This course, the only one of its kind, was developed in response to a growing interest from students and academics in the changing relationship between film and fashion. During the last decade the viral fashion film has challenged the catwalk show as a way of providing the best showcase for new collections. This has inevitably linked film with fashion consumption.

Over the past four years the course has attracted graduates from both theory-based film courses and practice-based degrees in fashion, fine art, photography and documentary film-making. It is a theoretically based course that examines the relationship between cinema and patterns of consumption within a global context. The inter-related history of international cinema and fashion will be studied, through a choice of units which give film graduates the opportunity to learn more about fashion, its emergence as an academic discipline, and the different theoretical approaches utilised within the field. Similarly, students from a fashion background have the chance to learn more about the history of cinema and the critical theories deployed within film studies.

Pamela Church Gibson is the Course Leader for MA Fashion and Film and was responsible for its development. Pamela has published extensively on film, fashion, history and heritage, and is recognised as an international authority on fashion and film. She is the Principal Editor of Film, Fashion and Consumption, a new peer-reviewed journal, has been asked to help inaugurate The European Popular Culture Association, backed by the PCA in America, and her latest book, Fashion and Celebrity Culture, explores the complex new relationships within contemporary visual culture.

Nilgin Yousef  is the Programme Director for the Media and Communication courses in the School of Graduate Studies. She was formerly Fashion Editor of The Sunday Times, Fashion Writer of the Daily Telegraph, and British Elle’s first fashion writer. She has developed several courses at LCF, including the Postgraduate Certificate in Fashion and Lifestyle Journalism and the Graduate Diploma in Fashion Media Styling. She has an MA in History and Culture of Fashion entitled Undressing the Criminal Icon, 1959-1969. As Programme Director, she oversees all courses in the media cluster, including MA courses in fashion journalism, fashion photography, history and culture of fashion, curation and fashion and film, and is responsible for organising the Contextual Studies Programme in Media. In 1910 Nilgin organised LCF’s first fashion film symposium entitled The Fashion Film: Art or Commerce?

Course Structure

Full Time mode

Part Time Mode

Year One

Year Two

MA taught courses may be studied in full time or part time mode, as outlined above, or students can elect to study by Independent Project Mode on either a full time or part time basis. The Independent Project Mode is designed for students whose area of interest lies between, or crosses, subject disciplines. This would be discussed at interview. In addition, for students unable to complete the MA, there may be an opportunity to complete a Postgraduate Diploma.

Outline of the course

Master’s Project Proposal

This unit supports the development of your project proposal. You will be able to work on your initial ideas discussed at interview, through reviewing and revising your focus in line with developing interests synthesised from your work within the specialist units of your MA course. A staged process of development and review culminates in the presentation of the proposal for assessment. Individual and original results must be underpinned by sound research methodologies, and you will be expected to consult a wide range of specialist resources. You will be introduced to a broad range of research methodologies and skills, including presentations, workshops and practitioner case studies. This unit will support you in the completion of your coursework assignments and will prepare you for the development of your Master’s Project.

Contextual Studies

The contemporary fashion and creative industries require multi-skilled and flexible individuals who understand the complexities of the global fashion industry. This unit enables you to appreciate the perspectives of both your own and other disciplines at work in fashion today, and to understand and analyse the complex economic, technical, ethical and business issues that affect the future of the creative industries. The unit is a focal point for all MA students, both full and part time, from all courses. It underpins your specialist studies by providing a common forum for debate on issues arising from the study of fashion. Aspects of design, technology, communication, marketing and the cultural industries are explored, and a programme of visiting speakers from industry and leading researchers supports the unit.

Fashion, Film and Consumption in Contemporary Hollywood

This unit explores the links between film and merchandising in the period between the two world wars. It traces the growing importance of the star system and the ways in which the popularity of certain stars was speedily exploited within retailing. It examines closely ‘the tie-in phenomenon’ particular to this period. It also looks at the way in which cinema helped to popularise new trends which originated in the realm of haute couture, making them desirable at mass market level. There is also some consideration of the way in which film worked at this time to further the sale of goods which were not directly related to fashion.

Cultural Studies: Approaches to Contemporary Fashion

Within the multinational and multicultural environment across the graduate school, this unit will help you to establish a common language and look at a set of theoretical issues. These can be employed in your analysis of, and writings about, fashion through theoretical and methodological interventions established in the interdisciplinary field of cultural studies.

