The Truth About Starting in Fashion: Why Your First Job Might Leave You Scratching Your Head
By Emily Shapton
No no no no don’t stop reading!!! I promise this has a happy ending and won’t add to your amalgamating stress which already includes whether a career in fashion could financially support you, allow you to ever have a social life, is actually even possible, etc etc.
I am currently at my second ever fashion internship having been at my previous one for 5 months and this one nearly 3. When I walked though those front doors on my first day, a bounce in my step as the late sun hit my new blazer, I thought here I come, the moment the industry has been waiting for. I believed fully that university, movies and magazines, had prepared me completely for this day.
However, as I sat down at my desk that day, and the next, and the next, I became less and less sure of myself, and more and more panicked by the actual fashion industry.
Where was all the tracing paper and masking tape that coated sketchbook pages? Or the mannequins that we drew over in pastel, and then watercolour, and sometimes coffee to really show just how organic and resourceful us uni students are. Where are the draping experiments, and the first-hand research?
Instead, I was greeted by this looming dark and omnipresent presence which breathed down creativities throat called commercialism. Of course, at university, the phrase commercialism is almost used to refer to some kind of foreign object that exists in relation to us but isn’t incredibly relevant to whatever we may be doing. The truth is that university, at least for me, seemed to be this wonderful safe haven where we all study fashion in complete denial that it is in fact, a huge, global business.
I was in my first job, working 9-6 for free, and looking around and thinking to myself that there wasn’t a role within this company that I wanted.
This then led to me getting closer and closer to having the cliché ‘I’m in my twenties what am I going to do with my life’ breakdown every day for the next few weeks. I want to preface by saying this is nothing against the company I worked for (they were great) but more the complete shock I had at people having to make money off something that I had always just done because I loved it. It was hard, to fully accept this, and for moments I wasn’t even sure if I had a place within the industry. I didn’t know if the role that I dreamed of even existed, and if it did was it realistic for me to aim for? (I can’t just say my dream graduate role is creative director of Margiela).
However, as time went on, I adjusted. Instead of seeing a range board of blank faced mannequins full of 70+ outfits as overwhelmingly unnatural, I started to see the beauty in collection cohesion, in wearability and in the relation of the customer to the clothing.
I changed companies and started to work for people who create their patterns and samples in-house, (at first sight of a sewing machine I felt my shoulders relax) and I learnt about designing for a customer- the importance of how the fabric sits on the body and the wearability of the piece. I learnt meticulous details about patterns that were never at the forefront of first-and-second-year teaching as they don’t impact the construction of the garment, but more the customer’s comfort and functionality of the piece.
Now, although I’m still not sure on what I want to do/be, the industry doesn’t seem quite so oppressive, and commercialism is no longer this scary presence that sits in the corner, but more something that seems to allow creatives to make money out of doing what they love.
So (I told you it had a happy ending) if the job you’ve recently started has left you crying on the phone to your mum about how you should’ve pursued law because then you’d be sad but rich and at least you wouldn’t be confused, don’t worry. Jumping from university which has literally no resemblance of routine or any kind of schedule, to a 9-5 anyway is a big adjustment. Change is scary and uncomfortable but that doesn’t mean it's wrong! If the role you’re doing or the company you’re working for doesn’t perhaps represent where you want to go in the future, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a company that doesn’t, you just need to keep going xx
