MASTER
OF DESIGN
MASTER OF DESIGN (FASHION DESIGN) OVERVIEW
The Master of Design is for designers ready to take one idea further than they have taken anything before, whether that is straight out of an undergraduate degree or after years in the industry. You arrive with a direction. You leave with a finished fashion collection, a public exhibition, and the research that makes the case for both.
The year holds to a single project. Research methods and material investigation come first. The work is then situated in its cultural and commercial context and moved into production. The final trimester brings it to completion: a collection of at least five looks, an industry showcase, an online exhibition and a design thesis.
Theory is taught as something you use rather than something you recite. The work and the reasoning behind it are presented at the same panel, and judged together.
Study is on campus in Sydney across 3 twelve week trimesters, full time (1-2 days per week).
WHY STUDY THE MASTER OF DESIGN AT WHITEHOUSE
WHO IS THE MASTER OF DESIGN FOR?
The Master of Design (Fashion Design) is for designers who want to spend a year developing one body of work to a professional standard.
You might be finishing a Bachelor of Design at Whitehouse or elsewhere and want to go further before taking a studio role or starting your own label. You might be a few years into the industry with a project you have never had the time to make properly. Or you may have trained overseas and want an Australian qualification at AQF Level 9, along with the industry network that comes with it.
The year is built on panel presentations, peer review and critique, so you will be explaining your decisions as often as you make them.
You do not need a finished concept to start. You do need a portfolio that shows it or working practice, and an openness to creative challenges.
If a full year is more than you want to commit to now, the Graduate Certificate of Design is a single trimester entry point. Whitehouse Bachelor of Design graduates continuing into it receive admissions preference, and completing the Graduate Certificate of Design allows you to seamlessly transition into the Graduate Diploma or the Master of Design without reapplying.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
- Research methods a design practice can actually use, and the judgement to choose between them
- Critical and semiotic reading of design in its historical and political context
- Design thinking as a repeatable method for generating, testing and discarding ideas
- Material investigation: how construction and manufacture shape what a design can be
- Advanced draping, experimental patternmaking and digital pattern development
- Strategic positioning: niche, audience, competitor analysis and design futuring
- Design communication: style guides, creative direction and art directed photography
- Prototype development from toile to industry standard finish
- Range planning and collection development for a defined market
- Industry specification: style sheets, garment details, grading and costing
- Exhibition and event design, and the documentation that accompanies it
WHAT YOU'LL GRADUATE WITH
On completion of the Master of Design (Fashion Design), graduates will synthesise advanced, professional capability in fashion design practice, with the confidence to take a collection from concept to resolved outcome.
- A collection of at least five to eight finished, styled looks
- A professional portfolio, art directed and photographed
- A pattern folio and full garment specification pack, including grading and costing
- A runway presentation at an industry showcase
- A digital exhibition, with publicity text, and brand/social media presentations
- A design thesis of 5,000 to 6,000 words
- A designer biography, project statement and public facing profile
- A Master of Design at AQF Level 9
WHERE IT LEADS
The year ends in public. The collection is showcased, exhibited online, and eligible for entry into industry awards and showcases.
You leave with the material the industry asks to see: a finished collection, a portfolio built to specification, and spec packs with grading and costing. That is the basis for launching a label of your own. It is also what a design room hires for, someone who can take a collection from research through patternmaking to a costed, graded spec pack and defend every decision in it.
The Master of Design sits at AQF Level 9, the entry qualification for doctoral study, so the research strand also supports a move into teaching or a PhD.
The Master of Design (Fashion Design) degree at Whitehouse consists of 3 trimesters, each being a 12-week study period. The course is delivered across 1 to 2 weekdays and completed within 1 year at the standard full-time study load. Part-time or exclusively after hours classes is not available.
