I don't work directly with fashion, I have done previously, but I don't currently. I have a lovely job where I can create, public relate and wear pretty skirts everyday but I do not work precisely with fashion. Working in fashion is a career for the lucky few. Dedicated and passionate individuals (often on student wages) will go to great lengths to get their 'wannabe' red soles in the door. They beg and plead with respected publishing houses, borrow the perfect interview outfit (keeping the receipt to return it) and they steal email contacts from work placements for future reference. It really is dog eat dog out there in the fashion world. So when one of my "I work in fashion" friends recently told me she didn’t read fashion blogs, it had me somewhat perplexed. She states her case by saying; “I work in fashion all day and the last thing I want to do when I get home is read about it.” Scoff!
During my time in their world, not once did I become saturated, overwhelmed or bogged down in this ‘chameleon like’ industry we all love so much. Day after day I would spend my commute immersed in glossy pages being well aware that I would spend the next 8 hours consulting with the people behind these exact words and images. My evenings were spent downloading the latest shows despite knowing that tomorrow at 9 I would have to actually attend one, and I still lined up in the rain at sample sales regardless of the fact that I could receive a piece of the new collection FOC in a goody bag the following week.
I can understand that particular industries are difficult to escape - flight attendants not wanting to travel on their days off, brick layers not wanting to DIY on their lazy Sunday - I get that. However, not wanting to read and stay up to the minute on an ever-changing and fickle industry? This, I don’t understand. I mean, does my friend not realize how quickly she could miss a trend simply because she chooses to shut off after work? In a cut throat industry like fashion, such a dangerous attitude puts oneself in a very vulnerable position.
Scoring a position in a competitive industry is a golden opportunity. If you are lucky enough to break into the industry you should be sponging every new bit of information, taking advice and considering all opinions in order to stay well informed and on the ball. Frankly, I believe that if you don’t have the passion, the love, the all consuming, think about it every minute of the day obsession with fashion; then you need to get out and let someone else with bigger dreams fill your designer shoes!
Final Note: On the QT, I think this friend of mine may have a problem with "outsiders" writing on a topic she has a degree in and a head office staff number. Considering fashion is such a superfluous business, maybe I should remind her that industry snobbery is a very unattractive quality. Or maybe I just need a new hobby?
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14 people have commented:
Well you have had your say!!!!
and well written i might say
Very interesting post. It is great that you were able to enjoy fashion whilst working with fashion, but I do think I would become quite jaded and bored with trying to get into sample sales when I know I could get invited to others.
Also, how on earth have you structured your page so nicely/ I am assuming you are well versed in html code because I could NOT do that.
Also, I adore that drawing, where is it from?
Well I have just embarked into that world...tentatively though... and I am determined not to become jaded...great post!
I can't imagine that if I was ever lucky enough to work in fashion that I'd want to switch of at night. There is always so many new things to see and learn.
I really liked your post! I must confess: I work in fashion, and I read fashion blogs, daily. But I knew a lot of people like your friend, and I was like that too, some time ago, when the company I was working in was so stressing I even had nightmares at night with the collections I had to design :(
This is a very interesting post indeed.
Thanks for sharing with us.
xx
It gets better because almost no-one in the Australian fashion industry reads fashion blogs. During AFW I have coutless conversations with friends who are all editors at respected magazines and they admitted *gasp* they don't readn blogs! I had to explain to one Ed (who I really like and respect) what a blog is and why I blog...I know...I'm just as shocked as you!
It's precisely this 'head in the sand' attitude that will see a lot of these women out on their arse's wondering why the magazine closed and they don't have a job!
I have no sympathy...the times they are changing!
Great post Francis. K
Very informative post. Wow, I've learned so much since I've discoverd the world of fashion blogging. I look forward to getting my red sole shoes in the door, one day (such as getting invited to a DIOR event like someone I know...)
Great post, you are such a great writer and its good to hear about the fashion industry since many people think its such a glamorous industry
Fashion changes so fast I would think it imperative that people in the industry keep up with their reading and studies. I think that fashion snobbery certainly has something to do with it, but I feel I've learnt more about fash from blog than I've ever learnt from magazines.
I think a lot of peeps become flight attendants primarily for the free travel ;-)
But I would think that bus drivers wouldn't want to be on a bus on their day off.
Well said! I can think of nothing nicer than reading fashion mags and blogs on my day off. When industry people I know see my blog they inevitably say 'oh you're so fashion' and I kind of feel like they think it's OTT but...I can't help it! And yes, few fashion people I know recognise the blogs I mention.
Keep the hobby; get a new friend
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