Portfolio guidance
To support your application you will be asked to submit, or bring in, a portfolio. Your portfolio is an opportunity to show us who you are, your creative ability and your potential.
This page provides a detailed insight into how to prepare the best possible portfolio for your course.
Portfolio submission deadlines
The guidance below sets out our typical requirements, but in light of the current circumstances please be aware that you can submit: GCSE work, and work from last year; work in progress such as sketches of ideas; photos of your work; fewer examples of your work than we have recommended in the guidance.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do contact us.
We look forward to seeing your work.
Please note that if you are applying to the following courses you will not need to submit a portfolio:
- BA (Hons) Fashion Branding and Communication
- BA (Hons) Fashion Business and Promotion
Please select the course you are applying for
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BA (Hons) Fashion Design - physical portfolios
Use the guidance below to help you put your physical portfolio together.
Take a look at our portfolio guidance video for more advice on how to create the best possible portfolio for your application.
Format for physical portfolios
- Portfolios for our disciplines tend to be A1, A2 or A3 in size, and made up of a number of design sheets, supported by sketchbooks and 3D items.
- Make sure the portfolio is user-friendly and shows your skills to the best advantage. We advise clean clear presentation of work arranged or printed onto white sheets of paper. Do not present textile portfolios in plastic pockets, as it is important to be able to appreciate the tactile nature of the work.
- Include photos of 3D work within your portfolio but bring key items (eg, garments, interior objects, artistic statements) with you, if this is feasible.
Content
- Include work relevant to your chosen course, also showing us who you are as a creative practitioner. Include ideas generation, experimentation and development as well as a cross-section of ideas to evidence your creative interests.
- Show examples of drawings.
- For fashion design courses: these should include fashion sketches, life drawings and observational drawings.
- For textile courses: examples include sketches, observational drawings, collages, mark-making and paintings.
- For both fashion and textiles courses: you can also include textile sampling, photographs, print ideas, three-dimensional work and anything else relevant to the area of creative practice.
- Show how you generate, develop and resolve ideas. Including one full project from start to finish with the preparatory drawings included can be effective.
- Bring sketchbook/s, as this will give us an understanding of how you think and allow us to see the development of your drawing/design development.
- Arrange the order of your portfolio in a way that helps you talk through your experience, strengths, and interests. You may find it useful to cluster your portfolio into projects, or put it in a chronological order. Start and finish with your best pieces!
Skills we would like to see
- Skills in relation to colour and materials.
- Drawing.
- Composition.
- Creativity/individuality.
- Use of a visible design process for idea development.
- A passion for your chosen subject.
BA (Hons) Fashion Design - digital portfolios
The content of your digital portfolio and the skills it demonstrates should be the same as if you were creating a physical portfolio. The only difference is that you will need to submit your portfolio through your applicant portal rather than physically bring it in for us to see.
Watch this video guidance on digital portfolios.
Take a look at the course specific guidance below for help with putting your digital portfolio together.
Content
- Include work relevant to your chosen course, also showing us who you are as a creative practitioner. Include ideas generation, experimentation and development as well as a cross-section of ideas to evidence your creative interests.
- Show examples of drawings. For fashion design: these should include fashion sketches, life drawings and observational drawings. For textiles: examples include sketches, observational drawings, collages and paintings. For both: you can also include textile sampling, photographs, print ideas, three-dimensional work, garments and anything else relevant to the area of creative practice.
- Take photos of 3D pieces you wish to include. Please ensure they are clear and show a sense of scale, texture, material, colour and context.
- Try to show one full project from start to finish with the preparatory drawings included. Annotations are helpful as they show how you research and reflect on the development of your work.
- Include one to three final pieces that you are able to talk about. This might include garments, interior pieces or artistic statements.
- Include content from your sketchbook/s, as this will give us an understanding of how you think and allow us to see the development of your drawing/design development.
- There is no set way to order your portfolio, but we would advise that you arrange it in an orderly way. For example, you may find it useful to cluster your portfolio into projects, or put it in a chronological order, or start and finish with your best pieces.
- If you are presenting your portfolio in an unusual way, keep it clear and clean.
Skills we would like to see
- Skills in relation to colour and materials.
- Drawing.
- Composition.
- Individuality.
- Use of a visible design process for idea development.
- Willingness to experiment using a range of media, fabrics and technology.
- A passion for your chosen subject.
