BA (Hons)Make-Up and Hair Design

Course overview

This challenging, creative course delivers all the skills you need to start your career as a professional make-up artist and more. You will develop your knowledge and understanding of the professional roles in the key areas of the industry from editorial and catwalk, to film, television and theatre.

You'll be introduced to three industry pathways that explore make-up and hair styling for fashion editorial, wig work for theatre, TV, as well as alternative design contexts (eg, publications, galleries and the catwalk), and be encouraged to take an experimental approach to application, materials and creative development processes to make your mark in industry.

With a focus on real-world learning, you'll gain key skills to stand-out in industry and make your unique mark, through character design and studio practice, underpinned with a thorough understanding of culture and consumer behaviour. And to enable you to operate across contemporary design platforms, you will be trained in photography, film and digital publishing.

We emphasise diversity and inclusion within design, while debating beauty ideals, gender politics and the changing face of identity. Throughout the course you will be encouraged to embrace and develop new ways of working, alongside the study of historic and contemporary techniques.

You will be taught by a team with strong reputations as practicing professional designers or researchers, as well as visiting lecturers, and a dynamic programme of industry speakers - recent speakers have included Carly Utting for Mac Pro And Lan Nguyen Grealis. And thanks to the course team's close links with industry you'll have the opportunity to work on a range of live project briefs with organisations, which have recently included Mac Pro, Nars, Rimmel Ingolot and Huda Beauty.

Practical experience is at the core of our real-world learning. Each year, our students work as part of a make-up team at Graduate Fashion Week, and we regularly host industry demonstrations. Students also benefit from kit support provided by leading brands, which have included Mac Pro, NARS, and Rimmel. Additionally, you are encouraged to attend events such as British Beauty Council gatherings and Mac Pro demonstrations in London.

And there are many collaborative opportunities with other students on projects such as GUNK Collective, an online multi-media platform that showcases the cutting edge vision of makeup, hair, prosthetics and special effects students; as well as experiences on shoots and catwalk events. You'll also have the opportunity to apply to work with our professional make-up team at London Fashion Week. These experiences help you contextualise your place within the industry, offering you a rich and stimulating education and preparing you for future employment.

If you’re looking to study our make-up and hair design degree but don’t have the relevant qualifications or experience, the art and design foundation year will help you develop the core skills and knowledge to progress. Find out more about the art and design foundation year.