module specification

In this module you will explore and practice different types of communications within the fashion industry, with a focus on journalism, and critically discuss the position of a journalist with the variety of industries linked to fashion. Thus, this module aims to develop both the practical skills crucial for your future career in fashion and journalism and the analytical skills required to confidently and critically discuss these industries at the level of higher education.

First, you will explore the different ways that the fashion industry uses communications (PR, branding, social media, etc), as well as instances where fashion intersects with journalism in specialised fashion publications and general news and lifestyle publications. You will explore the factors that influence fashion communication, including marketing and business matters. As part of that, you will also explore the histories of these industries and their major players (publications, companies, brands), as well as the current developments, trends and issues in the industry as a whole. This will allow you to confidently discuss not just what these industries expect from journalists and other communication professionals, but also analyse and even challenge these expectations from a variety of viewpoints.

You will then study the practical expectations within different industries and practice writing and producing content from press releases, marketing copy and brand books to news, features, opinion pieces. This will give you crucial skills for several career routes in your future.

In class you will learn through a combination of lectures and practical classes, with weekly tasks. You will be assessed through a pitching session, a portfolio of fashion writing and weekly online journal contributions.

This module focuses on developing the students’ critical understanding of fashion communications and journalism, and their ability to produce fashion-related communications to journalistic and commercial brief.

Students will study and discuss the historical and contemporary contexts of communications withing the fashion industry and the adjacent fashion media industry, and the state and expectations that arise in the industries from these contexts. Students will be encouraged to discuss these industries critically, from the point of view of not just fashion but global culture, politics, economics and social justice. [LO1, LO4,]

Students will also study and practice writing fashion texts across genres and formats, from news and features to press releases, advertorials and branded content. As part of this, students will examine the practical expectations of formats and genres (structure, word count, research and sources) and the practical implications of writing to brief (both journalistic and commercial). [LO2, LO3,]

Workshop-based classes and independent learning will target both these practical and analytical skills and encourage reflection on the learning process and the meaning and implications of the practical work of communicating fashion, with the aim of fostering creativity, confidence and social responsibility within the student community and in the future workspaces. [] [LO3, LO4]

The module will be taught by a programme of weekly sessions, comprising a three-hour block for each of the weeks in which it runs. Learning and teaching strategy will be based on an mix of an interactive practice-oriented model and a seminar model, which would give students opportunity not to just work on their employable skills but to also intellectually challenge the industry and its expectations of journalists and other communication professionals.

Teaching methods include lectures, workshops, guest speakers, seminar discussion and tutorials. Students are expected to attend and encouraged to participate in the sessions. In seminars, workshops and tutorials they are expected to raise issues, ask questions and seek and offer feedback to enable them to reflect on practice.

Practical work will include writing to brief in class, a mock editorial meeting, and feedback sessions involving tutor and the students. Engagement week and newsweeks, field trips, guest speakers and screenings will complement the syllabus, as will one-to-one tutorial and coaching sessions.

Tutorials and formative assessments will take place to prepare students for the summative assessments.

Electronic resources, including the university’s VLE and its tools, will be used by students and staff. VLE will contain notes, slides, readings, and weblinks related to the weekly teaching session topics.

Independent reflective study, including reading and styling and writing exercises, will form the backbone of every session. In addition to guided reading, students are expected to read and follow media and fashion media critically.

On successful completion of this module, having completed all the tasks set, students should be able to:

LO1. Communicate a critical understanding of the ways in which fashion and adjacent industries use communications;
LO2. Use a range of skills and techniques to produce fashion communications across formats, including marketing communiques such as advertorials and press releases;
LO3. Use a range of skills and techniques to produce fashion journalism across genres;
LO4. Critically analyse fashion communications across formats and genres for their cultural and commercial significance;

This list includes both core and additional reading:
https://rl.talis.com/3/londonmet/lists/EDCE46E7-34EF-B91B-4A38-E983DA71E577.html?lang=en&login=1