Fashion? I didn't know you could study that..

After finishing my second year of my degree and flying home from Nottingham back to little old Enniskillen, it occurred to me that many people I talk to are slightly confused about what I’ve been studying for the past 2 years of my life. (I must admit sometimes even I can’t explain it clearly!)

To remind you all, I study Fashion Communications and Promotions at Nottingham Trent University. Simply put, my course focuses on “how fashion can be communicated and promoted through different media, with a storytelling aspect.”. However, when telling people what I study, they seem to ignore the whole title and just hear “FASHION”.

Which leads to A LOT of misconceptions and confusion.

“Can you make me a dress?”

“You must never be stressed out- Fashion is an easy subject!”

“Do you just read Vogue and look at clothes all day?”

The answer to all the above is NO. but I wish.

So, allow me to clear up some of the top three most common stereotypes about fashion students I’ve encountered over the past two years.

1 WE MAKE CLOTHES AND KNOW HOW TO SEW.

If I knew how to make my own clothes half of my student loan would still be in my bank account! Although, I understand that some fashion courses DO teach how to sew and create clothes, so I do give credit due to people who assume this as they aren’t wrong, just not every fashion course is about clothing and garments, as the fashion world is so broad and has other elements to be learned and taught about. In fact, the last time I think I sewed anything was during textiles lessons in secondary school where I got my hair caught in the sewing machine.

2. IT’S AN EASY SUBJECT/A MICKEY MOUSE COURSE.

Sure, I’m not learning how to perform brain surgery or astrophysics, but my fellow FCP students will agree that the course itself can be taxing, frustrating and quite challenging 90% of the time. Out of all my friends at uni and from just being in the library in general during deadline season 8/10 times the student you seen crying while on their 3rd can of monster was studying Fashion Comms.

Everything is project-based which is very, very stressful. All these projects follow a “brief” which sounds very professional, but it is just a list of guidelines we must follow. Sometimes these projects can also be presented to a “live client” which means our work can be shown to real people from different areas of fashion industry – e.g., in my second semester, we presented a short film and a pitch deck to the CEO of an upcoming jewellery brand! So yeah, nothing can ever really be a half-assed job!! Additionally, we have to create long presentations which must also be visually led (well it is an artistic creative course after all), write theoretical essays with critical analysis, engage in various physical workshops throughout the year, AND be masters in using online software such as Photoshop and InDesign.

Sounds pretty easy don’t you think?

3 WE ARE ALWAYS JUDGING OTHERS CLOTHING AROUND US/ EXPERTS ON STYLE ADVICE.

Shortly after “I study fashion…” leaves my lips usually I am interrupted by “OH GOD YOU MUST THINK I HAVE NO DRESS SENSE” or “Ooooh, what do you think of my outfit then?”

While I do have an interest in fashion and (hopefully!) a good eye for dress sense, I am by no means an expert, nor do I judge others. Do you think I’m dressed to the nines every day??? – in fact, at the time of writing this blog I’m slobbing out in my joggers and an XXL sweatshirt. I am more than happy to offer advice, help people look for an outfit and when May rolls around, sit and judge the Met Gala! However, I have my off days and sometimes pull together some truly awful outfits, so believe me, fashion students are never harshly critiquing what you’re wearing!

However, if any boys are reading this. I’m partial to judging you harshly if you’re wearing brown farmer shoes.

In the bin. Please.

I could go on and on for days defending what me and my fellow FCP students actually do at uni, but these are the ones I hear the most. I hope you have learned that we don’t spend our days flipping through Vogue and watching the latest runway shows, but if anyone knows a course or a job that involves just these 2 activities- please let me know!

the picture above is not an accurate representation of how my course makes me feel! (only sometimes.....)