Karen Millen is a brand used by online women's clothing retailer Boohoo plc . The brand specialises in tailoring , coats and evening wear . It was acquired in 2019 following the collapse of Karen Millen Fashions Ltd, a company that operated a chain of clothing stores in many countries worldwide. The company was originally founded in 1981 by British entrepreneur fashion designer Karen Millen. She sold it in 2004 and was not subsequently involved in businesses bearing her name.
22-725: English fashion designer Karen Millen studied fashion at the Medway College of Design, now known as University for the Creative Arts . She founded the Karen Millen company in 1981, partnered with Kevin Stanford. With a loan of £100, the pair bought one thousand metres of white cotton and began manufacturing and selling white shirts to their friends. A party-plan network followed, and in 1983, they opened their first store in Maidstone, Kent , which
44-1008: A campus in Maidstone (closed in 2014) and another in Rochester (closed in 2023). The university also validates provision at, or co-delivers courses with, a number of other educational institutions and arts organisations in the UK: Farnham Maltings , London College of Contemporary Arts , London College of Creative Media , London School of Design & Marketing, and London Studio Centre . UCA works in partnership with several institutions globally, validating courses for: Berlin School Business & Innovation (Germany), Cyprus Academy of Arts (Cyprus), Hong Kong Management Associations (Hong Kong), The Millennium Universal College (Pakistan), and UK Creative Art and Design Centre (South Korea). In 2019, UCA and Xiamen University partnered to establish
66-530: Is Anthony Hamer-Hodges, a pioneering music executive who discovered & managed the UK Soul Singer Nate James between 2004-2009 and was employee number one and Chief Commercial Officer of fan-powered streaming service Supapass in 2014. LCCM was founded in 2002 by Geoff Hemsley and Darius Khwaja. Both were professional musicians; Khwaja had also worked for various arts organizations on a freelance basis. The college has always specialised in teaching
88-555: Is a private college of higher education in South London offering undergraduate and master's degrees in music performance, music production and music business. It was founded in 2002 as the London Centre of Contemporary Music temporarily using the name London College of Creative Media from 2016 to 2021. Notable alumni include Tom Walker and Rhys Lewis as well as musicians that tour regularly with George Ezra , Sam Ryder LCCM
110-671: Is a specialist art and design university in Southern England . It was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester when the Kent Institute of Art and Design was merged into the Surrey Institute of Art & Design , which already had degree-awarding status; both constituent schools had been formed by merging the local art schools, in Kent and Surrey respectively. It
132-741: Is located close to UCA Canterbury at Rochester House. Creative business, fashion and textiles courses are run from the UCA Epsom campus. Four different accommodation blocks - Bradford House, Wilberforce Court, Crossways House and Worple Road – are located either next to campus or a ten-minute walk away. Farnham is the largest of UCA’s campuses. Film, media, visual effects, performing arts, music, fine art, photography, animation, crafts, graphic design, illustration, creative technology, and games courses are taught there. It has two large on-campus halls of residence housing 600 students, called University Walk and Student Village. In June 2022, UCA Farnham became
154-724: Is organised into ten academic schools: Business School for the Creative Industries, Canterbury School of Architecture & Design, School of Communications, School of Fashion & Textiles, School of Film, Media & Performing Arts, School of Fine Art, Crafts & Photography, School of Games & Creative Technology, UCA Doctoral College, UCA International College (UCAIC), and Institute of Creativity and Innovation (ICI). It has eight research centres: Centre for Sustainable Design, Crafts Study Centre, Animation Research Centre, International Textile Research Centre, Audio Research Cluster, Cluster for Cinema/Affect/Place (CCAP), Conflict and
176-471: The University for the Creative Arts . The college offers additional short courses in music development and a summer school for young musicians. All of LCCM's tutors are experienced professional musicians or industry executives, the most notable of which is Dr. Mathew Knowles , father of Beyoncé & Solange Knowles and the successful artist manager of Destiny's Child . The Principal of LCCM since 2021
198-638: The Creative Arts Research Centre, and UCA Innovation Hub. The UK's first Business School for the Creative Industries is based at UCA Epsom. UCA submitted 115 research outputs to be considered by the expert panel for Art and Design in REF 2021 , as well as four impact case studies. REF 2021 ranked 78% of UCA’s research as world-leading (4*) and internationally excellent (3*) for its originality, significance and rigour. The Students’ Union at
220-657: The Institute of Creativity and Innovation, with the Institute opening its doors in September 2020. UCA Canterbury is home to architecture, interior design, automotive design, industrial and product design, fine art and visual communications courses. Students have on-campus halls of residence in Ian Dury House and off-campus accommodation in the Riverside Student Quarter. The UCA Doctoral College for creative PhD study
