Name: Carole Semaine
Institution: Barnet College
Course I teach: Foundation Degree in Fashion

After graduating from Middlesex University, Carole secured a fabulous fashion job sourcing fabrics for Biba until 1975 when she became a self-employed clothes-maker for music industry figures such as Billy Idol and Annie Lennox.  This led to her opening a shop –  Modern Art – selling her fashion designs. She combined this with teaching evenings and part-time, before joining Barnet College in 1987.

Q. How long have you been in the industry?
Since 1972.

Q. Who inspires you in your industry?
This is hard to answer as it constantly changes. I’d say Miuccia Prada, Nicolas Ghesquière, and Hakaan, but I am inspired just as much by architects, furniture makers and graphic designers.

Q. Tell us about some of the projects you’ve worked on
I’ve helped to organise catwalk shows at Clothes Show Live and The Alternative Fashion Week.

Q. What do you think is the most important skill required to do your job?
You definitely need to possess flexibility and a ‘can-do’ attitude.

Q. When students start the course, what does their first year cover?
In the degree course’s first year, we cover every aspect of the fashion industry. Students begin to design, learn how to pattern cut, and study fashion illustration, styling and much more. We enter as many competitions as we can and take them to Paris for Tex World, Europe’s biggest fabric trade show, as well as to all the major UK trade shows. It gives them broad experience.

Q. How do students progress in the second year?
In the second year, students specialise. Some students want to be designers, others prefer to go into the promotion side of fashion, so we aim to cover everything. They also have 20 days’ work experience with a company of their own choice. Work experience is vital, because it gives students a taste of the real world and often leads to employment afterwards.

Q. How do you challenge students to learn real skills?
By introducing them to professional examples of work for inspiration and by broadening their horizons outside fashion. In addition, work experience is a compulsory module on this course. What’s interesting is that students come back from their work placements as much more confident people. It’s heartening to see the change and they often return with a much more focused idea of what they want to do after the course.

Q. What’s the hardest aspect of your industry?
Making sure that delivery and payment is on time is sometimes hard!

Q. What do students generally tend to do once they’ve finished?
What students decide to do afterwards varies, and largely depends on their age. More mature students tend to prefer to go straight into employment, while younger ones may opt to do a BA ‘top-up’. However, the Foundation Degree qualification is a qualification in its own right, so students are equipped to go straight into employment or to continue their studies by going into the third year of a BA at the university of their choice. Typically, 50% go to Middlesex and many others go to the University of Hertfordshire, or apply to other universities in the UK and abroad.