Prof Elinor Renfrew
Key Offerings
Fashion Courses : Validations, Reviews, Juries and External Examining
Profile
Elinor graduated with an MA in Fashion from St.Martin’s School of Art , BA Fashion Sandwich course from Preston Polytechnic and a PGCE from University of Greenwich .
Elinor was Head of Department for Fashion at Kingston School of Art since 2015, having joined the university in 2004 as the BA Course Director and has now progressed from Associate Professor to Honorary Professor at Kingston University.
The BA Fashion course at Kingston is an award – winning industry linked established course and the MA Fashion course she validated 10 years ago is emerging as a post graduate destination. Sponsors she secured and maintained included Brooks Brothers, Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy H&M, American Eagle, Urban Outfitters, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren ASOS and the first UK course to be sponsored by Zara Inditex who she introduced to Graduate Fashion Week .
Elinor has previously taught at Edinburgh College of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Prior to joining Kingston she was Course Leader at Ravensbourne College of Design & Communication.
Kingston University’s BA Fashion course has been consistently ranked within the top ten worldwide including the top fashion course in England & Wales in The Guardian league tables and No 2 in the BoF and awarded excellence in all 4 categories.
Elinor and her team have doubled enrolment numbers without compromising the high standard of applicants who have the highest average tariff in the university and the sector.
Graduates are prepared for design roles within the industry including graduate positions at Dior Chanel, Givenchy, Saint Laurent, Acne, Hugo Boss, Adidas, Mc Queen, Pringle, Victoria Beckham and Burberry.
She developed the Study Abroad and Erasmus exchange programme with top institutions in Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, Milan, Copenhagen, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Seoul and Hong Kong.
Elinor is an active committee member within the HE sector linking education with industry on the British Fashion Council Colleges Steering Committee, Association of Fashion & Textiles Courses Steering Group for Teaching & Learning and on the Textile Institute Council
This year global SIA agency has hired Elinor as a portfolio review consultant for Chinese students applying to MA and BA courses in the UK.
Elinor was also a proactive Trustee on GFW and GFF until last year and invited industry guests to the events and was on the judging panel for The International Show.
She secured sponsorship for the drinks for the GFF International Show reception with premier Italian company Villa Ascenti who have agreed to sponsor next year due to the Covid pandemic restrictions this year.
Elinor is currently External Examiner for CSM BA Fashion Design Marketing, BA Fashion at University of Lincoln and BA Fashion Textiles at University of West England.
Previous External Examiner roles included WCA, ECA, UCA, HWU and Falmouth University. Validations and Reviews have included LCF, UCA and DMU.
Elinor has delivered talks in Hong Kong and Beijing and judged on international fashion show juries in Paris, Rome, Vigo and Hong Kong.Last year she was invited by Arts Foundation for Fashion to represent the UK on the international jury at the YSL museum in Marrakesh.
Elinor has completed the 3rd edition of ‘Developing a Fashion Collection’ published by Bloomsbury Publishing next year.
The Textile Institute World Conference
This event is held at exciting and relevant locations around the globe and is in an important meeting point for the textile industry and members worldwide. The social events associated with the conference bring together the global community to enjoy the host country’s culture and hospitality.
