BA (Hons) Fashion – Welcome guide

Your Reading List

You’re not required to buy books in advance of starting the course, but there are a few suggestions below, which would be beneficial for you to read.

• Bryant, M. (2011), Fashion Drawing: Illustration for Fashion Designers.London: Laurence King.

• Davies, H. (2010), Fashion Designers’ Sketchbooks. London: Laurence King.• Fischer, A. (2015), Sewing for Fashion Designers: London:Laurence King.• Johnston, A. (2010), Fabric for Fashion: The Swatch Book. London: Laurence• King. Mbonu, E. (2014), Fashion Design Research. London: Laurence King.• Szkutnicka, B. (2010), Technical Drawing for Fashion. London: Laurence

King.

Websites

• www.showstudio.com• www.dazeddigital.com• www.anothermag.com• www.vogue.com/fashion-shows• www.tate.org.uk

Equipment & Materials

Some materials, such as pattern paper and cartridge paper, will be provided free of charge throughout the course.

You will need to pay for other specialists materials which you will require. For example; fabric for creating toiles and final garments, colour printing, sketchbooks and art materials.

We have a fabric store on campus where you can buy essentials like calico, interfacing, wadding and also view fabric sample books from stockists across the country. We also have an art shop for other essentials like sketchbooks, pencils, ink and paints.

Equipment list:

• Academic diary and notebook• A3 spiral bound sketchbook• A3 layout pad• Selection of coloured marker pens• Coloured pencils• Watercolours• Coloured inks• Selection of paint brushes sizes (0, 4, 10 and 1” flat end brush)• Range of soft leaded pencils (HB, 2B, 4B, 6B)• Propelling pencil• Rubber• Craft knife• Masking tape• Magic tape• Pritt Stick• 30cm ruler.

Recommended supplier: londongraphics.co.uk

Sewing equipment list:

• Scissors - 1 pair for paper, 1 pair for fabric• Dressmaking pins• Tailor’s chalk• Tape measure• Quick-unpick• Propelling pencils• 1 pack of A4 plastic sleeves• 3 x A4 files• Pattern Master• Meter ruler• Hand sewing needles• Thimble

Recommended supplier: Morplan.com.

During Induction Week you’ll also need to buy a pack of equipment costing £25. This includes your own personal Bobbin and Bobbin Case in order to use the industrial sewing machines within our department and some basic fabrics used for certain workshops throughout the year.

Your summer project

Objet Trouvé (found object) Throughout the last and current centuries, artists and designers have been inspired by undistinguished - often modified - objects that are not normally considered art or design, because they already have a non-art function. It’s the artist or designer’s aim to question any given form or object and to translate his/her answers to these questions into a series of new and needed solutions, in the form of contemporary products and artefacts. For example, artist Marcel Duchamp perfected the concept when he made a series of ‘ready mades’, and Pop artist Andy Warhol painted Coca Cola bottles and Campbell’s Soup cans. Contemporary designers like Paolina Russo have used repurposed old trainers within garments and Martin Margiela in the 90's used broken plates, wigs, gloves and socks to create garments.

Design Task: Find an object in your immediate surroundings that’s used in everyday life – found in the backyard of your garden, the street, a market, your friend’s bedroom, etc. You must feel inspired by this object and want to explore its potential for design. Through observational drawing and photography, explore your chosen object. Think about texture, form, negative space, different scales and details. Use your explorations to inform design ideas for either womenswear or menswear.

Requirements:

• Record the object through a series of drawings and photographs• Exploring media, drawing style, scale and photographic viewpoints

(minimum 15 drawings)• Produce a series of design ideas that have been directly inspired by

your drawings and/or photography (20 minimum)• Include fabric swatches, too; these could be sourced fabrics and also

samples you have created yourself.

Select four of your most successful design ideas to illustrate.

You will present this work to staff and your peers during Induction Week.

Have fun - there are no restrictions to your creativity or experimentation. You can design conceptually or commercially. Most importantly, ‘think outside the box’.

Contact details for any questions regarding the briefs:Year 1 tutor Amber BrierleyABrierley@uca.ac.uk

Programme Director Bruce Montgomery bruce.montgomery@uca.ac.uk

Robert Rauschenburg

Marcel Duchamp

Paolina Russo

Martin Margiela 2009

RETHINK, REUSE, RECYCLE COMPETITION

OPEN TO ALL BA HONS FASHION STUDENTS

COVID-19 RESPONSE

EPSOM FASHION: This competition is open to all students on the BA (Hons) Fashion course, it is voluntary to enter but we would love to see as many students take on the challenge as possible.

