SCHOOLOFF ASHI ON Un i v er s t i y f ort h e Cr eat i v e Ar t s
ShihYing Tang Country of Origin
Taiwan Languages Spoken
Taiwanese,Chinese, English ,French Previous Education
BA Textile and Fashion Marketing
The pre-sessional course taught us not only how to write essays but also communication, research and problem-solving skills. After some sessions, I finally realized I could speak English fluently not only in my room, but also with other people face to face. Regarding my work, if I want to turn a painting to a real picture, I will just do it without second thoughts.
Progessing too -
MA Fashion&Lifestyle Journalism
If you listen too much, you won’t be able to create.
--Carine Roitfeld
I have always found it enjoyable when I had to use my talent to choose party outfits and official dinner dresses for friends, advise my brother on casual wear, or take my cousin shopping for the very first suit to celebrate my admission to the MA Fashion & Lifestyle Journalism. Gradually, these enjoyable times turned into a dream career related to planning and selecting merchandize out of the full set of seasonal collections of designers and putting up the whole display
My future life is full of challenges. If i want to become a qualified journalist, I will have to focus on my work without being distracted.
Three years ago I worked on one of my projects called ‘Smart Casual Mania’. I chose clothes and accessories at a reasonable cost for those teenagers who cannot afford luxury brand ones, but who still want to dress in a smart and charming way. So, I just put them together, like a puzzle, to create charming combinations.
CHEN-LiN HU
Medea
Hsinchu, Taiwan Chinese, English BA Fashion Imaging, Mingdau University, Taiwan
THE LIFE STYLE
LIVING IN FARNHAM AND LIVING WITH
PSEAD COURSE Farnham Park / photo by Medea
MA Fashion
According to the living style of Farnham, it has become a characteristic location. In comparison with London city, we could obviously felt that most products are cheaper and lots of impatient people wre running aroud us. Nevertheless, messy circumstance and crowded traffic are compeletly opposite direction to Farnham life. Most of people who live and work in London are yuppies; they spend most of their time at work and earn money. I would say, London is a place which is convenient for business; and Farnham is a place which is for rest and joy. In summary, those things I am talking about are advantageous for forign students who came abroad for the first time.
I have been influenced by my grandmother’s passion for clothes as she was a tailor for 60 years. The reason I chose to study Fashion is not only because I could connect with her, but also because I am interested in the fashion trends. I wish I could be a professional fashion trend journalist in the future.
The Observation of UCA Farnham
Farnham in the UK is my first experience of living overseas. It has been a wonderful experience as forigner as me who came from compeletly different culture. It is a safe place with people who usually walk slowly and wear leisurely. When we went on the streets, most of people we could saw were seniors or families. They were kind to forigner students like us. They would give you a feeling just like grandparents who were so gentle and so nice speakers. Tutors told us that Farnham is a place which is one of the richest places in the UK. People live here with high quality living style and attitude. That’s a reason we could see lots of expensive cars here; and also a reason we could extremly felt the peacefulness and safety.
Waitross Parking Lot / photo by Medea
Castle Street / photo by Medea
Evaluation of PSEAD As I came here to learn English, people here would patiently told us much information than we asked with slowly pronunciation and clearly voice. Because of their nice attitudes, I can be more confident to speak English to them. Moreover, because of a high level living quality, we could see easily from there wearing clothes; most of them are wearing simple style with confidence. They don’t care too much of fashion trends or popular styles. The only thing they do are showing their own style, and showing who they are. When we walked on the street, we could see most of restaurants and stores were decorated by flowers and adornments. This is a symbal that we could see how they prode with living here; and how they love and care this city as well. Not only those stylist stores, but also those clean streets and roads. Every time when the sun goes work, we could see lots of people over everywhere, but we won’t see any of litters here on the streets.
I have learnt professional academic writing and speaking skills in the PSEAD course, but what I think I developed most is speaking skills. What I also learnt from this course is keeping thingst simple. For example, the presentation should be clear and linear. Another thing that I really enjoyed were TED talks - according to TED talk speakers, we should give our presentation purpose and use body language to catch audience’s attention. Using voice’s tone makes the presentation more vivid.Time management and time keeping is also an ability to be a smart speaker. The interesting thing learnt in PSEAD was the fact I learnt from a variety of sources, such as tutors and peers as well as videos and films. In my opinion, practice before presentation is the most useful thing that not only smooths my speaking and thinking, but also builds up confidence. I definitely feel I am ready to ‘rock’ my MA Fashion with all these new skills.
