The “Bachelor in Textiles: Fashion Techniques” training allows students to put the following skills at the service of their future employer:
Designing trends and models, being able to translate them into technically successful patronage: skills that are both technical (model making, cutting) and artistic (styling),
Know the production processes and industrial constraints and thus manage the making of models: technical and organizational skills
Being on the lookout for the market, consumer needs, understanding marketing mechanisms and thus creating the conditions for commercial success: management and marketing skills.
The training is versatile. In various materials, the creation of models is complete.

From the first days of training, the student is led to develop his creativity by expressing his personality. He is sensitive to the attention to detail, the professionalism and the care expected in the future profession.

Learning throughout the training allows you to master the different stages of making a garment and develop the spirit of collection.

The internship takes place at the end of the third year of study and can thus play the role of a first professional experience which can serve as a springboard for employment.

The purpose of the internship is to immerse yourself in the workings of the professional environment, in Belgium or abroad, in sectors of your choice (P.A.P., Haute Couture, mass distribution, accessories, costumes, etc.)

Professional partners: Agnès B, Louis Féraud, Chloé, Natalia Brilli, Maison Margiela, Nelly Rodi, Peclers, Gaspar Yurkievich, Delvaux, Jean-Paul Knott, Ekjo, Ken Okada, Marcia de Carvalho, Véronique Leroy, Isabel Graham, Bruno Pieters, A.F.Vandevorst, Pelvan, Tim Vansteenbergen, Elvis Pompilio, Ariane Lespire, Delphine Quirin, Daughters of Daddy, Jean-Paul Lespagnard, System, Archimedes, Jn&Joy, Nathan, Gat Rimon (Paris), Léa Peckre (Paris), Niyona, Krijst, Isabelle de Borchgrave, RHIE (New York), Bellerose, Disney Studio, …

BUSINESSES & OPPORTUNITIES

After graduation from HELMo Mode, the job opportunities are varied:

Stylist
model maker
Creative department assistant
Designer of ready-to-wear or formal wear
costumer
Props
Technical and production manager
Head of men’s, women’s or children’s department
Photo Stylist
Design of displays
visual merchandiser
Boss
Buyer
Dressmaker
etc…

NB: HELMo trains in the profession of Modelist-Stylist. The official title of the diploma is “Bachelor in textiles, technical option in fashion and styling”.

STRONG POINTS

The student is invited to participate actively in the development of internal and external projects at the establishment in order to confront the real constraints of the sector. For instance:

Competition: Skills Belgium, Springboard, …

Various parades, exhibitions, collaborations, …

Fairs: Brussels Fashion Days, …

A fascination for the human body and the many facets of the medium of fashion, and an urge for radical innovation are essential traits for a fashion designer. Fashion does not operate inside a vacuum, and is no longer limited to clothing alone. It is an ever current and socially relevant phenomenon, a dynamic and multi-faceted artistic discipline that has for the last couple of decades increasingly been operating at the intersection with an international art scene. Since the era of the great couturiers, fashion designers are increasingly seen as visionary and pivotal figures in society. He or she is an artisan, a designer and a multidisciplinary artist all at once, and the interaction between these three poles makes up the unique quality of a fashion programme in the context of the visual arts. A student of fashion falls back on rich historical and cultural traditions, but is as eagerly focused on the latest developments as on this past. The study of fashion in different spatial and temporal contexts takes up an important place in the programme. This comparative perspective is crucial in the development of a personal innovative style. As a student of fashion at KASK, your ultimate goal is to present innovative avant-garde fashion that is a striking expression of its time.

The programme is organized around five basic clusters: three-dimensional design (with the human body as wearer as the central focus), craftsmanship, study of materials, (re)presentation, and theory and reflection. Each of these topics occasion research and experiment. The curriculum and assignments are devised to make you confront your own conceptions and frames of reference so that you can question, renew and expand these and develop your own personal and recognizable style.

The design studios are the core of the programme. Here you acquire experience as a fashion designer, always in an intensive dialogue and interaction with different instructors who guide and coach you, each falling back on their specific outlook and experience. The programme deliberately chooses to approach fashion as a creative art, offering you the opportunity to test the medium’s boundaries. We consider the formative processes of a design equally important as the finished product. The ethnic or historical references from art, architecture and culture in general are gradually replaced by sources of inspiration and methods of your own choice. This enables you to build an enduring foundation for your future work as a visual artist and designer.

The actual design practice is supported and enriched by theoretical courses of a general and fashion-related nature, and by a balanced cluster of courses that focus on the metier of design. All of these courses offer tools that are indispensable for a fashion designer. Study and experience yield insight in materials, pattern drawing, assembly and knitting techniques, and silkscreen and digital printing. Some unique features of our fashion programme are the integration of the fashion accessories course in the curriculum, and the presence of a professional shoe design studio. The studio introduces new disciplines in which technology, art and science come together, and you are offered the opportunity to participate in various projects in cooperation with leading companies, research centres and museums. If you opt for the master programme after attaining your bachelor’s degree, you also do an internship where you acquire knowledge and skills you can then apply in designing and professionally realizing a graduation collection.

Since fashion is a highly mediatized artistic discipline, the (re)presentation of your work is an essential part of your identity as a designer. Styling, design and anatomical drawing are key elements in this, as are photography and graphic design. By way of your own work you take up a deliberate position in the prevailing visual culture. The annual fashion event, Movement, is of course the apotheosis of your training.

La Cambre is one of Belgium’s leading schools of art and design.

Founded in 1927 by the architect and designer Henry van de Velde, the Ecole nationale supérieure des arts visuels of La Cambre (ENSAV) has some 700 students spread across 17 departments: ceramics, animation, drawing, urban design, engraving and the printed image, painting, photography, sculpture, and an art restoration department. Its design departments include industrial and textile design, book and paper design (bookbinding), interior design, set design, fashion design, as well as two graphic sections – graphic and visual communication and typography. A new Master’s degree in accessories design completes the curriculum for the academic year 2015.

Students attend several cross-disciplinary courses, either optional or compulsory, including digital art, live model, colour, video, body arts and performance, book art and illustration. As well as art training, they are taught theory and technical skills, both general and specialised, and are encouraged to go on work experience by taking part in the Erasmus student exchange programme, as artists’ assistants, and at arts centres, creative studios or with companies.