“Above all, we understand we went way too far. Our reckless actions have burned the house we live in. We conceived of ourselves as separated from nature, we felt cunning and almighty."* said Alessandro Michele (Creative director at Gucci)

The carousel of international fashion shows has ground to a halt due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Questions that have previously been raised in the fashion industry have recently bubbled up to the surface amidst the current state of affairs. Essentially, how can the way we ‘do’ fashion be re-thought? Michele passionately states:

“We usurped nature, we dominated and wounded it," Michele said. "We incited Prometheus, and buried Pan…So much haughtiness made us lose our sisterhood with the butterflies, the flowers, the trees and the roots. So much outrageous greed made us lose the harmony and the care, the connection and the belonging."*

The Gucci brand will now show “seasonless” collections twice a year, which is a significant departure from the standard conveyor belt of spring/summer, autumn/winter, pre-fall and cruise shows.

Project brief

In this brief you are required to re-imagine the personal protective equipment (PPE) - the face mask – as a fashion accessory. Accessories are powerful. Accessories accentuate. Accessories consolidate. Accessories are fun. Accessories represent - YOU.

Design and make a face mask that represents you. You will need a minimum of two pages of research imagery, annotations and design sketches to support your face mask creation.

* Gucci bids farewell to fashion week as brand goes seasonless by Jess Cartner-Morley,

Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/may/25/gucci-fashion-week-seasonless-cuts-shows

RETHINK, REUSE, RECYCLE Use something you own that you no longer have a use for. Reconsider this as your material from which you will make your mask. See the following images for some inspiration…but find your own and have fun doing so!

When you have finished your mask, follow our course Instagram account @ucaepsomfashion, share a photo of your creation and tag us into your post. There will be a £50 prize for the winning mask, which will be judged during induction week based on your research, design sketches and final product.

Models on the runway for Marine Serre during Paris Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2020/2021

You do not need a sewing machine to make a mask. If you have access to one, that is great, but it's OK if you don't!

Below are some useful links to websites that provide step by step tutorials on mask making.

Links to NO-SEW DIY masks

• https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/11/make-non-medical-coronavirus-face-mask-no-sewing-required

• https://blog.japanesecreations.com/no-sew-face-mask-with-handkerchief-and-hair-tie?fbclid=IwAR0_8LRwl0i3tUuP0qLn0S7BrxpiFhiawW3KpKWX5vZMuPp6za7rOhRQAmk

Links to SEW DIY masks

• https://www.unitypoint.org/cedarrapids/filesimages/Coronavirus/Olson%20Mask%20with%20 Pattern%20v4.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0leHC-bs0yYrHgyy0fePbmoSI_Lvx_GgOdkvSeEjT4Wtm7Du42njxOFZU

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB68tnsXQ2w&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR14Wyiup5G Oi1C0CcVsGzszaNPdWxuC6IeVS8OUklL6V_LA5L9LpjOGY7U

• https://www.irisluckhaus.de/en/2020/diy-cloth-mask/?fbclid=IwAR3EBtCPWJwgoYUWxwzszusxcTQpRB61b7PYZs0I7yPtBMhRB-3UaI5ZswI

• https://youtu.be/VgHrnS6n4iA

FOLLOW us on Instagram @ucaepsomfashion

GOOD LUCK and STAY SAFE!

BA (Hons) Fashion – Teaching during COVID-19

Our key priority is the wellbeing of our students and we will continue to follow Government advice and regulations relating to health and safety during the Coronavirus pandemic. This involves making some changes to the way that we deliver our courses during the 2020/21 academic year and we have prepared this information to let you know what your course will look like, to the best of our knowledge within these uncertain times. We want to reassure you that we are committed to delivering an on-campus, face-to-face experience to students during 2020/21, at our normal locations, as far as is safe and practical. All face-to-face interactions will follow the social distancing guidelines in force at that time.

We are not planning on making any changes to your course or unit aims, learning outcomes, or assessment methods, under any of our delivery scenarios.

Scenario 1 – Current Social Distancing rules continue to apply for all or part of the 2020/21 academic year:

Changes to learning spaces

• Our priority as a university is to deliver our teaching on campus, in sociallydistanced face-to-face tutorials, group seminars and workshops.

