A friend of mine would love to write about fashion. Either a fashoin-critic type thing or a What to Wear or an up-and-coming thing or a What’s Hot in Spring or well… you get the idea.
How do people get jobs like that? Do they major in “Fashion Journalism”, “Fashion Marketing” just “Journalism with a minor in Fashion Design” or something else etirely?? There’s gotta be a lot of ‘Who you know’ involved in getting a job in such a field, no? I couldn’t find a University with a “Fashion Journalism” major. But there’s gotta be one. If not, are there any schools that are well known for their prestige in this area?
Anyway, I know there are a lot of editors and magazine/newspaper/media people on the boards. So I’m putting this out to the Teemings. I told her I’d find out what’s the best thing for her to do.
Anyone do this, know someone who does this or have any input at all? Thanks!
“Fashion journalism” is an oxymoron. When you work for a fashion mag or the fashion section of a mag or paper, you do not get to say, “Michael Kors’ new collection sucks,” unless you work for WWD. If you work for Vogue or the NY Times or whatever, all you get to say is that “Michael Kors’ chic new collection proves that Black is the new Wool!”
If your friend still wants to break in and has no connections, she will have to get an entry-level job as an “editorial assistant” (low-paid flunky and coffee-getter) to a fashion editor, and slowly work her way up the ladder.
Thanks, Eve. So do you think fashion design, or journalism would be a better major to choose while working as an editor’s assistant?
Oh, and what’s WWD?
It seems like a double major would be good, to maximize her contacts and her options if it doesn’t work out. Also, getting into modeling would help with the contacts, getting real-life industry experience and earning money to pay for school.
This seems like a difficult field to get into, and one where straightforward advice like study hard and start at the bottom is unlikely to succeed. It strikes me as a field where it would be an advantage not to have to live on just your own earnings–you’ll be expected to dress in a way and move in social circles that you can’t afford on your salary.
The major will probably be less relevant than diligently working to build the a network of contacts.
She is not going to get a job as an editorial ass’t. while she’s in school—those are fulltime jobs, and highly sought-after.
It all depends on what she wants to do—if she just loves the fashion and beauty biz and wants to work with fashion writing and fashionistas, it’ll be easier for her. If she wants to critique fashion, she’s in for a hard time.
WWD is Women’s Wear Daily, really the only publication in the US that covers fashions as a business.