The origins of the London College of Fashion are in three early London trade schools for women: the
Shoreditch Technical Institute Girls School, founded in 1906; the
Barrett Street Trade School, founded in 1915; and the
Clapham Trade School, founded in 1927. All were set up by the technical education board of the
London County Council to train skilled labour for trades including
dressmaking,
millinery,
embroidery, women's
tailoring and
hairdressing; to these,
furriery and men's tailoring were later added. Graduates of the schools found work either in the garment factories of the
East End, or in the skilled dressmaking and fashion shops of the
West End of London. After the
Second World War the minimum school leaving age was 15; junior level courses at the colleges were scrapped. Barrett Street Trade School became Barrett Street Technical College, and the Shoreditch and Clapham schools were merged to form Shoreditch College for the Garment Trades. Both had the status of technical colleges, and began to take male students also. In 1967 the two colleges were merged to form the London College for the Garment Trades. This was renamed London College of Fashion in 1974. The London Institute became a legal entity in 1988, could award taught degrees from 1993, was granted University status in 2003 and was renamed University of the Arts London in 2004. The college moved to
Stratford in east London in 2023. It is one of six constituent colleges of the University of the Arts London, the others being
Camberwell College of Arts,
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design,
Chelsea College of Art and Design,
London College of Communication and
Wimbledon College of Art. == Campus ==