TRIMESTER 1
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|RW7|Research Workshop for Design|Research here is not preparation for the work, it is part of it. You interrogate which forms of enquiry your practice actually demands, read design critically in its historical and political context, and build an evidence base that survives scrutiny. What you leave with is a research question worth a year of your time.|12|
|MC7|Explorations of Material Culture|Making as a way of thinking. You take an existing garment apart to interrogate what its construction, materials and manufacture reveal about who made it and who it was made for, then work forward through advanced draping and digital patternmaking toward a pattern folio and a prototype of your own.|12|
|IG7|Frameworks for Ideas Generation|Ideas treated as something generated, tested and discarded rather than waited for. You work through curiosity, empathy, prototyping and iteration against your own concept, with sustainability handled as a material constraint.|12|
Completing the first trimester successfully will allow you to exit with a Graduate Certificate of Design (36 Credit Points).
TRIMESTER 2
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|BS8|Reading the Body and Space|The body is never neutral, and neither is the space around it. You apply critical and semiotic theory directly to your own practice, through drawing and material experiment, and situate the work within the social and spatial conditions it will enter. |12|
|DP8|Design Project|Extending design exploration and prototyping from the previous trimester, a colletion concept is considered through technical development, toiling and sampling to a finished, styled outcome, each presented and justfied at an atelier panel. Craft, risk, sustainability and market are the terms of the critique. |24|
|PP8|Project Proposal|You examine your own position as a designer, the audience you intend to reach and the market you are entering. Construct the case for your project in visual and written form: style guide, creative direction, art directed photography. The subject closes with a presentation to a specialist audience.|24|
Completing the second trimester successfully will allow you to exit with a Graduate Diploma of Design (96 Credit Points).
TRIMESTER 3
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|DS9|Design Studio|The collection is brought to completion: a minimum of five to eight finished looks, with range planning, silhouette, fabric and styling direction determined, and outsourced production managed where the work demands it. Industry specification follows, from grading through to costing. Entries may be prepared for industry awards and industry showcases.|24|
|DE10|Design Exhibition and Publication|You design the exhibition of your own collection, understanding how space, atmosphere and staging shape what an audience takes from it, and build the digital exhibition, designer identity and written material that carry it. The collection is presented at the Whitehouse Graduate Exhibition and Runway, and the degree closes with a design thesis of an est. 5,000 words.|24|
Completing the third trimester successfully allows you to graduate with the Master of Design.
The Master of Design degree at Whitehouse consists of 3 trimesters, each being a 12-week study period. The course is completed within 1 year at a standard study load.
2026 Dates
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|Trimester 1|16 Feb|4 Mar|8 May|2 Feb|
|Trimester 2|1 Jun|17 Jun|21 Aug|18 May|
|Trimester 3|14 Sept|30 Sept|4 Dec|31 Aug|
2027 Dates TBC
While 2027 dates are still being finalised, 2026 dates can be used as a rough guide. Orientation typically takes place in the week prior to commencement.
With purpose-built design campuses in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Whitehouse students work within professional-standard environments designed around the way the industry actually operates. Not lecture halls, but studios, workshops and resources you'll use in your specialisation every week.
Professional atelier studios
Fully-equipped studios give you the space to move between manual and digital design methods - from pattern cutting and garment construction to digital design in the Adobe Creative Cloud suite and StyleCAD.
Design Collection (Sydney Only)
At the Sydney campus, students have rare access to one of Australia's most significant design archives, including original pieces from Louis Vuitton, Burberry and Sacai — a hands-on resource for studying construction, detail and the language of luxury up close.
Adobe Creative Cloud suite
Every student receives free access to the full Adobe Creative Cloud suite, giving you the same tools used across professional design, editorial and creative direction. From week one you'll work in Photoshop, Lightroom, InDesign and Illustrator.
Industry partnerships and sourcing network
Whitehouse connects students to the network the fashion industry runs on - fabric and materials suppliers, industry competitions and brand partnerships with organisations including LVMH, Christian Dior, Carla Zampatti, Mariam Seddiq, Camilla, Melbourne Fashion Week, Australian Fashion Week and The Woolmark Company.
Research services
Fashion Design students draw on industry-grade trend-forecasting services and a specialist design library, developing the research rigour behind every strong creative decision, from mood and colour direction to sourcing and concept.
