Armed with core skills including drawing, cutting and wardrobe curation, along with a showreel and the confidence to collaborate with industry professionals, they will have an edge over peers as they enter this vibrant industry.
During the course students will master drawing, cutting, wardrobe pulling and fitting; investigate the social, cultural and environmental factors that influence memorable costume designs of our time; and analyse industry applications such as music promotions, commercials and costume breakdown, applying this knowledge to innovative projects. They will also utilise the wardrobe store and textiles and dress collection to achieve their vision of a character and refine skills as a costume practitioner through a collaborative screen production project to develop a professional portfolio. The Costume Design for Film and Television course is one of the few undergraduate programmes recognised by BAFTA UK as an eligible course for the BAFTA UK Scholarship programme.
From costume design to wardrobe curation, exploring contemporary fashion history to interpreting scripts and characters and learning how to work as part of a creative team, the faculty will equip students with the creative, practical and entrepreneurial skills they’ll need to succeed in this vibrant industry.
Fashion Marketing BA
Working with clients while studying, students gain experience in PR and promotion, branding, advertising, digital and analogue content creation, visual merchandising, social media marketing and trend forecasting. They collaborate with creative talent to bring fashion marketing campaigns to life including fashion designers, art directors, photographers and filmmakers.
Here, they develop creativity and strategic thinking for a career in marketing fashion, lifestyle products or services; hone visual and written communication skills, using industry-standard software; and access digital software, Adobe Creative Cloud packages and Clo3D, Riso, laser printing and the university Publications Lab. They will work on live projects with partners such as Finisterre and John Lewis; collaborate with photographers, designers and creators to build a portfolio; and engage in projects and campaigns that embrace societal issues such as sustainability, gender, ethnicity and supply chain ethics.
Fashion Marketing BA is accredited by the leading professional marketing body, The Chartered Institute of Marketing. This means students who successfully complete the full undergraduate degree are part-accredited for qualifications CIM offers professional marketing practitioners.
You’ll explore visual and verbal communication principles, international marketing strategies and contextual fashion and lifestyle concepts – refining your understanding of the industry and how its products and services are promoted. And with our accreditation and close alignment with the Chartered Institute of Marketing, we keep our practices and industry knowledge up-to-date.
Fashion Photography BA
Guided by lecturers and industry collaborators, students will become contemporary fashion image makers as they explore ideas around identity, body politics, wellbeing and the environment, weave impactful visual stories using photographic and film approaches, as well as experimenting with immersive technologies.
Great fashion images are never made in isolation. So, they’ll work closely with designers, art directors, stylists, marketers and even game developers to build a portfolio. They will also learn from guests speakers, which have previously included Ben Weller (Photographer, British Vogue), Danny Reed (Fashion Director, The Face), Ewen Spencer (Photographer, Arena Homme+) and Mathew Whitehouse (Editor, The Face magazine) .
Students will pitch their projects to industry experts and work on briefs set by industry contributors such as Amy Gwatkin (Filmmaker), Kyanisha Morgan (Fashion Stylist, Dazed Magazine) and Matthew Holroyd (Editor, Baron Magazine). Published by the likes of Acne Studios, Beauty Papers, i-D, Re-Edition, The Face and Vogue Hommes, staff have decades of commercial expertise and the contacts that go with it. The university will support students to explore traditional and emerging approaches to image-making as they experiment with analogue photography, 3D modelling, VR, and photogrammetry.
Throughout this Fashion Photography course, students will harness critical theory, creativity and technology. Working across film, photography and immersive technologies, they’ll explore studio and location practices, high-end retouching, specialist editing techniques and fashion film. From catwalks to street style, they’ll cover all areas of fashion and learn about advertising campaigns, produce fashion imagery for clients, and create web-based work, fashion fanzines and designer look-books.
Creative Advertising MA
In the wake of artificial intelligence, automation and machine-made decisions, creativity and intuition have never been more important. On this master’s course, students will enter an intensive studio replicating an advertising agency, where they will develop a strategic and conscious practice ready for the advertising and media environment.
With a sharp focus on the impact of developments in AI and big tech, they will learn the tools and principles essential to any creative advertising role from copywriting and art direction to technical multimedia. Working individually and in teams, they will take on briefs provided by industry partners as well as specially designed tasks enabling them to build their personal brand and professional skillset. They will graduate with a portfolio of creative campaigns, strategic understanding of the industry and the ability to devise progressive, impactful ideas for a diverse range of communications objectives.
On this Creative Advertising MA, students explore the ethical, economic, psychological and socio-political impacts of their work. Guided by industry experts, they learn how to create radical and thought-provoking campaigns by focusing on research, creative conception and execution. As they interpret and respond to creative briefs, they will develop advanced technical skills across web design, art direction, copywriting, video and multimedia editing. Crucially, they will explore and analyse the impact of technology on the advertising landscape — underpinned by developing an advanced knowledge of behavioural science and socio-cultural contexts.
Jasmeen Dugal is Associate Editor at FashionABC, contributing her insights on fashion, technology, and sustainability. She brings with herself more than two decades of editorial experience, working for national newspapers and luxury magazines in India.
Jasmeen Dugal has worked with exchange4media as a senior writer contributing articles on the country’s advertising and marketing movements, and then with Condenast India as Net Editor where she helmed Vogue India’s official website in terms of design, layout and daily content. Besides this, she is also an entrepreneur running her own luxury portal, Explosivefashion, which highlights the latest in luxury fashion and hospitality.
