Ana is a Senior Lecturer on the BA (Hons) Fashion Marketing course. She gained a PGCE from the University of Huddersfield and has taught across all HE levels on fashion design, fashion communication, retailing and marketing BA (hons) courses. She obtained a first honour MA in Design from the School of Design at the University of Leeds specialising in Graphics and Branding. Prior to that, she graduated from Leeds College of Art with a BA (hons) Fashion and Clothing.
Ana’s experience within the fashion industry includes working for various high-street fashion brands as a fashion buyer, overseeing the fashion business, product development managing and overseeing designs from initial concept to production and marketing, in the UK and overseas. Prior to this, Ana was also involved in launching franchise flagships for Mango stores in Europe, training and developing staff on the company’s structures including merchandising, styling and space management requirements.
Ana’s areas of specialism are fashion communication and promotion, conceptual design processes, design development through to realisation, design practice and research methods for design in higher education and student portfolio development. In her teaching practice Ana emphasises design innovation, utilising contemporary design research creating real life scenarios merging fashion with design and graphics as a tangible outcome.
Her current research focuses on Sustainability within Fashion, in particular the responses of young consumers on sustainable fashion, utilising collaborative methods to broaden awareness of ethical issues and create discussions and interaction through design solutions. This research has led to publications of her work and presentations at conferences and collaborations with stakeholders.
Her valuable and varied experience within the fashion industry enables her to ensure that her teaching is relevant to the industry which enhances the student learning experience through applied practises opening a wider learning opportunity for the next generation of fashion branding and communication experts.