Extended Diploma in Fashion and Textiles

This course offers a fascinating insight and pathway into the exciting and ever-changing world of fashion. Whether you're passionate about design, textiles, or the ever-evolving trends of the industry, this course offers a fascinating journey of exploration and creativity.��Dive into the world of fashion and develop your skills through stimulating and demanding study. With hands-on projects and expert guidance, you'll have the opportunity to explore, experiment and push the boundaries of your creativity, preparing you for a rewarding career in the exciting field of fashion and textiles.

During the course, you will experiment with a wide variety of new materials allowing you to build your technical skills whilst developing your critical and contextual research skills. You will collaborate with others to generate innovative ideas and concepts for fashion and will learn about the influences in fashion design, fashion promotion, styling, textiles, art direction,�communication and trends. You will also explore some elements of garment construction and will produce a portfolio of creative and technical skills that will showcase everything you need for a direct application to Higher Education, an apprenticeship or employment. In recent years, the fashion and textiles industries have come under scrutiny for their destructive environmental, ethical and moral impacts on the world. Consumers, as well as brands, are now more conscious of sustainability in fashion so this course will embed the ethics of responsible fashion, as well as challenging new ideas and concepts for this exciting and progressive industry.

This is a hands on, practical qualification and you will be assessed throughout the programme at key assessment points. This will involve fashion research, design sheets and project work, sketchbooks, practical work, and contextual studies notes and essays. All assessments will be graded Pass, Merit or Distinction. Both first and second years of your main programme will include externally marked units.

You will need a minimum of four GCSE's, grade 4-9 in subjects relevant to the course you�d like to study, including maths and/or English Language at grade 4 or above. Alternatively, you'll have a Level 2 Certificate with overall Pass in a relevant subject. If you do not hold an Art related GCSE you will need to present a good portfolio.� If you do not have a minimum GCSE grade 4 for Maths / English, you would study these as a part of your tiemtabled study programme. These structured weekly sessions will help you to improve your skills in these vital subject/s. In addition, Maths & English development is integrated into practical course sessions and assignments. You will be expected to bring relevant examples of your artwork to the application interview to help staff assess your suitability for art and design study.

On successful completion of the course you will be able to progress on to a variety of Higher Education courses including Fashion Design, Fashion Styling, Art Direction, Fashion Buying, Fashion buying with retail, Fashion business, Fashion Media and Marketing, Fashion with Textiles, Textiles, Fashion Marketing, Fashion Communication, Fashion Journalism, and many more.