Fashion at Norwich

Welcome Week starts on Monday the 16th of September and this is when we will meet you on campus and introduce you to our buildings and facilities.

You will meet the staff team and other students on your course and take part in some introductory activities designed so you can get to know each other and remain safe on campus. You will also attend talks about the services and facilities the University offers.

The first taught day of your course is the Monday 23 September. Generally, you will have timetabled sessions on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesday mornings and Fridays each week. The rest of the week will usually be independent study time for you to research and develop your projects. Individual timetables will be given at the start of the course. In addition to sessions on campus, there will also be digital teaching sessions such as lectures & and industry talks too. You will be introduced to all these elements so don’t worry about any of this now!

On independent study days, and days where digital teaching is scheduled, you will be able to access the campus to continue your work as needed, or you can elect to work remotely. We will help you plan your time. You will see that we’ve included some suggestions of things you might like to read, watch and do before you arrive, and provided suggestions about equipment and materials you are likely to need, so please read through the pack carefully.

We look forward to seeing you in September.

Things to watch, read and do before you start

Watch

The Gospel According to André (2018)

McQueen (2018)

Dior and I (2014)

Read

• Why Fashion Matters — Frances Corner (Thames & Hudson Ltd
  ISBN: 9780500517376)
• The Business of Fashion
• Dazed & Confused Magazine

Do

Be inspired; read books, listen to music/podcasts, visit galleries and museums, watch films, travel.

Creativity can wane sometimes, so it is important to learn to find inspiration in anything and everything. Start collecting your own individual plethora of inspiration which can comprise of drawings, sketches, photographs, exhibition material, artefacts, fabrics, trims etc the list goes on… try to be an inventive and resourceful magpie.

This resource will be built up during your course of study and will hopefully become your personal library and invaluable source of inspiration throughout your study.

One more thing …. Invest in a research process book (sketchbook) or even better try and make your own… a research process book can be an effective visual ‘diary’ of your thinking. It can be used for researching, brainstorming, experimenting, analysing, and refining.

Remember effective communication of visual ideas is fundamental to the creative design process.

Free resources

Polymoda

V&A digital collection

Kyoto Costume Institute digital collection

Museo del Traje, Madrid

Vogue Business

TheIndustry.Fashion

British Pathé Fashion Archive, 1950-1970

Showstudio Design Download

Online Exhibitions

Over 400 Fashion exhibition

Suggested equipment & materials

In preparation for starting the course it will help you to gather some of the following equipment. You will not need all this equipment immediately but try to build it up during the summer break and through the first term.

There will be drawing workshops during the first few weeks and although we will be providing some materials, we will ask you to bring some of the materials you are familiar with too.

You can purchase many of the items listed below from the University Shop when you start

• Scissors for cutting paper / Craft knife
• Glue stick, pencil sharpener & eraser
• Sketch book preferably A3 in size (you could also start off with loose sheets and bind these into your own sketchbook)

General drawing equipment

• A range of pens (colours and black)
• Chalks
• Graphite pencils HB-6B
• Water-based inks
• Paint brushes, etc.

You will need to build a supply of tools for pattern cutting and garment construction.

You can buy items with a student discount from suppliers such as Morplan and you can buy some of these from the university shop or look online for alternative suppliers.