Do You Really Need a Fashion Degree? Read This Before You Decide
(image of a DIOR toile from Dior Exhibition, London)
What no one tells you before you apply — and why the industry doesn’t need more designers
This won’t make me popular. Not with universities. Not with lecturers. And definitely not with the fashion education business, which thrives off your tuition fees and your dreams.
But someone needs to say it.
**Fashion education is broken.**
The Industry Can’t Absorb the Output
Every year, hundreds of students graduate with fashion design degrees — in the UK alone.
All dreaming of becoming the next big designer. All pumped full of theory, concept, and creative direction.
But here’s the brutal truth:
The industry can’t take you all. It doesn’t need to. It’s oversaturated. It’s underfunded. And the jobs that do exist? They're not what you think they are.
This isn’t Project Runway. No one’s handing you a studio and a team. You’re lucky if you’re steaming garments and running errands your first year.
Fashion Is a Business. Education Is Too.
Universities don’t exist to feed the industry — they exist to fill seats.
Fashion has become one of the most profitable creative degrees out there. It looks glossy. It sounds glamorous. It’s easy to sell to a 17-year-old with a sketchbook and a dream.
But the reality is, the system doesn’t care if you succeed in the industry. They care if you enrol, pay, and graduate. What happens after that? Not their problem.
Are You Sure Fashion Wants You?
This is the question I wish more people asked before applying.
**Do you want to be in fashion? Or do you want to be around fashion?**
Because fashion — the real thing — will take everything from you.
Sleep. Weekends. Holidays. Relationships. Security.
It demands grit, obsession, and a deep, almost irrational love for the work. The people I know who’ve stayed in the industry for years didn’t do it for the glam. They did it despite the pressure. Despite the anxiety. Despite the burnout.
If that doesn’t sound like you — that’s okay. But be honest with yourself.
The Concept Trap
Another hard truth?
Most fashion degrees are built on concept — not development. Students are taught how to think up a collection, moodboard it, sketch it... and then hand it off to someone else to figure out.
But that someone else — the pattern cutter, the developer, the sample team — they don’t work for free. And they don’t always exist. Designers like this, even those with heavy resources, burn through money like there’s no tomorrow because of the time wasted in the development stages due to lack of knowledge.
If you don’t understand construction, materials, fit, or cost — you’re just creating fantasy. And there’s nothing wrong with fantasy. But it’s not fashion until someone makes it wearable.
What You Should Be Asking Instead
If you’re thinking of studying fashion, ask this first:
- What part of the industry do I actually want to work in?
- Do I want to design, or do I want to create?
- Can I handle the pressure — financially, emotionally, practically?
- Am I willing to do the unglamorous work for years?
- And finally… does this course teach me how to *build* fashion — or just imagine it?
If the answer is 'just imagine it' — think twice.
Why I’m Speaking Out
This is why I’ve started this space. Not to slate education — but to speak honestly, from inside the industry. To give you the truth before you spend years of your life (and thousands of pounds) chasing an illusion.
If I can prevent even a few heartbreaks — or better yet, push universities to do better — then this will have been worth it.
I want fashion schools to take note. To stop producing thousands of concept designers with no real training in development. To do better — for their students, and for the industry that’s struggling to absorb them.
-Written by Arena Page
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