EDA
I studied Pre-sessional English course in Farnham for 10 weeks - I loved it! It is a rich district with a lot of people paying attention to their appearance, very noble and elegant I think. I am fascinated by Farnham women wearing beautiful clothes, fine jewelry and flowery hats. All these make them look so fancy (and pretentious!)
Xiaojing-Wu Beijing, China Chinese, English Fine Arts School Affiliated to China Central Academy of Fine Arts BA Fashion Design
When I first saw a British woman wearing a magnificent hat for Ascot I was surprised, because I had never seen it in China. I think that even mature men also pay a lot of attention to their appearance in the UK.
Beverley Edmondson Millinery is a hat shop in Farnham - see below. Maison Michel is one of my favorite accessories brands, it is a under the Chanel’s brand. Maison Michel is, unlike the British style, simpler, and more concise design. Founded in 1936, the Parisian millionaire made beautifully constructed hats that were considered mature and whimsy. Now, the label is a long-term collaborator with Chanel, and its fanciful hats, from cat-ear headbands in petal-fine lace to elegant straw fedoras, are handmade in the Paris atelier under the watchful eye of Laetitia Crahay (michel-paris).
In China, most people prefer a style that does not make them stand out from the crowd, even wearing a hat can be trated as exaggeration. So, now that I am here, I am fascinated by hats! Hats from Chanel Croisiere (2011) Maison Michel Paris. At: http://www.michel-paris.com/studio.php?lg=en
In the ten weeks PESAD, I really learned a lot of knowledge, which is I had not learned, and I also had not contact with the domain of knowledge when I study in China. In the next three years, I will study undergraduate courses in the UK. I think it will be very helpful to my English improved, which is very good foundation for my future study and work.
Inese Gailane
Picture of Self
Country of Origin
Latvia
Languages Spoken
Latvian / English
Previous Education
School of Life
Progessing too -
5-week PSEAD course
When I was a kid no one predicted that I would be related to fashion but here I am - writing my own publication for the School of Fashion cover. I followed my dreams, I was not afraid to say my dreams out loud, although a lot of people tried to crush them but I proved them wrong and found myself sitting with other international students in the Pre-Sessional course.
These five weeks were like an exciting roller coaster. I caught myself experiencing different emotions; when I needed to write an essay I felt lazy, when we went on trips I felt curious, but in lectures I experienced all possible kinds of emotions.
The 5-week Pre-Sessional course was the best decision that I could make before my main course. In these few weeks I improved a lot more than I had excepted. Fashion is not only about clothes and glamorous magazine pages; it requires hard work where research skills and critical thinking are necessary tools. I was able to improve all these features and a lot more only in 5-weeks. However, the most important skill that these weeks taught me was to be autonomous. I know that in the following years independence will play a vital role both in my studies and professional development. Independent not only as a writer but as a researcher through books, journals, independent as a researcher through practical experiences. Of course, I improved my speaking, reading and writing skills, gained confidence doing presentations, improved my critical thinking and research skills. What is more, all these features went hand in hand with independence.
I know that my future is only in my own hands and I know that I can reach my dreams only if I work hard and have a right work attitude. I do believe that I can travel around the world and be part of famous fashion photo shoots, I do believe that my stylistic creations will appear in famous magazine pages and that some day I can be an inspirational person to other new enthusiasts, who will try to get into the fashion industry.
All I can say is that I am so thankful for this Pre-Sessional course because just in 5-weeks I learned a lot that will help me not only in my main course but in my whole life as well. Fashion is my passion and I am ready to do almost everything to connect my future with it. And it does not matter whether I need to write more essays or not, because thanks to this Pre-Sessional course I know how to do it correctly. I.
JASON
PSEAD EVALUATION During the pre-sessional English course in UCA, I feel that I have improved a lot. The PSEAD course also gave me a lot, for example responsible tutor and lovely classmates. In here, the way of life and education widened my horizon and made me more logical when I think. I think I will use these skills in my future course deeply. Finally, I think it will be the most precious memory in my life.
YUJIA WANG
CHINA CHINESE & ENGLISH BA FASHION IN SDUAD, CHINA MA FASHION IN UCA
PSEAD There is no doubt that I have learned many methods of academic writing, communication skills and research. I think I will use these skills in my future course deeply. Finally, I enjoy the learning atmosphere here and this will be the most precious memory in my life.
