The former Editorial Designer at British Vogue on self-confidence in the fashion industry

When commencing a career in fashion, the daily-challenges one gets confronted with, can be intimidating.
Yildiz Memisoglu-Govoni, former Editorial Designer at British Vogue,  is convinced that exactly these challenges and failures help by succeeding in the business and building the necessary self-confidence that makes you succeed in the world of fashion. In this interview she offers us precious insights into her previous experiences in the fashion industry, reaching from Vogue over MTV to the Telegraph and explains how her eccentric personality helped her to work her way up.

• Welcome Yildiz. Let’s begin with a brief introduction to your person.

 A bit of a time-traveller, self-healer part-time editorial enthusiast here. The glitch of this planet is movement if we understand movement we can understand everything. That’s why I went into Animation, Film and Art Direction accompanied with Graphic Design. Super happy to be part of your interview section and seriously I’m already laughing how much I will make fun of myself after I will read this five years later when I will be a creative director of a luxury fashion company. This is not a pretentious Versace moment, instead, it’s all about reality creation just like McQueen in the 1990s. Your mum will not fill your pockets with dreams, you will cry to understand who you are.

• Diving into the past years of your fashion career. For those who do not know: You graduated in Graphic Designs and Moving Image at Central Saint Martins and parallelly did a Graphic Design Internship at Leo Burnett, where you were able to contribute to a McDonalds Café banner. How was the University experience (rumors says that attending Central Saint Martin’s already represents a challenge, before your career has even began) and how did you manage to juggle an internship and the degree at once?

MTV changed my career more than Leo Burnett I must say. At that time, I was working for France and UK, doing 10 animations for their Snapchat channel. Before I started uni I already knew what is the hot track I should follow with the help of angels. When you set a goal and put your true intention into hard-work, anything is possible. It is about sacrifice and who you want to become. Do you really want it or are you a faker? If so don’t read the rest of this chat and let’s end it all here;) You will realize how Internships are so much easier than you think once the actual industry starts to kick in. You need to create outlines of who you are, don’t let a recruiter do it for you.

• In March 2019 you accepted the position as Editorial Designer at British Vogue. What were the application strategies you used that got you the job?

Very easy. LinkedIn application. Most of the time it’s in front of you. Jokes aside now I have done over 500 animations and if they would provide I can fill a gallery. Gagosian, Saatchi, Thaddeus Roppac, White Cube and last but not least Tate is one of my favourite places. From here if any of the curators, gallery owners who’s reading our little chat if you are open to exhibit my work I’m always down to collaborate. Work so hard and naturally be super talented so no one can ever touch your hard skin. British Vogue has been always my dream place to work since the age of 3. My mum has been my inspiration with her extreme capabilities in Linguistics by knowing 9 languages and definitely played the role model when it comes to adaptability and taught me how to neal quick fashion fixes for club dinners, passion for jewellery, charity work and efficient wedding hair styling. However, my engineer dad taught me I have so much more than fashion. Definitely my brain is much more math orientated considered as analytical brain than what a usual creative person would define themselves. Therefore, after Vogue got back studying into Finance at Yale. I will easily become a director in a couple of years because I believe education is king.

• Give us a little insight into the day-to-day work of a Graphic or Editorial Designer. Also, what capabilities and characteristics should one have, in order to succeed in this field? 

I’m coming from Graphic design, Editorial and 3D Animation background. Always read what your future job position requires from you. There’s no one way of marketing or selling a pitch. I experimented for 7 years in 3D animation techniques, film production, magazine and boom started flourishing along with Advertising routines. Learn from failures. It is always a good practice to succeed and fail and succeed and fail again. Life is a circular timeline never a linear one.

• Would you say that entering the fashion industry is only possible when having a degree? In how far did your degree contribute to getting your first jobs?

Central Saint Martins is an inflated bubble. I’m not kidding I truly believe that if you believe in yourself and do extreme self-study, on top if you’re willing to learn before anyone teaches you… then stones will find its place. Never be tired of adding new skills to your brain and your cv. Talent has no borders make your dream happen now.

• What did you find the most challenging when you first tried to enter the fashion industry?

I always had an eye for womenswear, styling, fashion photography, art direction and editorial. At the age of 3, I was already color coordinating my clothes, I was a pretty damn good with hues of yellow and purple at that age, then it transformed into a super fantastic way of clashing eclectic extravaganza and finalizing with a super cool stiletto plus a piece of statement jewellery. If I would reincarnate I would be a girl from Venezia 🙂 At 15 started taking my designs to tailor and after I got into Economics around 17 in Istanbul said to myself: I’m going to London, the world needs to hear my eccentric voice. I’m both Jewish, Muslim and married to a Christian. We exaggerate everything and classify jobs into specific targets. A good director must juggle between tasks and have lots of courage. In fashion is always a pleasure to explore the energy of different backgrounds.

• Does your work change during fashion week?

It’s always about collaborations between different departments within. We as a team trust each other’s professional backgrounds and try to teach others with elegant manners. Fashion weeks are always a pleasure to get exhausted, study harder on who’s the big J.W. Anderson of the market and get lost in the upcoming trends of 2 seasons ahead. My daily job definitely increases parallel to my personal learning curve. I demand more and get more work on board.

Photo Courtesy Yildiz Memisoglu-GovoniInterview by Lilly Meuser