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Costume Design and Construction at Nottingham Trent University - UCAS

Course options

Course summary

Learn to tell stories through costumes. This specialist degree focuses on developing both your costume design and costume construction skills. You will learn how to translate your creative ideas into professional costumes for theatre, film and television, dance, opera and other performance areas. You will also have the opportunity to explore a range of relevant skills: corsetry, pattern cutting, draping, tailoring, millinery, costume props, fabric knowledge, textile breaking down, print and dye and other emerging technologies. Our aim on the course is to create future-facing professionals, who are industry relevant, work collaboratively, and are outward-facing autonomous practitioners. Key features

  • Gain hands-on industry experience: You’ll have the opportunity to complete a work experience placement of up to a year in length. Dependent on the duration of your placement, you could gain an additional Diploma or Certificate in Professional Practice.
  • Take part in global opportunities: Visit design exhibitions at venues like the V&A in London and the National Theatre costume department. You will also have the opportunity to go on national and European trips to see opera, ballet, theatre and dance performances.
  • Personalise your studies: Select from eight optional modules to tailor your studies to your interests. You’ll also take part in CoLab, a unique chance to work across disciplines on creative projects with a focus on sustainability, innovation or social change.
Employability Graduate destinations have included costume designing and / or construction for prestigious companies such as Angels Costumiers and the BBC, and freelance or in-house costume designing, making and assisting for a myriad of stage and screen companies, events and performances both large-scale and small-scale. These include everything from Outlander to Not Just Fish & Ships, Lichfield Garrick Pantomime to wardrobe on a cruise ship, and making props on the latest Marvel feature.

Modules

[Year One]

  • Welcome to Costume (40 credit points)
  • Questioning Costume (40 credit points)
  • Skills Passport (20 credit points)
  • Sustainability in Context (20 credit points)
[Year Two]
  • Costume Exploration (40 credit points)
  • Costume Direction (40 credit points) or; Industry Placement (40 credit points)
  • Co Lab: Research, Exploration and Risk-taking (20 credit points)
  • Optional module (20 credit points). You will also choose one module from below:
Slow Making and Craftmanship Millinery: Object and Narrative Character Ideation Tabletop Game Development Drawing & Exploring with Natural Materials Fashion Photography: Cover Shoot Interactive Narrative Prop Making [Final year]
  • Industry Project (40 credit points)
  • Next Steps - Professional Practice (20 credit points)
- Major Project - Costume Design and Construction (60 credit points)


How to apply

Application codes

Course code:
W451
Institution code:
N91
Campus name:
City Campus
Campus code:
1

Points of entry

The following entry points are available for this course:

  • Year 1

Entry requirements

Qualification requirements

A lower offer may be made based on a range of factors, including your background (such as where you live and the school or college you attended), your experiences and individual circumstances (you may have been in care, for example). This is called a contextual offer and we get data from UCAS to make these decisions. NTU offers a student experience like no other, and this approach helps us to find students who have the potential to succeed here, but may have faced barriers that can make it more difficult to access university. We also consider equivalent qualifications and combinations. Please contact Nottingham Trent University Admissions team for further information.

Additional entry requirements

Portfolio


Student Outcomes

Operated by the Office for Students
83%
Employment after 15 months (Most common jobs)
91%
Go onto work and study

The number of student respondents and response rates can be important in interpreting the data – it is important to note your experience may be different from theirs. This data will be based on the subject area rather than the specific course. Read more about this data on the Discover Uni website.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

England £9790 Year 1
Northern Ireland £9790 Year 1
Scotland £9790 Year 1
Wales £9790 Year 1
EU £18700 Year 1
International £18700 Year 1

Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .

Additional fee information

The tuition fees above are subject to parliamentary procedure. They haven't been confirmed yet, but we expect them to be finalised by May 2026. The level of tuition fees for the second and subsequent years of your undergraduate course may increase in line with inflation and as specified by the UK government.
Costume Design and Construction at Nottingham Trent University - UCAS