Whitehouse continually updates and expands its resources to ensure every student has extensive design research support throughout their degree.
DOMESTIC FEES
Our postgraduate program is FEE-HELP eligible for domestic students. No upfront payment for tuition fees needed if eligible.
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|Trimester One|Graduate Certificate of Design|12 weeks|$8,334.00|
|Trimester Two|Graduate Diploma of Design|12 weeks|$13,958.00|
|Trimester Three|Master of Design|12 weeks|$22,328.00|
Tuition fees exclude course materials.
The tuition fee schedule applies for 2027 only and is subject to annual review and alteration. All fees are in Australian Dollars and inclusive of GST where GST is applicable.
HOW TO APPLY
To apply for the Master of Design (Fashion Design), submit a direct application through the Whitehouse Institute of Design website.
- Submit your application
- Submit your documentation (portfolio, project proposal, documents)
- Design Meeting (online)
- Interview with the National Creative Director (online/in-person)
- Outcome within 48 hours of your Interview
Whitehouse has no application fees.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Domestic
* A creative portfolio
* A 2,000-word project proposal
* Academic transcript with Credit to Distinction results in most subjects
* Personal and academic documents
See link below for full entry requirements including tips on the project proposal and pathways.
INTERNATIONAL FEES
The international tuition fee schedule applies for 2027 only and is subject to annual review and alteration. All fees are in Australian Dollars and inclusive of GST where GST is applicable.
A Master of Design is a postgraduate degree at AQF Level 9, the highest coursework level in the Australian Qualifications Framework below a doctorate. At Whitehouse Institute of Design, it is a practice-led fashion design degree of 144 credit points, built around a single major project taken from research question to finished collection.
Yes. The Master of Design at Whitehouse is a fashion design degree. Its studio subjects cover advanced garment construction, advanced draping, experimental patternmaking and the production of a fashion collection, so applicants are expected to arrive with prior knowledge (e.g. Bachelors or significant experience), or an existing design practice, and a portfolio that evidences it.
Yes, we assess applicants in this situation based on their Industry Professional Practice, which must include significant experience especially in patternmaking and garment construction. With this in mind, we consider all applicants who may not have completed an undergraduate degree, or have completed an undergraduate degree but in a non-creative field.
No. Whitehouse's Master of Design is practical in nature and evidence of patternmaking and garment construction experience is required.
The Master of Design is 144 credit points across three twelve-week trimesters, offered full time across 1 to 2 weekdays per week. The full-time pattern runs back to back, so it carries a credit load comparable to many two-year masters within a shorter calendar.
You produce a collection of at least five to eight finished, styled looks, some with full industry specification packs covering style sheets, garment details, grading and costing. You also produce a professional portfolio, a digital exhibition, and a design thesis of 5,000 to 6,000 words.
To be eligible for postgraduate studies including the Master of Design, you must prepare a 2000-word project proposal. See postgraduate entry requirements for a guide and breakdown on what this should include. Our Graduate Certificate of Design requires a simplified 500-word proposal and allows for articulation into the Master of Design.
No. The Master of Design at Whitehouse is offered full time only (1 to 2 weekdays per week) which suits applicants working part-time alongside their degree. Classes are typically between the hours of 9am to 6pm but this is subject change based on scheduling.
The Master of Design is taught in Sydney NSW only, on campus at Whitehouse Institute of Design, 55 Renwick Street, Redfern, a short walk from Redfern Station.
They are nested awards within the same postgraduate program. The Graduate Certificate of Design is 36 credit points, and you can graduate with it after completing trimester one. The Graduate Diploma of Design is 96 credit points, and you can graduate with it after completing trimester two. The Master of Design is 144 credit points, and you can graduate with it after completing trimester three. Moving from one award to the next does not require a new application.
Yes. The Master of Design is FEE-HELP approved, so eligible students can defer all or part of their tuition and repay it through the tax system once their income passes the threshold. FEE-HELP limits apply, check official website for latest limits and other info. Youth Allowance, Austudy and Abstudy may be available to eligible Australian citizens.