The Discipline of Fashion

This unit provides you with an overview of the approaches adopted by various disciplines to the study fashion as an historical and contemporary phenomenon. You will examine the key methods by which fashion historians, curators and theorists have examined their subject, and the benefits of adopting an interdisciplinary approach will be emphasised.

History and Theory of Cinema

This unit is an introduction to film studies for those students coming from a fashion background. It gives an outline history of cinema and shows the ways in which cinema has developed in different countries. You will learn about the development of film studies since the 1950s, when cinema became a legitimate subject for academic study.

Nationality, Cultural Identity and World Cinema

This unit examines the hotly contested notion of ‘world cinema’, which has been the subject of recent debates within the academy. It looks at the ways in which cinemas across the world have positioned themselves either in relation to or in opposition to Hollywood dominance. National cinema and national identity are examined, using the Hindi film industry known as Bollywood, the independent cinema in the smaller Pacific Rim countries, and the former Soviet bloc as case studies.

Cinema, Performativity and Gender: Celebrity Culture and the Fashionable Image

This unit considers recent critical developments around gender performance and spectacle. Since the 1980s technological developments, from video to the internet, have created a new relationship between cinema audiences and consumption. Over the past ten years the growth of celebrity culture has changed the concept of stardom in a way that has not yet been fully theorised, and this has great implications for any study of film and fashion. You are encouraged to select case studies from across the world for examination.

Master’s Project

This unit is the culmination of your work on the course and allows you to produce a highly focussed and original dissertation. You will consolidate the ideas that have been developing since the beginning of the course, and you will bring to fruition an independently-motivated, innovative and professional body of work, which makes a contribution to fashion and film studies.

Masters students have an acknowledged advantage in the employment market, obtaining work in a wide range of vocational and academic fields related to the fashion and film industries. This MA also provides excellent preparation for higher level research degrees (MPhil or PhD), with an increasing number of graduates undertaking research in fashion related subjects in practice or theory or entering education as lecturers.

Showing your work

All final year students are given the opportunity to profile their work online via Showtime. 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.

For details of the wide range of careers support provided for students, please visit our Careers Support page.

Student Selection Criteria

Home /EU Applicants

Applications to study for a Postgraduate course should be made directly to the College using the Graduate School Application Form, accompanied by two references (one of which should be academic) and a copy of your highest qualification to date.

Most postgraduate courses require you to submit a detailed study proposal and / or essay. Please read the specific guidance notes before applying to this course.

• Download Graduate School Application Form  [PDF - 502kb]
• Download Graduate School Application Form [Word doc - 254kb]
• Download MA Fashion and Film Guidance Notes [PDF - 68kb]

Alternatively, you can request an application form by calling +44 (0)20 7514 7563 / 7582 / 7344. If you have a question, you can ask us through our Course enquiry form. 

Please send your completed application form to the following address:

International Applicants

Please apply directly to the College using the International Application Form, accompanied by contact details of two referees (one of which should be academic) and a copy of your highest qualification to date. We will write to your referees and obtain your references. You must also complete and send the Tier 4 Student Visa: UK Immigration History Form Guidance Notes for Students to the LCF International Recruitment Office with your portfolio  (if required) and supporting documents.

Most postgraduate courses require you to submit a detailed study proposal and / or essay. Please read the specific guidance notes before applying to this course.

• Download Postgraduate International Application Form [PDF - 200kb]
• Download Postgraduate International Application Form [Word doc - 234kb]
• Download MA Fashion and Film Guidance Notes  [PDF - 68kb]
• Download Tier 4 Student Visa: UK Immigration History Form Guidance Notes for Students [PDF - 63kb]

Please send your completed application form to the following address:

Address: London College of Fashion, International Office, 20 John Prince's Street, London W1G 0BJ.

Selection Process

The course team will review your application and you may be called to interview. If you are selected for interview you will be asked to bring examples of previous written work and to undertake a written aptitude test. From this work, the test and the interview the course team will decide if you are to be offered a place on the course.

Applicants have the right to ask for feedback if their application is unsuccessful. Requests must be made in writing to the Student Administrator, and we will respond within 20 working days.