MIND MAPPING Throughout these ten weeks pre-sessional English course, for my personal experience, I feel that the UCA education system is totally different from what I learned in China.
These two clothes were designed when I was a undergraduate student, photo patterns have been used.
PATTERNS IMPACT FASHION In PSEAD course, we have visited 4 aplaces, which are V&A Museum, Oxford Museums, Brighton Museum of Art & Gallery and Tate Modern Museum. Like the last picture shows. I learned a lot from these museums. Especially, I have learned the structure of amazing exhibitions and enjoyed the details from the long culture history. When I visited this museum, I paid more atterntion to the patterns, because I thought that I could collect the patterns from all the exhibitions for the basis of my future main course fashion design. This pattern was collected from the door exhibition, and I think it can be using to lace.
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, V&A Museum, Brighton Museum of Art & Garllery
Hui Lei
of whom really helped me a lot with my studies and my new life in Farnham. What’s more, I went on a trip to Brighton with my classmates and I had fun. China Chinese & English Foundation Progessing too - (BA)Fashion
During the 5-week pre-sessional English course I learnt a lot. I remember when I first attended this course I was told that it was not only a course about improving English skills, but also preparing international students for their studies in their main course. The most interesting part was when we were told that ‘our common language is not only English, but also Art!’. From that moment, I felt I had already learned something really important in the university for the creative arts! I have learnt a lot though the PSEAD course and I really had so much fun during this period. I learned how to cooperate with my fellow students and improve my academic writing skills. For example, I learned how to use library sources and how to write references. I also learned to listen to other people’s opinions and improve myself in seminars. These things are really useful for my main course which is Fashion. In addition, I have made a lot of new friends and I had a very friendly tutor, Nikoleta, all
If I can make people like the things that I like, I will feel very successful and happy. To make my dream come true, I will work hard in the university, I will improve myself step by step and most importantly I will never give up! I believe my future will be bright and I am already working on it! After the 5-week pre-sessional English course, I will major in fashion at UCA. Fashion is a really important part in modern society. Being engaged in fashion was a well thought decision. My dream is to establish my own brand and make it popular
Lu Yi Country of Origin Chinese Languages Spoken Mandarins&English&Cantonese Previous Education Apparel Design and Engineering Progessing too MA Fashion
'Fashion can do magic, making people charming and fascinating.' —luyi Background Hi, everyone. I’m a graduate from Soochow University. Although I’m not an art student, I’m a big fan of design. During my childhood I was deeply influenced by my father – an architect and I began to interact with the fundamentals of design. I hoped that someday I could own the 'magic' to make what I drew and designed become true. With the strong ambition to become an excellent designer, I studied hard in my course
and tried to act like a sponge and soak up every drop of knowledge I could. On the turning point of my academic undertaking, I determined to study abroad and I applied for an MA in Fashion in UCA. Luckily, I made it.
The PSEAD Course
me for my main course studies. To be honest, I must say that I am so happy to have attended the PSEAD course and made many friends here. There are 56 minorities in my country, each of which has its unique culture. As a result, their garments also differ in thousands ways. I hope to utilize some modern fashion techniques to apply Chinese minorities’ fantastic patterns, embroidery, fabrics as well as origami and papercut techniques into modern fashion design to create a new fashion style.
DO SOME ATTEMPTS :
FU
TURE
CA R E R E I have developed many practical and professional skills and experiences through the PSEAD course. Firstly, independent study helped me strengthen my academic background and pushed me to step into an unknown area where I could get lots of inspiration. Secondly, the mind maps guided me through the maze of my projects. Thirdly, through the reflective writing I identified my strengths and weaknesses, because I had time to reflect upon my studies and organize an action plan for the future. Fourthly, the academic essay prepared
A s a n a m b i t i o u s , yo u n g person, after graduating from my main course, I plan to first work as an assistant of fashion designers in design studios or clothing enterprises, where I can accumulate professional knowledge and skills and strengthen my overall capacities as a qualified designer. Then, with a solid academic and practical background, I could work as a fashion designer, and finally set up my own studio with my own fashion brand.
Jialing Lin (Kaley) Street Style
London is a bustling city, it is a trendy and stylish gathering place with a lot of art students, street artists, very different than Farnham.
China
Cambridge is a historic city in the UK, althoughnot as busy as London. When I lived there one year, I researched street style in Cambridge, I found that vintage is one of the most popular style.
