What To Study To Work In Fashion

Dreaming of working in the glamourous fashion industry and being surrounded by beautiful clothes every day but you’re not sure if you studied the right thing or you want to be sure you make the right choice before enrolling in a course? In this article, I’m going to guide you on what to study to work in fashion. 

If you are like me when I first wanted to enter the fashion industry 10 years ago now, you might be asking yourself what you should study to work in fashion. I’m pretty sure the first thing that has come to your mind is that you MUST enroll in a fashion school to make it.

Well, today you’ll discover the truth no one ever says about people who work in fashion. 

What To Study To Work In Fashion

Fashion Degrees

Attending a fashion school is the first thing that may come to mind. If you were considering it that’s, of course, a good option. Whether it’s a creative or a business-related degree, a fashion school usually offers degrees in many different fields. And there is a lot you can do to make the most of your fashion school.

What Do You Learn In A Fashion School?

Design

Fashion design is probably the first career that comes to mind when people think about the fashion industry. And why people go to a fashion school in the first place. If design is your dream career, it is worth investing in a fashion design degree Because you won’t learn anywhere else about sketching, pattern making, or garment development. 

Remember that the fashion design course on your resume won’t guarantee you a job in fashion. You still need to learn how to impress recruiters when applying for your first jobs or internships, by for example putting together a strong portfolio. I also want to point out that you don’t necessarily need to study design in a fashion school in order to build one. Suppose you are talented because you learned via YouTube how to design a collection and your portfolio is very strong. In that case, you can get started with a fashion design internship even if you have never studied fashion.

Apart from design, a fashion school offers courses in:

Fashion Communication

Fashion Marketing

Course on Fashion Journalism

Fashion Styling

Fashion Business

Course on Fashion Buying and Merchandising

Deciding what fashion degree to pursue depends on your career goals.

If you want to become a writer for Vogue then you should go for a fashion journalism course. If you want to work in the marketing department then opt for the marketing course. Also, if you want to work in PR and event organization, opt for the communication one.

To choose the best fashion course that is made for you, I suggest reading the different topics you are going to study and deciding if they are interesting for you.

Don’t put too much pressure on yourself when choosing the course fearing that it will then determine your future career forever. Some people already have clear ideas and they study Fashion communication to work in fashion PR or marketing but I also know people who studied fashion communication and then became buyers. So what you study is not going to define who you’ll become. 

It’s important to consider that a fashion school is not a guaranteed ticket to the fashion industry.

It will not automatically get you a job in fashion. If you want to take a fashion diploma, but remember that you should do it because you like the course and the lessons. Not because you believe that attending a fashion school is your only chance to get a job in fashion. Or that paying for an expensive fashion master will be your entry ticket to land a job in fashion. 

There are many factors that make a successful job application. And it’s not enough to have a prestigious fashion school on your resume to get a job easily. Truth is, fashion graduates struggle as well to get a job in fashion because this is one of the most competitive industries. More and more people have access to a fashion education today compared to the past. So recruiters are used to receiving applications from fashion students. A fashion degree is no longer an exception. So you need other things to stand out. 

Can I work in fashion if I didn’t study fashion?

The short answer is yes. 

Fashion companies hire as many fashion students as they hire those who come from other fields. So if you want to study something non-related to fashion, or you are unsure if the fashion industry will forever be the industry you want to be in, and you could potentially be interested in other fields as well, then a traditional degree could be a better option so you leave more doors open. 

I still remember my first fashion internship.

On day one, you’ll usually spend the first hours with the recruiter or your boss walking you around the office to introduce you to the rest of the team and other departments.

As per the manual, over the following days, I went over to LinkedIn and added all my colleagues to my network. I was curious to learn more about their career path. And I was surprised to know that in one of the top companies in the industry (I was working for Kering and Yoox-Net-A-Porter and Alexander McQueen) just 1% of the people working there attended a fashion school! Most of the people working in different departments such as PR, e-commerce, social media, merchandising, buying, marketing, styling, photography…. had a “traditional degree”.

That was the moment when I realized that one of the biggest convictions I always had about the fashion industry was not true: not all the people who work in fashion studied fashion but the opposite. In fact, almost all of them studied something not related to fashion.

The department with the most fashion students is the design department because becoming a fashion designer or pattern maker requires technical skills that you won’t study in any other traditional degree like marketing, PR, literature, economics…

So yes, here is a big truth: you don’t need to study fashion to work in this industry.

If you are thinking about getting a job in fashion and you already are enrolled in a traditional degree such as economics, literature, communications, marketing, art history, law… you should not worry about the fact that fashion is not in your course curriculum because you can enter the fashion world with your current degree!

