A COURSE for costume designers whose graduates have worked on Victoria, Sherlock and Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them has been given a Royal honour.

Arts University Bournemouth’s (AUB) BA honours course in costume and performance design was recognised as a centre of excellence by the Queen’s Anniversary Prize 2017.

The award is given by the Royal Anniversary Trust, an independent charity promoting world class excellence and achievement through the Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education.

AUB was given the prize for “distinguished degree level education in costume design for the UK’s leading creative industries”.

The university is one of only two institutions to have received the award on two occasions. It previously won the Queen’s Award in 1988, for outstanding work in education for the film industry, when it was called the Arts Institute at Bournemouth.

The Royal Anniversary Trust awarded certificates signed by the Queen.

The citation reads: “The university is recognised as a centre of excellence for degree level education in costume design, having grown from providing a relatively small course into a comprehensive and influential programme.

“It contributes significantly to the UK’s high reputation in this branch of the creative industries and thereby to the UK economy."

It goes on: “Alumni achievement is evidenced by numerous international awards including Oscar nominations in costume design and extensive involvements in high-profile and internationally successful UK television productions, including Downton Abbey and Sherlock, and in live theatre. The university was also responsible for innovative and widely acclaimed costume design work for events at Weymouth for the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.”

Recent projects that AUB students and alumni have worked on include ITV’s Victoria, which was first broadcast last year and employed several graduates.

In 2015, graduate Emily Ryan made a replica of Elisabeth de Valois’ gown, based on a 1560 portrait by Alonso Sanchez Coello, held in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

In May this year, 70 first year students performed on location at a local tennis club to recreate the atmosphere of the 1937 Wimbledon Championships. Costumes were made from a series of 30 design created by a recent graduate of the course, Tiffany Dawson.