• We plan to update the layouts of our classrooms, workshops and studios so youcan have safe access to these and other specialist facilities, taking socialdistancing measures into account and providing Personal Protective Equipment(PPE) where needed.

• Sewing machines will be spaced under social distancing guidelines.

Timetabling

• We’re planning our scheduling of classes to limit the number of students on campus at any one time

• We’ll be using the ‘bubble’ principle, meaning you will be taught in smaller groups to enable social distancing, and have as little physical contact with other groups as possible

• We’re scheduling your classes so you can transition between them safely and make the lowest possible number of trips to and from campus each week.

• Delivery of course content will be reviewed in line with Government advice and any necessary changes will be communicated in advance. For example it may be advantageous to re-order first-year units to start with a unit that involves less garment making and use of sewing machines.

Contact time

• We are not changing our approach to contact time and scheduled delivery; this will still take place as published in our Programme Specifications and unit descriptors. However, some of this contact time may take place in a different way in order to enable social distancing and to prioritise students’ access to facilities and workshops. This will mean moving some of the larger scale activities, such as lectures and seminars, online. Some induction week events, technical fashion equipment demonstrations and a large proportion of contextual studies lectures and seminars will be delivered online.

Online learning

• Where practical, we’ll also put our lectures, classes and seminars online so thatyou can still access them if you are self-isolating, shielding, or unable to come tothe UK.

• Our contextual studies unit has worked well online, and therefore will bedelivered online during term 1.

Wellbeing & support

• You’ll have one-to-one Personal Development Tutorials with an academic tutor,where they’ll talk through your progress and check on your wellbeing. They willalso offer online sessions when face-to-face meetings aren’t possible.

• You’ll have access to a full range of specialist advisors who will offer onlinesessions when face-to-face meetings aren’t possible.

• All our plans take vulnerable learners and students with additional learningrequirements into account – we’re making sure we can deliver learning safely toall our students, whether that means accessing teaching on campus, or online.

Industry links

• We’ll continue to host visiting lectures, industry projects, and networking events,either face-to-face or through online learning.

• We’re making plans to deliver work placements safely – even if that means youworking for your placement organisation remotely. Where that’s not possible,we’ll offer alternatives to make sure you still get plenty of industry interaction. Placements are not until March 2021 and will be reviewed closer to the time, inline with industry partners.

Assessments

• If you’ve been personally affected by Coronavirus, your assessments will take thatinto account and make sure you aren’t disadvantaged by it.

• Project briefs will be set in line with the constraints of social distancing, as perGovernment advice at the time.

Equipment & resources

• We’ve developed new library systems and cleaning processes for loans andequipment hire to make sure you can borrow what you need safely.

• We’ll offer IT equipment loans to those students who need them most.• As soon as Government advice permits, we will provide as much physical access

to our libraries as we can to ensure that you have access to our physical anddigital collections, but are able to observe social distancing.

Scenario 2 – a further lockdown is implemented by Government

During the 2019/20 academic year we introduced a number of emergency measures that included:

• Moving learning and assessment online• Looking at prior activity with a view to ensuring that learning outcomes were

covered somewhere within the year of study and adjusting assessment tasksaccordingly

• Providing alternative assessment where the original assessment was notdeliverable

• Providing extensions for units where necessary to cover course content, and forindividual students if their circumstances required it

• Where the University was not the awarding body, following the validators’exacting requirements for predicted and other grades so that students received afinal outcome commensurate with effort and aptitude

These measures would be re-introduced if necessary, but only for the period covered by the lockdown, with a return to scenario 1 as soon as is safe and practical.

Adapting to your feedback • We’ll continue to work with you to find out how you’re feeling about the new

measures.• You’ll have the opportunity to work with teaching staff to adapt and improve

the way we deliver your course in line with public health guidelines.

Library Services

Libraries on campus will be open and services will be adjusted to ensure they are safe for everyone. They will include:

• Click and collect access to books and DVDs• Bookable computers and study spaces • Scan and deliver service, enabling you to receive journal articles and chapters of books

electronically.• A regular cleaning rota in place.

All other resources and services (including workshops and tutorials) will be delivered online, and will include webinars to help you work your way around the online library and improve your information and research skills.

For further assistance, visit myLibrary (https://ucreative.libguides.com/mylibrary).

CateringThe refectories across our campuses will be open to students with new hygiene and social distancing measures in place. We will only be selling pre-prepared food.