Leicester College offers a broad range of fashion and footwear courses where students can work towards a College certificate or progress onto foundation degrees.

These courses prepare students for careers in design and manufacturing across the fashion and footwear industries, whilst enabling them to hone their professional design and manufacturing skills. They also offer opportunities for students to carry out research and analysis in related specialist subjects.

We caught up with budding fashion designers, Joshua Wilson and Molly Gold, who are in their second year of study on the Fashion Design BTEC Higher National Diploma course. We learn more about their reasons for taking up this course, their experiences of studying at Leicester College, and the advice they offer for students who are considering pursuing this area of study.

Joshua Wilson has a passion for fashion so when he decided to pursue his goal of becoming a fashion designer, the Fashion Design BTEC Higher National Diploma course was a natural choice.

Joshua, who is now on Level 3 in his second year, first came upon the course when he visited the Leicester College website. When he was asked about what he enjoys most about the learning experience at Leicester College, he said, “I enjoy the variety of units studied on this course.”

Modules include design briefs which are creative challenges that have helped him develop illustration skills, graphic presentation and 3D manufacturing. He has been able to explore specialist garment production and footwear manufacturing where he has gained key insights into tailoring, garment and shoe pattern cutting, and garment and shoe construction.

He described his tutors as being “super helpful and friendly” and has also been able to network with fashion industry contacts to build strategic partnerships and collaborations as part of the course.

Similarly, Molly Gold is on Level 3 and for her, the decision to pursue the Fashion Design BTEC Higher National Diploma course has enabled her to nurture her love for fashion.

She said, “I enjoy my course, it’s full of things I love to do which makes it so much more enjoyable.”

The professional industry workshops and trained supervision team have provided her with access to specialist fashion and footwear production methods. The HE hub, Digital Design Suites and Art rooms have also provided her with the spaces and resources to get creative on campus, which she said make it “fun to learn.”

Now in her second year, she has covered a range of subjects including styling, branding and identity, and trend forecasting. According to her, “the tutors are supportive, they help me with all things work wise and not work wise.”

At the moment, both Molly and Joshua are building their portfolio which will stand them in good stead when they decide to go on and study fashion design at a university.

When asked what advice they have for other students who may be considering taking up this course, they both have the same motto – “just do it!”.