Central Saint Martins
London, UK
Central Saint Martins was formed in 1989 from the merger of two, much older, colleges: the Central School of Arts & Crafts (founded in 1896) and St Martin's School of Art (founded in 1854). Both of the founding colleges were internationally renowned for the work of their students and staff. St Martin's was particularly well known for fashion and fine art and the Central School for a wide range of design and art, including theatre design, industrial design and graphic design.
Comprising more than 24,000 students from over 100 countries, the University offers a range of academic programmes from further education through to undergraduate, postgraduate and research degrees. Professional diplomas, certificates and short courses are available in a wide variety of subjects.
Our former staff and students have included some of the most important British and international artists working over the last 150 years from May Morris, the daughter of William Morris, and William Lethaby who founded the Central School, to Lucien Freud and Frank Auerbach who studied fine art at St Martin's in the middle of the 20th century, to the latest wave of exciting British fashion designers including John Galliano, Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney who have changed the face of international fashion in the 1990s.
Fashion is a fast moving and highly diverse international industry with a wide range of markets and creative communication and production practices. It takes hard work, flexibility and passion to succeed.
Our philosophy is to provide a learning environment in which innovation, invention and originality can be developed within a range of different, but closely related, fashion pathways. It springs from the belief that for fashion graduates to contribute effectively in a climate of change in the new millennium, they need to be versatile fashion specialists. They will need to possess an in-depth knowledge of their chosen fields, as well a breadth of knowledge and critical understanding of the professional fashion environment.
The BA Fashion course at Central Saint Martins has earned a national and international reputation for producing innovative and highly creative designers and fashion communicators who have gone on to make outstanding and directional contributions within a variety of fashion professions in the UK and abroad. Graduates include such influential names as John Galliano, Hussein Chalayan, Matthew Williamson, Stella McCartney and the journalists Iain R Webb, Jeremy Langmead and Andrew Davis.