Chinese, English Visual & Performing Arts of Cambridge School BA Fashion
Introduction I come from China, I studied pre-foundation in London and Foundation in Cambridge before, and i will study BA Fashion as a main course in Sept 2014. I will attempt to overview fashion styles in the three places in the UK I have lived in. Farnham is a town in Surrey, England, within the Borough of Waverley. The town is 34.5 miles (55.5 km) WSW of London in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire. Before I came to this city, I did some resserch about Farnham. I realised a lot of people in Farnham go shopping in charity shops where they can get pretty good deals on branded clothes.
Photo by Kaley
Photo by Kaley Black dress with a long gray White sweater, black tights, coat, black messenger bag plus short boots, British style. white sneakers, minimalist
Photo/sketch by Kaley
Evaluation
Photo by Kaley Photo by Kaley White T-shirt, black big fork Paintting dress Fashion and pants, black boots, very com- Vintage. mon, seem very clean.
Photo from internet
After 10 weeks of Pre-sessional English for Art and Design Course, I feel I learnt several key skills for my further studies: reseraching museums as a source of inspiration, essay writing and presentation skills. These learning experiences have enhanced my ability of learning new knowledge. Overall, those skills mentioned above are important for my learning life and I am certain I will succeed academically on my main course.
Work
Yihua Sun Country of Origin
China
Languages Spoken
Chinese\ English Previous Education
Fashion Design BA Progressing to
5 weeks PSEAD course
I Do What I Want. Do What You Need. About Past:
About PSEAD: Additionally, I learned how to use Prezi, which is a useful program for presentations. I believe that both this and my newly acquired presentation skills will help me prepare effective presentations.
UCA
Edu cation
Through the 5-week pre-sessional course, I improved my writing academic skills by writing an essay and a reflective writing. These skills will be essential to me during my main course, which begins in September.
About Future:
Tirp
I want to find a balance between individual creativity and market demands when I proceed to my main course. To establish my own brand, I have to be creative, develop problem-solving skills and learn how to work both individually and cooperatively. I am convinced that I will achieve my goals after studying in the UCA.
After I finish my MA course, it is certainly that I want to pursue my own career. But before that, I plan to gather more experiences in the fashion industry. I want to work in different positions in fashion to get to know more about this field. I believe this will be a solid foundation for my next steps.
Career
I majored in Fashion Design to acquire professional skills about fashion. In my final project, called ‘Urban Structure’, I was inspired by the architecture of cosmopolitan cities around the world. I used black, white and silver to depict the freezing feeling of the modern city.
After I graduated, I worked in fashion companies for three years. That experience transformed myself from a school student into a professional designer.
We also visited some museums. It was a great chance for me to familiarize myself with the Western culture, and see various kinds of artworks. This has opened my mind regarding my design works, which will be helpful after my main course starts.
Li Li
When I look at dering if I can
a painting, I am wonuse it on my design. We will find fashion elements everywhere. We can find them on the streets, in architecture, in people. Fashion is already part of our life.
Country of Origin: China Languages Spoken: Chinese Previous Education: Foundation Progessing to: BA Fashion
Nowadays the fashion industry is constantly expanding and many people work in it. Its basic staff is the designers. Designers are very important in a company, because they decide the clothes for the new seasons and work with the marketing team to complete a design. If you want to become a good designer you need to have inspiration. You can find inspiration everywhere.
For example, inspiration can come from the nature, building architecture even books and movies. We can go to museums to get inspired from other artists’ work.
Many young people are influenced by pop culture. More and more designers like using rock styles in their design. Street style is good for fashion design, too. Some pop stars like this kind of design.
I decided to attend the 5-week english language course before my main course in fashion to improve my academic skills. During this english language course I learnt a lot about essays, referencing, presentations, individual and group work. All these have prepared me for my BA in Fashion, during which I will learn more about fashion . After this BA course I want to work in the fashion industry as a designer.
WANG I JU Country of Origin
Taiwan
Languages Spoken
Chinese/ English Previous Education
BA of Fine Arts Progressing to
MA Fashion Promotion & Imaging
Since I was a college student, I have always wanted to study abroad. The reason was because Europe has abundant fashion resources and contemporary thoughts, which are the issues I have always been concerned about. This is why my creations often criticized established aesthetics and viewed modern society with scepticism.
After completing my BA course in Visual Communications, I worked for approximately three years to save up for tuitions in order to study in the UK. This plan has finally been achieved over these past days. Before I came to the UCA, I supposed that the pre-sessional course might have been a simple language program. However, such impressive things have happened during these days that changed my perception for the following three reasons.
