How To Get Started In The Fashion Industry
Can you spot me? This is my "I'm seriously paying attention" face!
Fashion has become a hot industry over the past several years, especially with the rise of the celebrity stylist (being nearly a celebrity themselves), red carpet and event styling, and (my favorite) personal styling. Breaking into fashion is not hard, per say, but it's not nearly as glamorous as the fashion people sometimes make it seem - it's a lot of damn hard work, but I'm here to bring you hope! If you have dreams of being in the fashion industry, I'm sharing with you three of my best tips.
Network. Extrovert? Network. Introvert? Network. Ambivert and all the rest of ya'll? Network. Go to as many events as you can and meet as many people as you can, especially those outside of your field. Building an extensive network of relationships and connections will never let you down. Hand in hand with networking is social media - get on it, use it. Daily. I'm 100% positive that all of my relative successes have come from people and connections via Twitter.
Get trained. It's great to parlay a blog gig into other work, but if you want to be in fashion, and stand out from other bloggers looking to parlay their blogs into work, you need training, especially if you didn't attend fashion school. I attended the School of Style (not a sponsored post!) and literally followed them around the country to get the classes in - I went to D.C., New York, and even booked a 48 hour trip to L.A. for their menswear class. This is hands down the best training for aspiring stylists. One of my favorite parts was learning the history of fashion - it's so interesting to me and there's so much to delve into. Style is cyclical, so it's extremely important that you have the knowledge of the history of fashion and that it's not just a fun, pretty, Instagramable hobby.
Do it for free. Yup. Free. That may mean you do a lot of free projects or get an internship. When I first started to seriously get into fashion, I found, asked, and received an internship at a high-end consignment store. I was there, every Saturday, in the store, learning, soaking it up, and making invaluable relationships. I have done editorial shoots for free to build my portfolio and make connections. I have done closet cleanses for free to refine my processes. While you may not be earning money for your time at the start, the knowledge, connections, and experience you gain are absolutely priceless.