Some Fashioable Advice

I have spent the last two years making the transition from career in fashion to design and culture where I feel it is mostly my calling and where I am comfortable working and flourishing.

My work with fashion started when I was 18 in the Liza Bruce boutique in Pont street, to Vogue China to working at a few fashion magazines, becoming a stylist and freelance fashion journalist for a while and then finally editing my own magazine, Sketchbook which was originally filled with fashion illustration content.

Now I work with clients from different fields, whether they are in the food, publishing, or music sector and I find myself creatively involved in solving problems and consulting for brands and PR-ing them.

Still my fashion stigma is stuck to me, and during my lectures most women want to know more about my experience in fashion than anything else. It disappoints many to find out that the fashion industry is not full of glitz and glamour, with many envisioning fashion life to be like a segment from the devil wears prada movie. Many dabble in fashion only to find it was not what they envisioned it to be like, and then move on to something else, or nothing at all.

To work in fashion one must be semi obsessed with it. Not just the red carpet bit to it, but you must be in love with the industry as a whole and want to understand it.

There are many job opportunities in this field and we must break them down and test them out first, before you see what fits you the most and venturing into it whole heartedly.

I have categorized them in three sections –

The first one I personally experienced first are with retail and then PR, window display, sales, fashion design.

The second ones I experienced were styling, writing, blogging.  

The third one is fashion PR, being a fashion editor, commentator, marketing and communications in fashion, generally the business of fashion.

Ones that I have not dabbled with but that are also options are modelling, consulting, suppliers.

Have decided to compile some of my advice to budding individuals who want to transition into this industry.

1. Do your reading. Many girls have watched sex and the city and gossip girl, scour fashion blogs of girls wearing shirts with Karl Lagerfield’s face on them on a daily basis, but very few actually do any heavy reading about the fashion industry. Your role is know everything about this fast paced business. The editors, the retail stores, the PR companies and work out how they inter connect and relate to each other. You need to know who are the thinkers, shakers, and companies behind who have decision making power in this industry.

Recommend industry reads: Vogue’s, WWD, businessoffashion.com, Draper’s

2. Create your platform. Whether you are a writer or a stylist, or budding fashion designer create online presence where you can share your own views on fashion and style. Be critical, share your mood boards and give your own input on current trends and movements. This platform can also be used to attend events, network, and conduct interview with idols an mentors. Most people now do this with a blog but having a website where you can share your services, products, views, and use to network and affiliate with other organizations and members is a must.
3. Get work experience. Most people want shortcuts to jobs where they can wear free clothes by designers and sit in creamy white offices and play fancy editor. It is not that easy. Get your hands dirty. Apply for internships and do what you have to do to get ahead. Don’t complain about doing errands and nothing is beneath you. When I worked with Liza I would drop off clothes to VIP customers, go get a stack on magazines for the designers, label items, and steam. I even mopped the shop floors to prove myself in the business!
4. Get advice. If you have a boutique and it isn’t doing well get some feedback! If you are a stylist but have no one to style get some feedback. You will find people would much rather say you’re doing a good job then tell you the truth so be open to ideas and suggestions and act accordingly. Before re-launching Sketchbook Magazine I decided to get some advice on our next strategic move from some of the contributors, some of the advice hurts to hear, but I care more about my brand than my feelings.

 Network. Go to every event, product or store launch, designer previews and show your face. Hand out your business cards, be likeable and dress to make yourself happy and no one else. Be confident and chatty. The more you meet people that are in your industry that know what you do, the more opportunities will come your way. Don’t stay holed up in your house, laptop sprawled on your lap and scour sites. You must make the effort to meet and greet and be where your industry fellows are to be recognized. You can use your site or blog as a means to attend shows and events and cover them.