Firstly, through intensive training I developed my academic skills, and learned how to write references, something I had never done before. Secondly, there was an abundancy of art and design stimulations on our campus, practical courses and plenty of students with their creative mind got together. They could exchange their ideas or do collaborative work. The third benefit for us was studying in a multicultural environment in advance, thus we learned how to respect different cultures, because we might need to cooperate with students from various backgrounds in the future. Above all, I now know that I will not panic when my main course begins.
During this course, we also visited some places that inspired me about fashion promotion. Many famous brands use various ways to promote their image widely. For example, a DJ I met, was playing 80’s electronic music inside a well-known shop in London and interacting with customers. That was a creative commercial strategy and far more effective than recorded music. So, everybody indulged into this playful atmosphere. I hope I will explore more about such fascinating ideas in the future.
MinQi YE (Kiki)
N O T H BRIG
China Chinese, English BA Fashion,GuangZhou University, China MA Fashion Promotion and Imaging
PSEAD
After the PSEAD course, I think I am a completely different person, because I have enhanced my personal experience and learnt a lot of valuable knowledge from this ten week course. The most interesting is the education system in UK which is really different from the Chinese one. First of all, I have leant many useful skills throughout these ten weeks, such as communication skills and academic skills. For example, we need to express our idea in a faster, simpler, more effective and convenient way. At the same time, when we make a presentation and transmit the idea to audiences, we need to use use body language, eye contact and human element to communicate with the audence and make sure they follow our content in order to understand it. So, communication skills are very significant for me to explain my idea in design with my teacher and share my views for classmates. Secondly, academic writing plays an important role in our study, because I need to produce academic work in university as an essential requirement, using many characteristics, explanations, examples and a list of works to produce work. At the same time, references are also very important details, through this course, I know how to find the right evidence and how to write references in the right way and the most useful thing is how to use academic writing skill. To sum up, during the pre-sessional course, I feel that I have improved a lot. I have become more independent than before and my horizons have been brodaned. In addition, I have gained essential communication skills, so I believe I can manage my main course and make a good quality essay and report. The most important is that I really enjoy my life in this course. Moreover, pre-sessional course is like an effective tool to help reduce the difficult way to enter the main course, and I can use the skills that I have learnt from this course in my future study.
I think that London is the most amazing city in the world. Red color is the symbol of the city. There, you can feel very enthusiastic, happy and be spellbound by the diverse culture. When we went to V&A Museum and Tate Modern, there were a lot of amazing exhibitions. Through analysis of different colors, cutting techniques and styles in one of the exhibitions, I found out a lot of valuable and relevant information for my main course.
Brighton BLUE and WHITE are the main colors that I associate with Brighton. I think people in Brighton are quite relaxed and there is a laid-back atmosphere, mainly due to the fcat it is by the sea but also Brighton culture. When you walk alongside the beach, you will feel great and forget about all your troubles!
Oxford We also went to Oxford where we visited The Ashmolean Museum, The Pitt Rivers Museum and MOMA Oxford which was my absolute favourite with Barbara Kruger’s work was exhibited - I was impressed with thw way she used the gallery space to communicate her thoughts about feminism through graphic design - wow!
Tai-en Chiang
///
Graduated from Shih Chien University in Taiwan, majored in Fashion Design and now is going to study MA Fashion Promotion and Imaging in UCA.
When I decided to study aboard, I had to choose which country to study in. Then I soon made the decision to come to the UK, because its capital, London, is a modern city with a mature fashion
industry. Moreover, it is part of Europe, thus close to all the avant-garde fashion countries. Therefore, I can be closer to their fashion industry and travelling to these countries is easier. I majored in Fashion Design. I acquired some professional skills about fashion such as makeup design, hairstyling, pattern drafting and fashion editing. In my graduation project, I got inspiration from flowers and women, because I believe that different flowers have their unique characteristics and so do women. Because the Master course lasts only one year, I wanted to stay in the UK as long as possible, so I bought the earliest fly ticket to London for thePre-Sessional English course for Art and Design (PSEAD) and here my new life began! In the begin-
ning, I thought that the Pre-Sessional course would only focus on improving our English skills, but I was surprised when I realised that it is also very closely related to creative arts. Most importantly our tutor was always willing to give us more and more tasks :) During the Pre-Sessional course, we learned to write academic essays, prepared presentations and publications, and we also went on trips. These useful skills will not only remarkably help me in my main course but also in my future works. I am still in search of my future career and plans, so I hope everything will become clearer to me soon. Anyway, I am actually enjoying this self-exploration trip.
