ABSTRACT
The first job is the hardest to get – on that all fashion journalists are agreed, apart perhaps from the Daily Telegraph’s Luke Leitch, who was surprised to end up in fashion (more of that later). Once you’ve got the crucial first foot on the ladder, it’s much easier to go from job to job. In news journalism, it’s relatively simple. You get industry qualifications,
you join a local newspaper or news agency as a trainee, you sit further exams 18 months later and become a senior journalist, and you might then try your chances in London on a national. In fashion, there is no officially sanctioned route in. But the backgrounds of
a range of well-established fashion journalists and those just starting on their careers throw up some recurring themes, outlined in this chapter. The main route is still the internship, and this chapter will explain the different
types of internship, how to apply for them and what you do when you’re there. There are problems with internships, though – not least the pay, or lack of
it, and the fact that you could intern for years without ever getting a job – and so other ways into fashion journalism will be explored. Company editor Victoria White, in particular, says it’s incredibly naive to
focus just on the glossies, where jobs are scarce and competition fierce. She says interns confuse wanting to work on a fashion magazine with wanting to be a journalist, adding: ‘Any way in is a good way in.’ Finally, it will look at the old clichés of the terrifying designer-clad fashion
maven immortalised in books and films like The Devil Wears Prada – a fiction that still seems to haunt fashion journalism hopefuls of every generation – and will hopefully put their mind at rest. Although some of the advice in this chapter might seem a little daunting,
especially if you haven’t started university yet or are in your first year, don’t be discouraged. You can learn the skills on your course, and get support from tutors and careers advisers on applying for placements as you go.