One of the reasons behind my initial idea of starting this website and the first fashion career advice platform that is Glam Observer over 10 years ago, was to break down all these myths and help as many fashion enthusiasts like you to discover the truths and WHAT you really need to make your career in fashion. Together with the HOW of course. 

Deciding who you want to be for the rest of your life when you’re still in your 18-20s is hard. So don’t put yourself under too much pressure because remember that you can always change. If you are undecided about what to study, I’m going to break down what are the common degrees for the most popular career options. BUT PLEASE don’t take it as the rule. THIS IS NOT A RULE and what you study is not necessarily related to who you are going to become. I studied management engineering and I started in fashion in the ecommerce department.

Many study communication or marketing and then become buyers.

So I know that your logic will tell you to choose a job related to what you study but if you change your mind after you graduate just know that your degree choice is not going to prevent you from becoming who you want to be at that point. At the end of the day you’ll have to start with internships, the experience is what really matters. 

Economics, business, finance

If you studied any of these, and you believe that it will get you nowhere in fashion, I am here to tell you the opposite. Economics, business, or similar studies will be a good fit for roles such as buying, merchandising, or brand management, as they are number-oriented and require great analytical skills and knowledge of Excel. So if you are interested in working on the business side of the industry (buying, merchandising, marketing, brand management, finance…), any of these degrees can be your entry ticket. They will bring a serious added value to your fashion industry knowledge. 

Again, this is not a rule. Just keep in mind that of course if you want to work with numbers, it’s easier if you have a degree related to numbers. But even those with a degree in law, economics, business… can land creative positions if they can prove they have creative skills and took an online course in fashion design, writing, styling, etc. 

Law 

If you have a degree in law, you can work in the legal department of a fashion company. But if you want to do something completely unrelated to fashion law like becoming a buyer, stylist, or editor, you can. Some of my friends studied law and now work as buyers so it’s possible.

Marketing

Marketing is a broad field and there are many fashion jobs that you can do with this degree: digital marketing, eCommerce, social media, Public Relations and communication, brand management…opportunities are endless. So studying marketing can be a good idea especially if you are undecided between a creative or a business career in fashion. 

PR, Communication, and Journalism

Most of the editors, stylists, and those who work in fashion media studied journalism, art history, PR, communication, and literature. Hence a degree in any of these fields is enough if you want to work in fashion. And you can learn about writing and communication at a university instead of attending a fashion school. 

These are just a couple of examples of what you can study, but in reality, there are many more options. Some of my friends studied law and now they are fashion buyers; Virgil Abloh studied architecture and was a designer; Giorgio Armani studied medicine.  You can find many other examples like these. Fashion is a broad and flexible field. It’s not like lawyers who necessarily need a law degree, engineers who need an engineering degree, or doctors who must study medicine. Choose something you are passionate about or it will be harder to get a degree if you end up studying something you’re not really interested in just because you believe is going to take you to the job of your dreams. 

If you are pursuing a traditional degree you can always pair it with some short or online fashion courses. During my last year of my management engineering degree, I started taking several online fashion courses. These helped me have something related to fashion on my resume but also demonstrate my real interest in this industry and a bit of knowledge to recruiters. 

How To Study Fashion at Home

Learning about fashion has never been easier from the comfort of your home. And it can be a good way to complement whatever you are studying whether you are pursuing a fashion diploma or a traditional degree. 

Here are some of the online fashion courses you can take so you can learn about a specific career and gain the necessary skills. 

Inside the Fashion Industry – The Fashion History Course

Have you always wanted to learn more about your favorite industry? How does it work? What are its mechanisms? Having knowledge of the fashion industry is essential for a career in fashion. In this course, you will learn insider knowledge about the key areas that shape the fashion industry today. Starting from its history with the Fashion Historian, author and Parsons School of Design Teacher Emma McClendon.

The course includes 11 video lessons about the following topics: Couture vs. Ready-to-Wear vs. Fast Fashion, Manufacturing (including factory/industrialization history, sizing, body scanning), Materials (textiles, dyes, 3D printing), The Rise of the Celebrity Designer, Branding, Retail (from the rise of the department store to E-commerce), Fashion Media (Vogue, magazines, to social media), The Fashion Show and Fashion Week (from start to live streams), Accessories and Beauty (most of the fashion industry revenue comes from accessories ;)), Sustainability, and Diversity and Inclusion. 

Cost: €197

Excel for fashion 

Did you know that Excel is the most used program used in the fashion industry? For buyers, merchandisers, marketing, brand managers and CEOs, Excel is a must-to-know to make daily analyses. But it’s also used by stylists, editors and press officers to organize and plan shootings, fashion shows and events, manage samples and plan the editorial calendar of magazines. So if you want to get the job and be successful at your fashion office, you need to learn this program. Want to be prepared? Study Excel now with the new course Excel for Fashion. The first and only one course that teaches Excel applied to the fashion industry with real examples and data!