/ School of Fashion /
University for the creativ arts
AIMI WAKANA
Evaluation of PSEAD
JAPAN
JAPANESE & ENGLISH OTSUMA WOMEN’S UNIVERSITY (CLOTHING & TEXTILES) MA FASHION PROMOTION & IMAGING
I like fashion since I was child and, I learned the textiles and clothing at the University of Japan. But somehow I thought it was not enough and I could not see the future, so I decided to come here to study more creative things I want to deepen the learning while being stimulated to unique and original fashion people of the UK.
Farnham Farnham is not a big town, but the atmosphere is good, also people who live in here are kind and is a suitable environment to study. It might be boring for students of fashion majors, but there are a few small secondhand clothes store and clothing stores, and charity shops in the town, it was interesting for me because I like old things. Charity shops are not common in Japan, but there is a habit to enjoy shopping in the charity shop on a daily basis in the United Kingdom. The charity shop, in short, is a secondhand shop, but some percentage of customers pay is contributed. It is a shop that has local atmosphere and they sell dishes and daily necessities and record apart from clothes. There is a chance that you can get cheap bargains here.
PSEAD project trip Ă— Fashion There were four trips which were to inspire the different projects in this course. It was a very good experience to be able to go to various locations as part of the class. On trips, I felt that the modern and classic architecture styles were mixed. Also, I realized again that UK is a country that loves the old stuff. As an example, various antique markets are being held in London. I visited the Old Spital Fields market. Shopping in a place where many things come together was like a treasure hunt. I also saw a lot of vintage shops in a Brighton trip. Of course, latest clothes are nice but clothes that capture history can be also also attractive. History and trends of the past are important to learn fashion. Through this course, I reassured that studying fashion in this country will enable me to learne about the merger of the old and the new.
l enjoyed the PSEAD course as it used social media in learning, took advantage of the sketchbook and it all seemed new to me. I was hesitant to at first, but I felt that it was necessary in order to study the art learning and academic in the main course in the future. If I participated in the main course from September without taking this course, I would start learning while facing a variety of problems and unknown points. I thought it was the right choice for foreign students to start with studying the PSEAD course being unfamiliar to the environment and learning system of this country. I could reseach things that were relevant to my main course in the project trips, because I could choose my theme in each project. I feel I am ready to start studying my main course, Fashion Promotion & Imaging beginning in September.
Emilie
Evaluation of PSEAD
Hsieh I-Hwa Kaohsiung, Taiwan Chinese BA Department of Fashion Design and Merchandising Shih Chien University MA Fashion Promotion & Imaging
I think fashion is not just for people who like luxury, but also for ordinary people. I chose to study Fashion Promotion and Imaging to find the most cost-effective way of selling valuables. While studying the PSEAD course in Farnham, I passed by Goldsmiths shop very often. The wide choice of both, luxury and ordinary brands really struck me and I thought the shop could be accessible by various clients. Goldsmiths is a business with more than 230 years of tradition and experience (goldsmiths, 2014). The first showroom opened in Newcastle in 1778, and it’s still trading today on the very same site. There have been many notable achievements for Goldsmiths.
Today, Goldsmiths is the largest quality jeweller in the UK with over 100 showrooms in every major town and city from Aberdeen to Torquay, as well as five in Northern Ireland. Each offers the high street's finest selection of premier and designer watch brands, and gold and diamond jewellery. The brandsI found in Goldsmiths showroom are: Rolex, Accurist, Argent, Baby-G, Baume & Mercier, Bill Skinner, Breitling, Bulova, Canadian ice, Carat, Casio, Chanel, Citizen, Daniel Wellington, Diesel, Dinny Hall, DKNY, Edifice, Emmozioni, Emporio Armani, Esrella Bartlett, Eterna, Fossil, G-Shock, GUCCI, Guess, Hamilton, Hugo Boss, ice watch, Karen Millen, Kate Spade, Little Wishes, Longines, Marc by marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Olivia Burton, Omega, Ponte Vecchio, Oris, Radley, Rado, Rapport, Ratmond Weil, Bkagen, Swarovski, Tagheuer, Tateossian, Ted Baker, Tissot, Tw Steel, and Vivienne Westwood.
