Within this program Fashion Design is seen as a highly creative operation, reflecting a trained aesthetic sense and requiring a number of techniques and specific skills for effective expression. The fashion design and image program involves specialist commercial and marketing expertise with a professional approach. The ability to communicate effectively in a world-wide fashion area has become very important as the fashion business develops and operates on an international scale.

The program is designed to enrich and develop students’ individual potential. It is designed to help students to develop their abilities to identify problems and be able to solve them within the fashion area. Furthermore, the program equips students with the ability of understanding the national and international fashion business and meets fully the challenges of modern fashion industry.

It is expected that all students of the program will develop skills and abilities to communicate well, to work both independently and in group situations, to relate their studies to their chosen fashion area and to develop self- motivated responsibility for their actions.

The program provides technical foundation and a broad design education to meet the ever changing demands of the Fashion industry. Within the scope of these two areas the program aims to embody the student with expressive design and technical skills, broaden their communicative and intellectual awareness as well as their conceptual thinking. The students are therefore introduced to fashion technical skills through the courses of Pattern Cutting and Garment Making, the basic synthesis between garment and fabric. Within the course the understanding and proper use of pattern cutting and sewing equipment is developed which in turn assist students in the translation of basic designs into three-dimensional made up garments.

With in the elective courses of Menswear and Tailoring and Professional Pattern Cutting and Garment Making, more intricate skills are developed through experimental and creative pattern cutting and sewing techniques. The opportunity to interact and develop skills and a profound understanding of intricate pattern and sewing techniques helps in developing the necessary knowledge and skills for making up of a final fashion collection.

These fundamental technical courses will enable students to work in a professional manner, hence planning and organizing future fashion collections as well as acquiring good technical communication skills in order to communicate effectively with future design teams.

In conjunction with above technical courses students will also be introduced to art and design courses such as Introduction to Studio Art, Drawing, and Design and Materials. Here students will build upon their drawing skills as well as their knowledge and use of various materials through specific project work. These courses lay foundations for initial development through the establishment of good drawing skills and three dimensional forms.

To assist students in developing a historical and cultural awareness, which is crucial for such a design course, the program offers the course of History of Art / Cultural Studies and History of Fashion Design. This will provide students with an in-depth understanding of how sociopolitical and economic situations affect and influence fashion.

The program has been strategically structured to initially introduce students within the first semesters to the fashion industry and the basics of their future profession. In the following semesters the courses offered will develop students’ expertise in the fashion field with continuous experimentation and exploration in design, image and styling through Fashion Design Practice, Styling and Image Making, Fashion Photography and Design for Performance. The program offers alternative pathways through semesters 3- 8 for students whose special interests and future ambitions lie in the fields of the fashion media and fashion styling. The program strongly involves the use of image and styling. It looks at the diversity of ways that fashion and clothing can be communicated, promoted and presented creatively to different audiences, whether this be through photography, film, digital media, performance, music, advertising and journalism.

In the final year students are expected to establish a strong personal identity in their work one which should be reflected in their major collection project. The Major Collection Projects will enable students to design and execute a fashion design project, which will demonstrate extensive, detailed and critical understanding, initiative, innovation and creative originality. Students will develop a professional approach to their work enabling them to plan, organize fashion collections of high quality.

The program places a great importance on innovative research; hence in the final semester all students must complete a senior project, which is regarded as their thesis. It is a course where students act as individual designers in an investigation of a topic of their own choice. The course can be of any nature/ idea/ concept. The ultimate scope is to conduct an extensive research into the course and prepare an extended essay from the research findings and analysis. The course requires the student to initialise a written brief as well as produce final design solutions and a written thesis. The emphasis is on innovation and variety where topics can cross boundaries in both inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary guises.

Students will be introduced to a variety of subjects and media through the art and design electives, such as Illustration Techniques, Fashion Illustration Techniques, Photographic Design and Computer – Aided Pattern Design and many more, which help in the development of knowledge and skills that foster a greater understanding of the fashion field.

The vision of the BA Fashion and Image program is to create the new designers of tomorrow. Designers, which will help create a new identity for fashion design in Cyprus. An identity which no longer includes just fashion design and production but a wider scope which now includes such areas as theatre, film, fashion photography, digital media, advertising, journalism and many more. The program intends to create designers who will be able to work in a multi-disciplinary design environment. It will offer alternative pathways, which will provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills that will help them create, communicate, promote and present fashion creatively to different audiences. Designers, which will be able to design and execute fashion projects that will demonstrate detailed and critical understanding, initiative, innovation and creative originality.

The specific goals of the program are: