Fashion Design BA

Doing fashion is a culture, and fashion design is a cultural practice. Defining exactly what fashion is or should be is not easy – and perhaps that is why it is so fascinating and imbued with pleasure. Fashion is a global and social system that constantly produces paradoxes that we cannot always resolve. Fashion confronts people with their own contradictions. Fashion is involved in all areas that are very important to us at the moment: gender, new digital spaces, identity, future, climate, environment, globality, regionality and social justice.

Alongside a strong emphasis on performance and performativity, the degree programme is characterised by a strong focus on the body, its perception and movement, on body-based design methods and on body-knowledge. We deal with other bodies, other bodies of fashion in the midst of debates that reassess the confrontation between man and machine. What are artificial and technical changes of the human body, how is the body of fashion responding to the metaverse?

Study structure

Doing Fashion Knowledges’ (1st to 6th semester)
Courses focus on design, manual and technical skills, as well as research and design practices: students will learn about tools, techniques, theories and methods, and practise skills that are the foundation for fashion design processes. Course content is tailored specifically to each semester. Third-semester students also take a study trip for several days.

Doing Fashion Studio & Doing Fashion Purpose  (1st to 4th semester)
This elective programme, made up of several different specialisations and open to students of all semesters, promotes interaction and cooperation among students from all academic years as they tackle current issues and design problems.
Graduate Studios 1+2 (1st and 3rd semester) also give students the opportunity to get involved in the thesis projects and public graduation ceremony. An important part of sharing knowledge and experiences lies in mutual learning and understanding.

Out of Classroom – Internship (5th semester)
During the internship semester, you will continue to hone acquired knowledge, and test and improve your abilities and skills in a professional context. The internship period fosters the critical questioning of current social and economic systems, thus providing you the opportunity to expand your international professional network.

Bachelor’s thesis (6th and 7th semester)
In Studio PreThesis Research, the main focus is on exploring critical fashion design, thus opening up spaces for independent experimentation and research. Research is seen as an exploratory process in which students can investigate, analyse and build on their own manual skills and design interests. The goal is students’ specific positioning of their own design in relation to current environmental, ethical and economic challenges of the fashion system.

The thesis exam is a performative learning situation for the students’ own fashion vision. What they have specifically designed is made tangible in space, in movement and in relation to the physical. The exam focuses on students’ clarification of their own approach; their consideration of problems of the fashion world relevant to their work – such as materials, textile techniques, social and political implications – is also discussed. Together, the two part clarify the students’ position in the fashion landscape .
During your studies, you will be comprehensively prepared for all aspects of the Swiss and international job market. In addition to study trips, the internship semester and various collaboration opportunities, the study programme also hosts an annual final thesis event to support graduates with professional networking.

The Fashion Design study programme is directed at people who are very interested in fashion and fashion design. You deal with social issues and want to learn about how design helps shape the world we live in. You are enthusiastic about creative craftsmanship methods and techniques, as well as about participatory and collaborative work processes that you will develop in the fields of professional, social and self-competence. During your studies, you will learn to deal mindfully with people, materials and the environment and assume a position of responsibility.

Goals and benefits

In the course of their BA studies at the Institute of Fashion Design, students develop an understanding of the trajectories of contemporary culture and learn to voice their own opinion in the discourse on design, art, and culture. They are consciously engaged in the holistic shaping of an inspiring, relevant portfolio with the ability to change the current fashion practice through new creations. In contrast to working alone on a single dress form, they incorporate the living human body – their own and that of others – in the design process, right from the start.

Career prospects

As a graduate of the Fashion Design study programme, you will be qualified to enter the broad professional field of fashion and fashion design.

The study programme, with its diverse structure and foundation, imparts a sophisticated range of design strategies and practical professional skills to the graduates.
This degree qualifies students for entry-level careers in the fields of fashion design and accessory and jewellery design. Graduates often go into related fields such as fashion photography, fashion film and journalism, costume design, art and performance, and curating. The internship semester has proven to be an indispensable experience for introducing students to the professional world. Many graduates receive grants from renowned institutions and work as a freelance fashion designers.

The master’s degree offered at the HGK Basel (Studio Fashion, ICDP) gives students the chance to gain more knowledge on the subject.

With its studios, labs and centrally located campus.workshops, the HGK Basel provides ideal conditions for combining a curiosity for craftsmanship, the acquisition of new techniques and digital know-how. What’s more, all students have their own work station in the spacious studios, which are open 24/7. The Fashion Design study programme has a sewing, leather, knitting and cutting studio with professional-grade equipment, as well as its own digital workshop with a digital cutting system for textiles, paper and solid materials. Students have access to the facilities 365 days a year.

For further information on the infrastructure.

Educational requirements
For admission to the aptitude assessment for the bachelor’s programmes in Design (Industrial Design, Interior Architecture and Scenography, Fashion Design, Process Design, Visual Communication and Digital Spaces), one of the following qualifications is generally required:

• a certified vocational baccalaureate
• a certified specialized baccalaureate
• a certified upper secondary school (level II) baccalaureate
• proof of an equivalent educational degree at an upper secondary school (level II) obtained otherwise (Swiss education system)
  

Language of tuition
The language of tuition is German (B2 or equivalent) and partly English. Proof of language proficiency is required at the start of the degree programme.

Workplace experience or preparatory course in Design
In addition, candidates need to provide proof of one year of workplace experience or completion of a two-semester preparatory course in Design.

approved professional fields (PDF in German)
Is a list of approved vocational trainings and professional fields, respectively.

Catching up on the vocational baccalaureate
Applicants who have not completed at least three years of upper secondary schooling (level II) are not legally entitled to admission to a Bachelor's degree programme. Information concerning full-time or part-time on-the-job training courses focusing on a vocational, design-based or specialized baccalaureate is provided by the local vocational colleges.

Admission on the basis of exceptional talent (1)
In exceptional cases, applicants can be admitted to the Bachelor’s degree programmes without being in possession of an upper secondary school (level II) certificate (Swiss education system), namely if they can provide proof of exceptional talent, either in a design-related or an arts-related field. 
Note: We recommend that you make enquiries by means of an email to the office of the respective degree programme at admission.BALW1vZGVkZXNpZ24uaGdrQGZobncuY2g= at least two weeks prior to the application deadline (15 February), or arrange an appointment with the Head of the degree programme.

____________
(1) If you are in possession of one of the following educational degrees, you are eligible for this mode of admission:
Federal Certificate of Vocational Proficiency EFZ (apprenticeship), Professional Certificate EBA, Specialized Secondary School (FMS), Compulsory Schooling, no educational qualification

To apply for a place at the HGK Basel, the required documents must be submitted by deadline 15.02.2025.
Please send the specific enquiries to email address.

Info aptitude assessment 2025 (german)

Dates aptitude assessment 2025

• 01.11.2024
  Publication of the detailed information on the aptitude assessment
  
• 15.02.2025
  Registration deadline and deadline for submitting the required documents for the aptitude assessment.
• 01.- 12.09.2025
  Introductory weeks at the HGK Basel (mandatory)
• 15.09.2025
  Fall Semester begin 2025/26

Study Regulation, Fashion Design (BA) PDF in German

Here you will find answers to FAQs about preparing and registering for a Bachelor’s (BA) or a Master’s (MA) degree programme at the HGK Basel FHNW.

FAQ online registration

Here you will find answers to organizational, administrative and legal questions all about studying -->

On 11 February 2023, 23 designers from the BA Fashion Design course at the Institute of Contemporary Design Practice (ICDP) staged and performed their final projects. After seven semesters at the FHNW Academy of Art and Design Basel, they presented their projects and creative visions in a Fashion Live Act. It is the finale of an intensive period of study and at the same time marks the start of the future.

to the live act (live recording) in german

Further information on our events, projects and publications can be found on our blog.

International students can find further information on the website of the International Office of the HGK Basel.

Public transport
The campus is easy to reach by public transport. The stop Freilager on BLT line 11 is immediately in front of the Campus (from Bahnhof SBB in direction Aesch)

By car
Leave the motorway A2 at the junction Basel-St. Jakob and follow the sign Dreispitz. Approaching from Münchensteinerstrasse enter the Dreispitz complex through Gate 13 and park your car in one of the public car parks (Ruchfeld or Leimgrube). When setting your satnav, please note that the Freilager complex is part of the municipality of Münchenstein, Canton Basel-Landschaft.

Access by car for people with disabilities
Choose the access via Florenz-Strasse in the direction of the High-rise building (Building D). To lower the bollard at the gates of the campus please ring the bell. You will be connected to our reception in Building D.

Map as PDF

The buildings of the HGK Basel are accessible by wheelchair, stroller,  and for people with walking difficulties. The entrance to the highrise building (Building D) is at ground level, the studio building (Building A) can be reached via a ramp. There is at least one lift in both buildings.

Access by car for people with disabilities: See Gender-neutral toilets: See ‘Getting there‘.

Toilets for people with disabilities: 

Highrise building (Building D): Ground floor to 8th floor in the centre of the building
Studio building (Building A): Ground floor to 3rd floor, southern section of main corridor

Gender-neutral toilets: See ‘All Welcome WC’.

Parent-child-room: See 'Parent-child-room'.

Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW
Institute Contemporary Design Practices (ICDP)
Freilager-Platz 1
Postfach

CH-4002 Basel

Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW
Institute Contemporary Design Practices (ICDP)
Fashion Design BA degree course

Oslo-Strasse 3, Ateliergebäude: A 3.14
4142 Münchenstein b. Basel

T +41 61 228 40 99
F +41 61 228 43 02
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