FdA Fashion Styling and Photography course is situated in the School of Media and Communication, and prepares you for a career as a fashion photographer or a fashion stylist. You will acquire the technical, professional, creative and conceptual skills necessary to be a creative practitioner in whichever discipline you choose after studying both styling and photography for one year. You will learn about this sector of the industry and the position of the fashion photographer and the fashion stylist within it. A significant element in the course is an investigation into the moving image and how it can be used in a fashion context. The importance of teamwork will be explored through the projects that you will undertake. Through your broader academic studies you will gain a contemporary and historical understanding of fashion photography and styling within the wider perspectives of fashion, society and the environment. You will learn research skills, both visual and academic, which will underpin your creative practice and develop your analytical skills and critical awareness. High-achieving graduates from this course have the opportunity to do a third year of specialist studies to gain a BA Honours degree.

FdA Fashion Styling and Photography is based at Lime Grove in Shepherd’s Bush, just west of Holland Park and Notting Hill. The area, which is rich in cultural influences from across the world, is home to Shepherd’s Bush Market and the many fabric shops lining the Goldhawk Road. There are numerous restaurants, cafes, delis and food stores, as well as the market, which reflect the many cultures of the people living there. Nearby is the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, an excellent venue for live bands, and the Westfield Shopping Centre, one of the largest retail complexes in Europe that caters for the luxury market as well as the high street. Holland Park with its Orangery and Leighton House Museum are both worth visiting.

Course Units

Year One     Stage One     Level 4     120 credits 

Term One: Introduction to Study in Higher Education (20 credits); Key Concepts - Photography (20 credits);

Term Two: Introduction to Cultural and Historical Studies (20 credits); Key Concepts - Styling (20 credits);

Term Three: Industrial Practice (40 credits)

Year Two     Stage Two     Level 5     120 credits

Term One: Cultural and Historical Studies (20 credits); Defining Values (20 credits);

Term Two: Launch Pad (20 credits); Fashion and the Moving Image (20 credits);

Term Three: Independent Showcase (40 credits);

Course Outline

Year One

In the first term you will study two units.

Introduction to Study in Higher Education gives you an understanding of your personal and professional development at university, with three core purposes: to introduce you to the necessary learning skills for undergraduate study; to show you where you are situated within the College and the University; and to help you understand what you will learn on your course and how you will develop your skills.

The Key Concepts - Photography unit introduces you to the discipline of photography through a study of the principles of exposure, camera systems, lighting and final image format production in the creation of a fashion image. You will have the opportunity to experiment to further your practical and theoretical understanding of the photographic image.

In the second term you will study two units.

Introduction to Cultural and Historical Studies introduces you to key concepts and ways of thinking about fashion and its context in society and culture. You will attend lectures, seminars and workshops, and do a significant amount of reading of academic texts in order to complete a formal academic essay for assessment.  Completion of this unit will allow you to make an informed choice of subject for study in the second year Cultural and Historical Studies unit.

Key Concepts - Styling introduces you to the disciplines of styling. You will learn about garment and prop sourcing, re-modification, recycling and customisation, which will inform your exploration of themes, narratives and ideas. Contextual explorations of art direction and sequencing will be investigated, including the use of multiple and sequenced outfits. You will investigate the dress codes of personal identity and the identities of diverse social cultures.

In the third term you will do the Industrial Practice unit, which introduces you to the industry through providing you with a work-based learning (WBL) experience. You will work in a project team collaborating on an assignment that reflects professional practice in the industry. By integrating styling, photography, and hair and make-up design, all aspects of fashion image production will be explored. You will learn the key skills of team working and time management, and become familiar with the editorial process and production methods.                                                                                          

Year Two

In the first term you will be able to study a Cultural and Historical Studies unit of your choice that will broaden or deepen your learning of areas relating to your interests in your chosen field. You will have the opportunity to participate in lectures, seminars and workshops with students from other courses within your School, and will read relevant academic texts and complete a formal academic essay for assessment.

Also studied in the first term, the Defining Values unit gives you the opportunity to identify and establish your interest and expertise in either styling or photography through work-based learning. Whichever you choose, you will keep a working relationship with the other through team collaboration. You will choose ‘branded’ or ‘editorial’ imaging, and learn the professional protocol for your choice. You will then pitch a proposal to a ‘real’ named client, and work with a stylist or photographer counterpart to realise your production. This will allow you to demonstrate advanced organisational skills to co-ordinate the styling, photography, models, locations, clothes, and hair and make-up artists for your realisation.

In the second year Perry Curties, editor of 125 magazine, works with students across each term.

In the second term you will do two units.

