Undergraduate - Fashion Art Direction & Communications

The biggest fashion institute in the Netherlands places an emphasis on the global and vocational elements of the industry. AMFI’s exchange contracts with 35 universities worldwide provide students with opportunities for an international education, and six-month internships are a compulsory component of all of its courses. AMFI’s Fashion & Branding BSc is the only educational programme of its kind in the Netherlands. Combining cultural contexts and industry insight with independent, critical thinking and a well-rounded approach to all areas of brand strategy, the course equips students to work in fashion brands, agencies, or as independent consultants. The four-year programme offers a range of specialisations and minors, such as the magazine minor, which produces a paper and digital publication sold globally. The university’s campus facilities and international diversity are highly rated by students and alumni.

As a private university with a relatively small student body for the region, this Brazilian school was the first in the country to provide educational programmes focused on the creative economy. Its flipped-classroom structure and student involvement in international events — such as SP-Arte and Salone Satellite Milano — demonstrate Belas Artes’ hands-on approach to the learning experience. With its focus on social media as an essential component of fashion communication, branding and sales, the Digital Social Media undergraduate programme at Belas Artes is the first of its kind in the country. The course offers subjects such as Netnography, Digital Coolhunting, Digital Analytics, E-Commerce/M-Commerce and Influencers & Networking. Industry ties are emphasised through classes held at the Brazilian headquarters of Twitter and LinkedIn.

With an acceptance rate of 8 percent, Central Saint Martins’ BA Fashion Art & Communications programme is one of the most exclusive in the world. Courses comprise three pathways: Fashion History and Theory, Fashion Journalism, and Fashion Communication and Promotion. CSM students take part in many collaborative projects with brands and companies, and the school boasts a multiyear partnership with LVMH, which has enabled events such as the LVMH/Nowness film project, as well as multiple scholarships. The BA programme also encourages cross-course collaborations such as the annual first-year White Show, where design students create garments and communication students stage and manage the project. Students and alumni report high satisfaction with available resources at the college, quality of feedback from educators, and the overall quality of teaching.

Please note this assessment was completed without this school's active participation

Istituto Marangoni emphasises multicultural and multidisciplinary education, and promotes cultural exchange with schools located in fashion capitals around the world including Milan, Paris, London, Shanghai, Mumbai and Shenzhen. The cross-school programme allows students complete their course of studies at different locations, gaining experience from different cultures. Istituto Marangoni’s Fashion Art Direction and Communications courses offer a focused study plan highlighting different industry sectors — such as copywriting, PR and media planning, production management, business planning and advertising — to prepare students for employment. Students are provided with a core base of skills common to each subject in the first year of study, before specialising in creative direction or visual merchandising in the second year.

Nestled in the global fashion centre of midtown Manhattan, LIM College partners with 800 companies in fashion and fashion-related industries to provide students with a wide range of opportunities each year. Boasting its small average cohort size at 43 students, students can also benefit from one-to-one career counselling. The programme spotlights globalisation, culture and diversity in business practices with learning through workshops, studios and guest speaker events. While all students partake in internships, the communications division offers opportunities at the likes of Elle, Harper's Bazaar and Esquire, while Visual students have interned at Chanel, Anthropologie, Refinery 29 and more. Students also create inserts for The Daily Front Row that are distributed during New York Fashion Week, contribute to the school magazine, and participate in competitions sponsored by companies such as Vera Bradley.

Originally established in 1877 as a leatherwork trade school, the London College of Fashion is one of the oldest institutions featured on BoF’s fashion school index. The college groups its programmes into three schools: fashion design and technology, media communications, and fashion business, with cross-subject collaboration built into the curricula. LCF’s Art Direction and Communications programmes specialise in cultural, historical and theoretical studies, and incorporating virtual reality and artificial intelligence tools in computer-aided design practices. Students participate in fashion-tech hackathons and digital labs. LCF has produced alumna such as Emma Shepley, who launched a virtual reality changing room at Westfield, Stratford City. The faculty supports alumni businesses with projects including its fashion fund, its Fashion Cluster skill-training programme and the Fashion Innovation Agency which connects start-up fashion with technology brands to help them find new business opportunities.

Please note this assessment was completed without this school's active participation

Situated on the banks of the River Arno in Florence, Polimoda’s fashion education draws on the Made in Italy culture and luxury traditions of the surrounding region. The Art Direction and Communications undergraduate programmes include a four-year BA in Fashion Art Direction, which is split 40 percent communications, 30 percent design, 20 percent vision and 10 percent business; and a three-year BA in Fashion Styling, which involves field trips to companies and fashion and trade shows across Europe. Polimoda has strong connections to teachers, mentors and businesses stemming directly from the industry, and the Art Direction and Communications courses conduct projects with companies including Tencent, Haculla and Lineapelle. Students also have access to a library that houses one of the most significant collections of publications on the international fashion industry.

Ryerson University School of Fashion is Canada’s longest running university fashion programme and the only Canadian university to offer both undergraduate and graduate fashion programmes as full degrees. With an acceptance rate of just 17 percent, it is one of the most exclusive programmes on BoF’s list. The four-year Fashion Communications programme covers areas such as graphic and publication design, fashion photography and illustration, product development, event management and strategic communication. It utilises state-of-the-art design software, illustration tablets, laser cutting, 3D printing and digital fabric printing. Ryerson’s Fashion Zone is an incubator for fashion-inspired start-ups. The school also operates the Centre for Fashion Diversity & Social Change, which explores fashion’s power to lead social change. Students and alumni noted high levels of satisfaction with the quality of educator feedback on coursework, placing it in the top 5 percent of this category among BoF’s Best Fashion Schools in the World.

Founded in 1833, Stephens College is the second-oldest women’s college in the US. Located in Columbia, Missouri, Stephens offers a “women-centric focus” on fashion education, and also admits students that identify as non-binary or transgender.    The BA Fashion Communication programme is a hybrid of visual design and journalism communication directed by the former fashion editor of the Chicago Sun Times. With oversight from professionals in journalism and fashion media, students are prepared to take on a wide variety of roles after graduation including fashion journalism, photography, art direction and styling. Students are encouraged to pursue courses outside of their degree in order to have a more informed point of view for professions like journalism, public relations and marketing. The programme is one of the smallest on the list, with a full-time student cohort size of just 5 people.

The University for Creative Arts (UCA) has four campuses throughout England and is the second largest provider of creative arts education in Europe. UCA’s BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion and Imaging programme is known for its international appeal, and students and alumni report they are highly satisfied with international diversity on campus. The programme covers a wide range of disciplines, including photography, styling, set design, filmmaking and advertising.   Students are also taught by prominent photographers and artists to hone their approach and entry point into the industry. The programme’s alumni have gone on to work at JW Anderson, Hermès, GQ, Dazed and more.