242-736: The UK four years in a row according to the independent National Student Survey with the highest overall student satisfaction.” LCCM's Music Box campus on 241 Union Street was built in 2017. Designed by Trevor Moriss and known as "The Music Box", the cube-shaped building houses the college on its first six floors. Its exterior is decorated with glazed bricks laid in a pattern replicating the piano arrangement of Cream 's song " White Room ". The building can accommodate 550 students at any one time and includes recording studios with double-height windows which allow passers-by to see those working inside and an underground performance space which seats 200. The upper floors of
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#1733085649365264-572: The University of the Creative Arts (UCASU) is open to all students, and has over 20 clubs and societies. UCASU offers student advice and support, and runs identity communities for those who self-define one or more of the following groups: BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnicities), LGBTQ+, Disabled and Women. UCASU runs events at Glasshouse on the Farnham campus. London College of Creative Media London College of Contemporary Music ( LCCM )
286-522: The assets of its sister company, Coast, out of administration in October 2018. In August 2019, the two companies' online businesses were bought out of administration by internet retailer Boohoo for £18 million. Only the online employees were taken on by Boohoo and the standalone retail stores eventually closed. University for the Creative Arts The University for the Creative Arts
308-451: The brand transferred to Aurora Fashions . The Karen Millen brand was spun-out from Aurora Fashions in 2011, remaining under the ownership of Aurora's owner, Kaupthing Bank . In 2016 the Karen Millen company had 84 standalone stores and 46 concessions in the UK and Ireland . Internationally it had 16 company-owned stores and 57 franchise stores in 23 countries. The Karen Millen business acquired
330-440: The headquarters for ISEA International . UCA is the third largest provider of design, and creative and performing arts higher education in the UK, with around 5,845 students. It offers courses in a very wide range of architecture, art, crafts, design, fashion, media and performing arts subjects. Courses are offered at pre-degree further education , undergraduate , taught postgraduate and doctoral levels. The University
352-532: The second half of the twentieth century many of these small art schools merged, eventually forming Kent Institute of Art & Design in 1987, and Surrey Institute of Art & Design in 1995. These two organisations joined forces in 2005 to become the University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester . In May 2008, the University College for the Creative Arts
374-583: The technical aspects of contemporary popular music and in preparation for a career in the industry. In 2017 LCCM moved to its current campus The Music Box, SE1. The Music Box is a purpose-built campus on Union Street built on the site of one of LCCM's original buildings. The expansion of the college to the new campus caused financial difficulties in 2017 that led to insolvency of the old company 'London College of Creative Media Ltd.' and rescue by Global University Systems in January 2018. The new company, owned by GUS,
396-820: Was also the home of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra from 2012 to 2017. As of May 2023, the college offers BA (Honours) degrees in Commercial Music, and Music Business Management; BMus (Honours) degrees in Commercial Music Technology; Music Performance & Production and Composition for Films, Games & Other Media; and two MMus degrees in Music Performance and Music Production. It also offers Certificates of Higher Education in Commercial Music and Entertainment Business & Technology. All academic programmes are validated and awarded by
418-524: Was followed a few years later by branches in Tunbridge Wells , Brighton , Guildford and London . The company continued to expand throughout the 1990s, opening dozens of retail stores. In June 2004 the founder sold the business to Mosaic Fashions , a company from Iceland, had no further involvement in the Karen Millen company and under the terms of the sale was not permitted to use her name for other ventures. In 2009, Mosaic Fashions ceased trading and
440-690: Was granted full university status by the Privy Council , and adopted its current name, the University for the Creative Arts, officially in September 2008. In 2016, it merged with the Open College of the Arts . UCA has campuses in Canterbury , Epsom and Farnham , plus a teaching base at The Maidstone Studios , and a project and exhibition space in Folkestone Creative Quarter. It previously had
462-564: Was granted university status in 2008, and the name changed to the present one. The origin of the University for the Creative Arts lies in the establishment of various small art schools in the English counties of Kent and Surrey in the nineteenth century. In Kent the first of these was Maidstone College of Art , founded in 1867, and in Surrey the Guildford School of Art , founded in 1856. During
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#1733085649365484-572: Was registered as LCCM AU UK Ltd. LCCM subsequently announced that as part of Global University Systems it would remain fully operational with no material changes to either tutors or student activity. Students were able to complete their courses without interruption through LCCM's existing collaboration with the Open University. Since becoming part of the GUS Group LCCM has ranked as the top institution for contemporary music performance degrees in
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