Launch Pad gives you the chance to look at your development as a practitioner and decide how you want to extend your skills. You will use your network of existing and new contacts to find a client with whom you can work on a real-life collaborative project as a stylist or photographer, where there is the possibility of your work reaching the public domain. Your production and communication skills will be developed through making proposals and presentations, negotiating where necessary to support your project, and realising the project on time and on budget. You will make informed choices that show an understanding of the intentions of your client, and you will underpin your concept and creative process with appropriate documentation.

Also in the second term, you will do the Fashion and the Moving Image unit. In the last twenty years film has exerted a powerful influence on the concept of fashion imagery. This unit examines the continuing relationship between fashion and the moving image, and you will explore how ideas and concepts can be communicated creatively and effectively through this medium. You will look at current practice, and apply this research to a self-initiated project. You will consider castings, location and soundtrack, and these will inform the production of a storyboard and treatment for your project, as well as the production schedule for your final outcome.

In the third term the Independent Showcase unit gives you the opportunity to produce a specialised project that reflects your experiences to date, your ability to challenge yourself creatively in your final term, and your personal and professional aspirations for your future. You will negotiate and agree your project with your tutor or project supervisor. This project can be client-led or self-directed, and you will be expected to show evidence of informed and appropriate choices at all stages of execution of the project. You will investigate a range of practices and formats used in the presentation of work, and select the most appropriate. This will develop your knowledge of portfolio methodology and protocol, and you will make critical choices concerning the edit, sequence, format and layout in the presentation of your work.

Future Careers and Graduate Prospects

High-achieving graduates from this course have the opportunity to do a third year of specialist studies to gain a BA Honours degree.

Many graduates prefer to seek employment as soon as they have completed their undergraduate studies. Recent graduates from this course who have made their mark on the fashion industry include Anna Trevelyan, Anders Sølvesten Thompson and Ella Dror. Melodie Roulaud, who graduated last year, has had her moving image film published on the online magazine 125.

Developing your skills

All our undergraduate courses are concerned with the development of your personal and professional skills. On your course you will evolve from learning basic skills in your discipline through to a position where you are an independent creative thinker capable of making an effective contribution to the relevant sector of the fashion industry. PPD (Personal and Professional Development) skills are embedded in all units on every course. Speaker programmes with contributions from alumni, members of industry and others are a part of many courses, as are work placement opportunities in industry. Where relevant, students have the chance to attend trade fairs, enter industry competitions, visit exhibitions and go on field trips and visits. The central position of our John Prince’s Street site in the West End affords students easy access to all sectors of the fashion retail market. In addition, our position as a constituent College in the University of the Arts London means that our students have access to the wide range of activities and events that occur in all the Colleges and at the University’s centre. Last but not least, being in London gives every student opportunities to explore and be inspired by the cultural, intellectual and social life of one of the great capital cities of the world.

Resources

Our excellent resources for educating our students are two-fold: people and premises. People includes everyone at the College who contributes directly in some way to your education, whether as a subject tutor, a technician, an Open Access Officer, a librarian or a study support tutor. Premises include the buildings and the facilities contained in them, such as specialist machinery, design studios and workshops, lecture and seminar rooms, and the library.

The facilities at Lime Grove provide a range of analog and digital cameras, lighting and other industry standard photographic kit, seven fully equipped shoot studios, colour and black and white film processing facilities and darkrooms, two state of the art digital suites with Mac computers, scanners and colour printers. There are make-up and hairdressing studios and visual studies studios. A team of helpful, highly experienced and knowledgeable technicians and demonstrators run the facilities.

Kelly Dearsley is the Course Leader and has taught at LCF since 2007. She has undertaken many freelance photographic commissions for publication, including the Guardian, Vogue Pelle, and Knitting Fashions of the 1940s (author Jane Waller, published by Crowood Press). Her work encompasses fine art photography, and she has made a number of short films which have been shown at film festivals across the world, including Leeds, Liverpool, Greece, Sweden, London, Slovakia, Croatia and Brazil. Her most recent new work ‘I’ve a Feeling We’re not in Kansas any more’ was devised and performed in Glasgow at the New Territories International Festival of Live Art in March 2011.

Details are currently being updated for the Programme Director for this course, BA Fashion Illustration, FdA Fashion Styling and Photography and FdA Hair and Make-up for Fashion. Updated information will be available on the LCF website as soon as possible.

Tony Glenville is the Creative Director for the School of Media and Communication, and has done many jobs in fashion during his varied career. He has worked as a journalist on a number of publications, including Paris Vogue, the Financial Times, The Independent, the Evening Standard and Urban Junkies. He has styled Kate Winslet, is a familiar figure at the catwalk shows in the fashion capitals of the world, and has written Top to Toe: the Modern Man’s Guide to Grooming. His broadcast career has included the South Bank Show on John Galliano, and most recently was seen on television commenting on the fashions at the Royal Wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton.