I think the pre-sessional course was not like a general language school, because I learned a lot of things to help me prepare for my main course in September. I am not afraid of academic writing anymore and I know how to write it perfectly. I now know how to structure a presentation and let everyone know the key point which I want to express. I will read more articles in English to learn new vocabulary and I will keep up with the speed of the film subtitles. One of the things that I most enjoyed while on PSEAD was making new friends from different countries. Because of the inherent unfairness, the reality we must work harder. Be brave to face challenges, not escape it. I am not like the general student still unknown for their future. I have a strong background and also I knew my mission, I have learned the most things in the shortest time, and then returned my home to help our family business: Weddings dress company. I have to work harder than others. I am ready to face my main course of the Fashion promotion and imaging. References: Goldsmiths, www.goldsmiths.co.uk, accessed on 20 August 2014
Michael China
MinYue Wang
Chinese, English, French
SELFRIDGES & CO Website
BA Fashion Design, IFA Paris
I want my fashion brand to be profitable and influential. Good design is the foundation. I realise it is significant to make a clothing brand in the ever-changing fashion world to survive and develop, my brand must be unique and excellent.
MA Fashion Management & Marketing
I come from Shanghai in China. I majored in Fashion Design on the IFA Paris, and studied makeup and photography there. I love fashion. I founded my own brand with my friends. I found myself more interested in fashion management and retail, and I feel I need to deepen my knowledge about fashion management and marketing.
This is one of my most satisfying designs at university. I tend to use black and white and gray colours as well as few prints. In my styIe, I want to use simplicity and tough futuristic silhouette.
After I graduated from the college, I worked for the fast fashion brand H&M Visual Merchandiser in Shanghai. But I wanted to establish my own independent designer brand and I began brainstoming ideas for it with my friends. The brand name is “TRIANGLE”. The brand’s style is simplicity and pure classic form. We have created the brand website, entered the physical stores and online stores as well.
When I first came to Farnham UK, I was attracted to many boutique shops, one of the most favorite ones is Whistles. The brand is a local brand. Its quality fabrics, the design is simple and practical and generous. Store display is also very simple and clean, the brand is black lettering on white background. This brand is greatly favoured by the British Princess Kate. She had attended the Olympics and other important occasions wearing Whistles clothes. The visibility of Whistels in the UK is quite high. And the brand is expanding sale channels. On the other hand, I found that British brands have tendency to sell tradtionally - in phisical stores, but they recently began to focus on the online sale, and website information is updated quickly, beautifully designed.
HsiangHsuan Chou Nationality- Taiwan Language- Mandarin BA degree- Teaching Chinese as a Second Language Progressing to- Fashion
Marketing
ABOUT ME
Studying in London
I studied in London at a language school last year for a few months. I did gradually improve my English and realized how massive and fantastic UK is. London is one of the most cosmopolitan city in the world, and it is just as romantic as a poem, as beautiful as a painting. I visited some famous spots such as The House of Parliament, the British Museum, and the South Bank as well as the highest building in Europe “Shard”.
Except for learning in a classroom, we still went outdoors to explore our new environment. We visited the Farnham Museum and Castle. The landscape and architecture here are different from those in London. As a result, I was exposed to two different perspectives, and all the things I observed could be considered as the beauty of art. However, fashion is also art, as it is an expression of both beauty and humanity. In addition, we also toured to Brighton, where I drew in my sketchbook what I saw.
Background
During my undergraduate studies, I worked parttime for a well-known women’s apparel company. I acquired marketing skills like store decoration, arrangement of product layout, and how to sell products to attract customers. I was even modelling for an event at this shop as a way of promoting our clothes. I cherished this experience, and I am pleased that my endeavors and persistence won my customers’ and employer’s recognition. However, what touched me the most was the feedback I received from customers.
In Future
Pre-sessional Course
In these five weeks, I have learned many useful research skills that I will need to apply into my future main course. Drawing a mind-map is also very helpful for organising my thoughts. Additionally, I familiarised myself with the TED talks, which facilitated me to perfect my oral presentations.
In the future, I want to work in my father’s business, which is a brand imported from Europe. Before I came here, I had a chance to work there. This experience made me realise that Fashion is actually a “concept” that I can insert into any industry. After the connection between my father’s business and fashion, I hope I will be able to insert fashion as an element in that brand. I am convinced that I will enhance my marketing skills through my MA, which will be my best guide in my new adventure.