With this course you’ll learn Excel from the basics to advanced level while also learning key concepts of the business side of the fashion industry including: samples management used in fashion PR and styling Retail KPIs (sell-through, stock, markdown), Business KPIs (sales, profit, margin), Social Media KPI (engagement rate), Collection specs, and more, with downloadable worksheets to practice everything you see in the lessons. 

Cost: one single payment of 347€, or 4 monthly payments of 97€.

The Fashion Writer Accelerator 

Do you dream of writing for fashion magazines? It can become a reality today, even if you have zero experience. Just like our students who landed jobs at top fashion publications like Marie Claire, Elle, Glamour, and more. The Fashion Writer Accelerator is the most practical fashion journalism online course that teaches you exactly step-by-step to start your fashion writing career in just one week! Whether you want it to be your full-time job, your freelance/business career (and work from anywhere) or on the side (combine writing with another job or write at the beginning of your career to gain some experience) this course is made for you.

You will learn how to write fashion articles like a professional, how to build a writing portfolio that impresses editors, where to find writing jobs (both remote and in-person), how to pitch magazines so that your articles get published, how to set rates, and create your writing blog. 

Cost: one single payment of 297€, or 2 monthly payments of 177€, or 4 monthly payments of 89€.

Break into the fashion industry 

Are you struggling to get a job in fashion or don’t know where to start? Just because you don’t have experience in the industry or didn’t attend a fashion school doesn’t mean you can’t have a career in fashion. Break into the fashion industry is the first and only revolutionary course and mentorship experience, that teaches you a proven step-by-step system of unconventional strategies to stand out in a competitive industry and land a job/internship quickly in any field (styling, PR, marketing, buying, design, editorial..)! So far, we have helped our students get a job at top fashion companies like Dior, Burberry, CR Fashion Book, Tory Burch, LVMH…

In this course, you will learn everything about the different careers in fashion. How to choose the right one for you, how to apply for fashion jobs and internships, crafting Your CV, cover letter, Linkedin, and portfolio, passing a job interview, how to build your network from scratch, personal branding, and more tips and unconventional strategies taught in 50+ video lessons and downloadable templates.

Cost: one single payment of 477€, or pay in 2 installments of 249€.

All our online courses offer these benefits: 

• 100% online
• All lessons are pre-recorded
• You can study from anywhere and at your own pace
• Lifetime access to the courses and downloadable materials
• Course updates are free
• Freedom to start whenever you prefer
• You will get a certification at the end of each course that you can add to your CV and LinkedIn profile to impress fashion recruiters

Enroll in the Glam Observer Fashion Academy and accelerate your career in fashion starting today!

Fashion Styling and Image Making

Are you an aspiring fashion stylist or you already work in the field and seek to gain more knowledge? The famous fashion stylist Lucinda Chambers imparts this course about fashion styling on the Business of Fashion. Its perk? The course is totally free if you have a paid subscription on BoF, which is a good-to-go platform for fashion news, by the way. 

At the end of this online course, you will obtain a comprehensive overview of the styling ecosystem, understand how styling is executed by top-tier creatives, publications and brands, and gain invaluable insight of creative processes across platforms.

Format: online

Start: self-paced, you can access the course any time

Duration: 10 hours

Language: English

Cost: Free with BoF Professional All-Access or Student+ memberships

Fashion Design

Even though fashion design is, perhaps, one career for which it’s really worth attending a fashion school, you can totally learn it on your own just like many great self-taught designers, for example in this online course. 

Format: online

Start: self-paced, you can access the lessons any time

Duration: 3 weeks

Language: English

Cost: $79

There are also many online courses (from short videos to longer courses) on Linkedin Learning so feel free to check them out.

As you may know, taking a degree is not enough. And you have to keep up with what’s going on in the fast-evolving fashion industry every day. Hence I recommend you to subscribe to the news and read articles on platforms like Women’s Wear Daily, Business of Fashion, and Glam Observer 😉 Every Friday, we send a newsletter with the latest fashion news.

Another way you can study fashion at home is by reading books about your favorite fashion houses and designers, watching fashion documentaries, or listening to fashion podcasts. 

To wrap up, there is not a single rule about what to study to work in fashion. Whether it’s by attending a fashion school, taking a traditional degree, or learning about fashion at home, there are lots of ways to study fashion.

Once you do this, you will probably want to apply for fashion jobs. (after all, you are not studying fashion for the sake of studying, right?) Check out my free masterclass I share 3 strategies to stand out to get a job in fashion.