- For fashion only: evidence of an understanding and love of text as you will be working with books, scripts and poetry on the course.
Format for digital portfolios
- Submit your work as one PDF or PowerPoint file.
- Your digital portfolio should be no more than 10MB. Please compress your file if it exceeds the limit.
- Ensure your work has a good screen resolution.
- Add any links to video, animations, and moving image work to your PDF or PowerPoint. Please check that these links work before you submit your portfolio and that they can be accessed easily. We will not be able to view links that require a password.
BA (Hons) Textile Design (all pathways) - physical portfolios
Use the guidance below to help you put your physical portfolio together.
Take a look at our portfolio guidance video for more advice on how to create the best possible portfolio for your application.
Format for physical portfolios
- Portfolios for our disciplines tend to be A1, A2 or A3 in size, and made up of a number of design sheets, supported by sketchbooks and 3D items.
- Make sure the portfolio is user-friendly and shows your skills to the best advantage. We advise clean clear presentation of work arranged or printed onto white sheets of paper. Do not present textile portfolios in plastic pockets, as it is important to be able to appreciate the tactile nature of the work.
- Include photos of 3D work within your portfolio but bring key items (eg, garments, interior objects, artistic statements) with you, if this is feasible.
Content
- Include work relevant to your chosen course, also showing us who you are as a creative practitioner. Include ideas generation, experimentation and development as well as a cross-section of ideas to evidence your creative interests.
- Show examples of drawings.
- For fashion design courses: these should include fashion sketches, life drawings and observational drawings.
- For textile courses: examples include sketches, observational drawings, collages, mark-making and paintings.
- For both fashion and textiles courses: you can also include textile sampling, photographs, print ideas, three-dimensional work and anything else relevant to the area of creative practice.
- Show how you generate, develop and resolve ideas. Including one full project from start to finish with the preparatory drawings included can be effective.
- Bring sketchbook/s, as this will give us an understanding of how you think and allow us to see the development of your drawing/design development.
- Arrange the order of your portfolio in a way that helps you talk through your experience, strengths, and interests. You may find it useful to cluster your portfolio into projects, or put it in a chronological order. Start and finish with your best pieces!
Skills we would like to see
- Skills in relation to colour and materials.
- Drawing.
- Composition.
- Creativity/individuality.
- Use of a visible design process for idea development.
- A passion for your chosen subject.
BA (Hons) Textile Design (all pathways) - digital portfolios
The content of your digital portfolio and the skills it demonstrates should be the same as if you were creating a physical portfolio. The only difference is that you will need to submit your portfolio through your applicant portal rather than physically bring it in for us to see.
Watch this video guidance on digital portfolios.
Take a look at the course specific guidance below for help with putting your digital portfolio together.
Content
- Include work relevant to your chosen course, also showing us who you are as a creative practitioner. Include ideas generation, experimentation and development as well as a cross-section of ideas to evidence your creative interests.
- Show examples of drawings. For fashion design: these should include fashion sketches, life drawings and observational drawings. For textiles: examples include sketches, observational drawings, collages and paintings. For both: you can also include textile sampling, photographs, print ideas, three-dimensional work, garments and anything else relevant to the area of creative practice.
- Take photos of 3D pieces you wish to include. Please ensure they are clear and show a sense of scale, texture, material, colour and context.
- Try to show one full project from start to finish with the preparatory drawings included. Annotations are helpful as they show how you research and reflect on the development of your work.
- Include one to three final pieces that you are able to talk about. This might include garments, interior pieces or artistic statements.
- Include content from your sketchbook/s, as this will give us an understanding of how you think and allow us to see the development of your drawing/design development.
- There is no set way to order your portfolio, but we would advise that you arrange it in an orderly way. For example, you may find it useful to cluster your portfolio into projects, or put it in a chronological order, or start and finish with your best pieces.
- If you are presenting your portfolio in an unusual way, keep it clear and clean.
Skills we would like to see
- Skills in relation to colour and materials.
- Drawing.
- Composition.
- Individuality.
- Use of a visible design process for idea development.
- Willingness to experiment using a range of media, fabrics and technology.
- A passion for your chosen subject.
- For fashion only: evidence of an understanding and love of text as you will be working with books, scripts and poetry on the course.
Format for digital portfolios
- Submit your work as one PDF or PowerPoint file.
- Your digital portfolio should be no more than 10MB. Please compress your file if it exceeds the limit.
- Ensure your work has a good screen resolution.