Yang Wu Country: Chian University: South China Agriculture University
Through the pre-sessional English course, I acquired new skills and enhanced my abilities, such as academic writing and presentation skills. work I also learned how to both independently and as member of a group.
Main Course: MA Fahion Management & Marketing I studied economics and management and obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Management. It was the time after I saw the movie “The Devil Wears Prada� that I generated the first wish to become a fashion magazine editor. Being a freshman, I joined the Han Dynasty Garment Association, whose members explored the ancient Chinese traditional clothing the Han Dynasty Garments- to understand their history of development and designs. My department was in charge of the product design and the procedure of how to make the garments. I also made clothes with my own hands. From this project, I gained a lot of knowledge, which aroused my great interest in the fashion garment industry. So I choose the MA in Fashion Management & Marketing to enhance my knowledge and broaden my horizon.
About Myself
PSEAD
Course As far as I am concerned, it is necessary to attend a presessional course. International students need this adjustment period before moving to their main course, because the acquired skills will help them adapt to studying abroad better.
Main Course During my main course, I will learn a lot abou t fashion management, branding, public relations, marketing and marketing strategy formulation. So, I hope that after I graduate from the UCA I will be well-qualified to work in the fashion industry.
When I wrote my academic essay during the presessional course, I searched many books, and I acquired a variety of knowledge about my future course. Therefore, I am interested in the work of fashion marketing and public relations.
e r u t Fu
Being influenced by the movie and the books, I hope that in the future I will become a Fashion Public Relations Manager or work for a magazine publication company related to fashion. I think my main course will facilitate me to achieve my goals.
Yun-Ya, Liu Country of Origin
Taiwan
Languages Spoken
Chinese
Previous Education BA French Language Progressing to MA Fashion Management & Marketing
ABOUT ME Background
I worked in the marketing and planning sector at a large-scale fashion department store in my country for six years, where I developed a strong passion for the fashion industry. However, I decided to attend an MA in Fashion Management & Marketing in UCA, because I had no academic background in fashion-related subjects and I wanted to strengthen my English abilities at the same time. However, without a direct Englishspeaking environment, it was difficult to improve my English effectively. Thus, the school offered a 5-week pre-sessional English course (PSEAD course) to prepare students for their future studies.course) let us learn
PSEAD course in UCA
The PSEAD course enabled me to adapt not only to the learning but also to the living environment in advance, emphasizing academic writing skills. Following the course step by step truly helped me a lot. Firstly, the course aimed at providing an effective way of teaching academic writing skills, so that we are well-prepared for our future dissertation. Lacking these skills is undoubtedly a big obstacle towards the completion of our main studies. Secondly, the PSEAD course emphasized on inspiring students’ critical thinking, because we had to make a statement
and talk about our views on certain subject during class. I came to realize that the teaching method i n the western countries was totally different from that of the eastern countries, because the main purpose of education here is not to train students like robots.
My Future I had already set my mind on the relationship between the brand and the mass media. How to become an effective medium between the brand and the media and how to develop a creative marketing strategy through media are what I eager to learn.
To be continued >>>
My name is
Hsiang-Yi, Wang
Country: Taiwan Native Langue: Chinese Main Course: Fashion Management and Marketing
For me, fashion is a means of communication and connection bet ween the most creative designers and a market which values people’s appearances and personalities.
Background I majored in International Business. In the Marketing course, I learned about ‘Classical Conditioning’, which inspired my interest in marketing. As a result, combining my interest in marketing and fashion, I decided to undertake an MA in Fashion Management and Marketing.
Pre-Sessional English Course Before the beginning of my main course, I attended the pre-sessional English course.
First, the pre-sessional English course made me get used to the new life in the U.K. that is quite different from that in Taiwan. Moreover, with my tutor’s encouragement, I became much more confident in expressing my opinions in front of my classmates. Second, I learned how to write references and bibliography. With the tutor teaching step by step, and the experience of writing an essay, I clearly understood how to write references and bibliography. Third, presentations will be a very important part in my future. With the help of my tutor, I have learned how to prepare and perform presentations effectively.
Finally, visiting museums was not only a wonderful opportunity to visit other cities, but also helped me gain deeper insights into art and cultivate my sense of arts, because my BA was not art-related.
Future Having attended this course, I believe that I may be ahead of my future fellow students who did not attend the pre-sessional course. Hopefully, a bright future in the Fashion Industry will be awaiting me after my graduation! I will work hard to make it!