Options with fashion
The skills you acquire as an undergraduate doing a fashion degree will vary according to the nature of your course.
Design degrees encourage you to develop and produce your own concepts. The ultimate aim is to produce collections of work and often to specialise in one or two types of design, such as menswear or streetwear. You also learn practical skills such as drawing, pattern cutting and the use of sector-specific IT programs such as CAD-CAM. Textiles and working in different materials is another area that is covered. Topics such as fashion history and the influence of historical and social events on fashion will also be covered. Many design courses also include several business components, including overviews of marketing, the fashion and retail industries and modules for students who may want to become self-employed.
Some non-design courses focus more on the fashion business or media. These tend to be based around lectures and tutorials. There may still be opportunities to become involved in a limited range of practical and creative work, but the emphasis is on commercial techniques, and sourcing, manufacturing, buying and selling of garments and accessories. A few degrees and postgraduate programmes aim to equip students to work in fashion communication, for example, as PR specialists or journalists.
Fashion courses also provide a range of transferable skills that may be used in a variety of jobs. These include:
Designers, stylists and journalists, in particular, should develop their portfolios that would have usually been started during the degree. Your book should not consist only of coursework, but should be on-going. In the case of designers, it should contain themed collections of garments.
Ensure your work is visible - ask friends to wear your creations, post items on fashion websites and organise shows. Also, keep in touch with trends and developments on the retail side: which designers and high street shops are ahead of the crowd?
Work experience or internships are a typical route into salaried employment. Alternatively, a paid job in fashion retail is a good strategy for anyone aiming at a professional career in the business. Team up with others just starting out in the fashion trade, such as photographers, and access all available help for start-up enterprises.
Although some of the jobs listed here might not be first jobs for many graduates, they are among the many realistic possibilities with your degree, provided you can demonstrate you have the attributes employers are looking for. Bear in mind that it’s not just your degree discipline that determines your options. Remember that many graduate vacancies don't specify particular degree disciplines, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here. Look at your degree... what next? for informed advice on career planning and graduate employment, or login/register with My Prospects to find out what jobs would suit you, a helpful starting point for self-analysis.
Explore types of jobs to find out more about the above options and related jobs.
A 2011 HESA survey of 2010 graduates indicates that six months after graduation just over 70% of fashion graduates went into employment. Of these, around 45% entered careers in art, design and culture, while almost a fifth found jobs marketing, sales and advertising. A further 15% were employed as commercial, industrial and public sector managers and 12% worked in clerical and secretarial occupations.
A few fashion design graduates begin as design assistants or assistant designers, helping experienced professionals. Others set up their own businesses, although this may not generate immediate profits. All roles in fashion are highly competitive and recent graduates specialising in this area might start by doing a range of jobs: designers may sell their products on market stalls, write some articles for fashion websites, try their hand at styling and take commissions for one-off items. Alternatively, they may take administrative or retail jobs in the trade as a stopgap.
It is slightly easier to find permanent work on the business side of fashion, although buying and merchandising traineeships are usually hotly contested.
Those with fashion-related degrees may also apply for mainstream graduate jobs and training.
Typical employers of fashion design and business graduates are established studios and larger retail outlets. Recruiters may attend graduate shows at universities and snap up the most talented designers there. The biggest retail chains run graduate trainee schemes for buyers and merchandisers.
Employers often fill junior posts for all types of fashion jobs by contacting tutors and careers services in institutions with relevant courses. Recruitment may also be done through niche agencies and by advertising in the trade or national press.
Freelance work is usually available only to established designers, stylists and media experts but, with the right background, there are good opportunities for this type of employment.
Beyond this, it is up to individual graduates to market themselves by networking and making speculative approaches.
For an insight into employment areas see:
See industry insights for further information on possibilities in other employment areas.
Statistics are collected every year to show what HE students do immediately after graduation. These can be a useful guide but, in reality, because the data is collected within six months of graduation, many graduates are travelling, waiting to start a course, paying off debts, getting work experience or still deciding what they want to do. For further information about some of the areas of employment commonly entered by graduates of any degree discipline, check out What Do Graduates Do? and your degree...what next?
A 2011 HESA survey of 2010 graduates indicates that around 3% of fashion graduates had gone on to further study six months after graduation. A further 3% were combining work with study. Some of these would have taken an MA specialising in one aspect of the discipline, such as childrenswear or embroidery. Other Masters courses may allow graduates to investigate the social, economic, ethical, environmental or cultural side of fashion in more detail. Some MAs in fashion are very practical and are assessed on that basis - for example, by requiring the student to deliver an innovative collection. Others involve essays and a dissertation.
Fashion graduates can also take a Masters in related areas such as theatrical costume or textiles, or develop an interest in accessories such as millinery or shoe design. Fashion illustration or aspects of fashion media and fashion management are also popular choices for those with an appropriate first degree. Increasing numbers of students are also choosing to take up courses in entrepreneurship.
Shorter courses may add to your skill set and could develop skills in particular design IT programs or aim to develop technical and hands-on expertise in areas as diverse as pattern grading or digital printing.
These trends show only what previous graduates in your subject did immediately upon graduating. Over the course of their career - the first few years in particular - many others will opt for some form of further study, either part time or full time. If further study interests you, start by thinking about postgrad study and search courses and research to identify your options.
Look at funding my further study for details relating to finance and the application process.
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