- Add any links to video, animations, and moving image work to your PDF or PowerPoint. Please check that these links work before you submit your portfolio and that they can be accessed easily. We will not be able to view links that require a password.
BA (Hons) Fashion Imaging - digital portfolios
The content of your digital portfolio and the skills it demonstrates should be the same as if you were creating a physical portfolio. The only difference is that you will need to submit your portfolio through your applicant portal rather than physically bring it in for us to see.
Take a look at the course specific guidance below for help with putting your digital portfolio together.
Content
- Please open your portfolio with a short statement introducing yourself. When preparing your statement consider the following questions:
- Why do you want to study BA (Hons) Fashion Imaging at Birmingham City University? What interests you about the course?
- What do you think your strongest project is?
- What and/or who are you inspired by?
- What are your aspirations?
- It is advisable to include no less than 10 pieces of work and no more than 20.
- Suitable work includes: photographs, stills from videos/animations, illustrations, experimental imagery, paintings or 3D work. It important to note that you are not limited to these, nor are you expected to provide everything listed.
- If you want to show videos/animated work, please include a link and consider including an edited version, or include specific timecodes that you would like us to watch for work that is particularly lengthy.
- The work does not have to be related to fashion imagery but should show off your creative skills.
- It is essential to add photographs or scanned pages from your sketchbook/s. This is because they show us the research behind the work, your thought process and how your ideas develop.
- Remember, the order you present it in is the order we will view it in so structure your work in a clear and organised way. For example, you may find it useful to cluster your portfolio into projects, or put it in a chronological order.
- Annotations and labelling is a must, so that we know what you are showing us or what a project is about.
- Work that you have created outside of school or college is also welcome.
Skills we would like to see
- Creativity and experimentation.
- Your creative thinking process.
- Idea development.
Format for digital portfolios
- Submit your work as one PDF file.
- Your digital portfolio should be no more than 10MB. Please compress your file if it exceeds the limit.
- Ensure your work has a good screen resolution.
- Add any links to video, animations, and moving image work to your PDF. Please check that these links work before you submit your portfolio and that they can be accessed easily. We will not be able to view links that require a password.
MA Fashion Styling - digital portfolios
The content of your digital portfolio and the skills it demonstrates should be the same as if you were creating a physical portfolio. Please see below our guidance to help you organise and create your MA Fashion Styling digital portfolio.
Content
- Please start your portfolio with a short statement introducing yourself, your aspirations, what we can expect to see in your portfolio, and if there are any specific parts that you would like us to focus on and why. When preparing your personal statement, please answer the following questions:
- Why have you chosen to apply for MA Fashion Styling at Birmingham City University?
- What course you studied before applying for this course?
- What can you bring to this course?
- What do you want to learn from this course?
- What interests you about this course?
- We would like to see at least three ideas and concepts. You should include at least one project from start to finish – showing your source of inspiration for the concept, technical ability, and research processes.
- It is useful to include any live fashion projects, competitions or industry projects, as this can highlight your potential.
- We would like to see a variety of work which shows your fashion styling abilities, this could be shown through examples of fashion photography and styling work, fashion magazine work, fashion events or in fashion films or social media.
- The order you present your work in is the order we will view it, so structure your work in a clear and organised way. For example, you may find it useful to start with your best-detailed project that shows your journey in a project from start to finish followed by the other projects which could just be a short overview of the final outcome with any key techniques you want to highlight to us in that project.
- If you are including work that was created as part of a collaborative creative team, it is important that you state what your role was in the project and evidence the specific organisational or fashion elements that you contributed towards the project.
Skills we would like to see
- Evidence of an enthusiasm for the fashion styling subject area.
- Use of a variety of fashion inspirations and influences to inform your work (these could be contemporary, historic or global).
- Evidence of styling experimentation using a range of image-making formats (e.g. social media, photography or fashion film).
- An ability to organise the resources needed to undertake fashion styling projects.
- A love of colour, texture and garment silhouettes.
- Knowledge of fashion designers, fashion stylists and associated image-makers e.g. fashion photographers, iconic fashion names and experts.
Format for digital portfolios
- Submit your digital portfolio as a single PDF file.
- Your digital portfolio should be no more than 20MB. Please compress your file if it exceeds the limit.
- You can add any external website links to your video and animation work in your PDF portfolio. Please check that these links work before you submit your portfolio and they can be viewed without a password. We will not be able to view links that require a password.