Showing your Work                            

All final year students are given the opportunity to profile their work online using the Showtime section of the University and College websites. London College of Fashion can make no guarantee that your work (either in sum or in part) will be shown, exhibited or profiled in any way as part of your course. All student work appearing in College organised events, catwalk shows, exhibitions and other forms of showcase, is selected by a panel of senior staff and, in some instances, external industry judges.

Course Entry Requirements

This course requires portfolio evidence and applicants will be expected to have basic photographic technical skills.                   

Opportunities for All

We are committed to making university education an achievable option for a wider range of people and seek to recruit students from diverse socio-economic, cultural and educational backgrounds. We are committed to supporting all our students in achieving their potential both during and after their courses.

Student Selection Criteria

Entry to this course is highly competitive: applicants are expected to achieve, or already have, the course entry requirements detailed below.

One ‘A’ level pass (80 UCAS tariff points required) PLUS three GCSE passes in other subjects at grade C or above

OR

BTEC National Diploma in a related subject

OR

NVQ level 3 in a related subject

OR

A one year Foundation Diploma in Art and Design

OR

Access course in a relevant subject

OR

Equivalent awards. For International qualifications see the International Qualifications Guide [PDF - 1.9mb]

Preferred subjects include Art, Design, Fashion, Media Studies, and Photography.

This course requires a minimum 80 UCAS tariff points.

Exceptionally, applicants who do not meet these course entry requirements may still be considered if the course team judges the application demonstrates additional strengths and alternative evidence. This might, for example, be demonstrated by: related academic or work experience; the quality of the personal statement; a strong academic or other professional reference; or a combination of these factors.

English Language Requirements

All classes are conducted in English. The level required by the University for this course is IELTS 5.5 with a minimum of 4.5 in any one skill.

For more information, read the University's English Language requirements page.  

What We Look For

The course team seeks to recruit students who can demonstrate:

• A current interest in and awareness of fashion and fashion media
• An enthusiasm for visual communication
• The potential to develop photographic and styling skills

This might, for example, be demonstrated by: related academic or work experience; the quality of the personal statement, a strong academic or other professional reference; or a combination of these factors. 

Portfolio and Interview Advice

For this course your portfolio should show evidence of: technical ability; understanding of balance, proportion and composition; understanding of visual communication principles; exploration and creativity; and technical knowledge.

Applicants will be expected to demonstrate the following at interview: an interest in photography and styling; a cultural awareness of fashion and fashion media; visual awareness evidenced through portfolio work; a motivation for working in the industry; and a motivation to succeed on the course.

Home/EU Applicants

You apply online through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).  

Go to ‘Apply’ from the UCAS home page, where you will be able to register and create a password that gives you unique access as you complete your application form.

The University code is U65.

The UCAS code for this course is W642.

The deadline for equal consideration of your application is 15 January.             

If you have a question, you can contact our Enquiries Office by calling +44 (0)20 7514 7563 / 7344 or by completing our Online Enquiry Form.  

International Applicants

For specific details on how to apply as an international applicant please visit our international student pages 

The International Recruitment Office at the London College of Fashion will help to guide you through the application process and answer any specific questions that you may have regarding our courses. This may include portfolio advice, the application process and fee advice. We offer a ‘drop-in’ facility for applicants who may be in London and wish to obtain further course and admissions information. Please contact us for further information on this facility. We can also arrange a tour of our facilities if we are given prior notice.

If you have a question, you can contact our International Recruitment Office by calling +44 (0)20 7514 7656 / 7678 / 7629 or completing our Online Enquiry Form.  

Deferred Entry

Deferred Entry is normally only allowed in exceptional circumstances. Please contact us before you submit your application if you are considering applying for deferred entry.

What Happens Next?

All application forms, personal statements and references are read and considered by the course team against the selection criteria listed under What We Look For. Depending on the quality of your application, you may be asked to submit copies of a small number of pieces of your existing work (not more than ten pieces). If the course team wish to consider your application further, you will be invited to a full portfolio review / interview where the course team will look at your work during your interview. If you are successful at the interview stage you will be offered a place. Applicants are not guaranteed a portfolio review or an interview.

Please note that if you are unable to attend the College may not be able to re-schedule.

If you applied through UCAS the result of your application will be communicated to you via UCAS through ucastrack. You will only receive further communication directly from the College if your application has been successful. This will be in the form of a full offer pack including details of accommodation, fees, and other important information.    

Additional Costs

Some courses charge a fee for the bulk purchase of materials and/or equipment used on the course. Further details will be supplied at a later date.