How To Find The Right Career In Fashion For You

So you want to work in fashion, but what exactly do you want to do? 

The dream of working in fashion starts for many people with the wish to become a designer, stylist, editor, or another role. But there are also those who dream of working in the industry without having a specific career goal. 

Deciding what you want to do for the rest of your life is always complicated. In fashion, there are so many career possibilities that you may not be aware of. You might feel lost because you don’t know about the different careers or you are undecided between two or three. As a result, many fashion enthusiasts start their journey in fashion on the wrong foot, without a clear idea of where to start. 

This is why I decided to write this article. I’m here to guide you step-by-step from having no clue about what fashion job to do. Eventually, help you land your first internship in fashion. 

There are many things to consider to find the right fashion job for you. You need to decide whether you want to work on the creative or business side of the industry. Also, you need to ask yourself questions about what you like and dislike, reading job descriptions, and so on. Let me be your career coach for the day (though I would be happy if you want to stick around for longer 🙂 ) and help you find the right fashion job for you.

How To Find The Right Career In Fashion For You

STEP 1: Define the macro area: Business or Creative side?

Choosing a specific career right away can be hard, especially if you are not well-informed about the different departments and think that people who work in fashion are all designers, stylists, and editors. 

So let’s start simple. Do you prefer the Management/Business or Creative side of the fashion industry? 

Do you see yourself working with the clothes directly or working on the strategies of running a successful fashion brand? Or perhaps are you the writer of the fashion stories you read online or in your favorite fashion magazines? Or are you organizing fashion events?

For example, when I started thinking about a career in fashion, I was not aware of all the different career possibilities in the industry. However, I knew what I did not want to do. I was fascinated by the sketches of the designers or how beautiful a magazine editorial was styled. However, I couldn’t imagine myself designing a collection all da. I also couldn’t choose the looks that models should wear for a photoshoot. It seemed fun from the outside and really cool. But when you have to decide what fashion job is right for you you have to go beyond the surface and go in depth to understand your unique interests and passions.

One thing is admiring fashion and being fascinated by the processes, but what do you see yourself doing? I wanted to work on the strategies of a fashion brand because I was more interested in the business side of it despite I LOVE fashion images, clothes, and shoes.

The fashion world encompasses a wide range of roles. Industry insiders know that it’s not enough to design a beautiful dress, shoes, or handbag to sell. That’s why the fashion world has a fascinating mix of creativity and business.

Working on the business side of the industry can be interesting for you if you like to make analyses and work on strategies and management of fashion brands and their products. The following roles are business-oriented:

• Marketing and PR
• Buying and Merchandising
• Brand Management
• HR
• Finance
• Legal

If you prefer to be hands-on with the products, styling looks, designing clothes, writing articles…then a career in the creative department may be the best for you. You can work for example as a:

• Designer
• Stylist
• Editor
• Writer
• Graphic designer
• Photographer

Deciding whether you prefer a role in management or creativity is a good start, so you can immediately dismiss the roles that are not part of one or the other field. Already by choosing what is NOT made for you, is going to help you have more clarity. 

To return to my case, when I was looking for my first opportunity in the industry I’d have never applied for a styling, design, or PR internship because I knew they were not made for me. I was still open to applying for different roles BUT ONLY related to my interest: the management side of the industry, so for example I was looking at brand management, marketing, buying, merchandising… that’s how I ended up in the e-commerce department at Alexander McQueen: it was a management role of the industry + a brand I love + still working with beautiful products.

It’s okay to stay open and consider options in related departments while it’s not ideal to apply to any job or internship you see only because you believe there aren’t other options. If you can’t find many job openings online I suggest emailing your favorite brands directly to ask for a job or internship in your favorite department. I teach more about this cold email strategy as well as what to write in these emails in my Break into the fashion industry course and a bit in my free webinar. 

Step 2: What companies do you want to work for, where and how? Remotely? In-house? Freelancing? 

Deciding what type of companies you want to work for and where can also help you decide the right fashion job for you.

Do you see yourself working in a magazine, agency, luxury brand, or startup/emerging brand? The type of company can influence your career decision as well.

If you want to wear multiple hats (taking care of multiple things) or have the opportunity to work remotely, you might want to work for a smaller company that has more flexible roles because the team is smaller and someone might be the PR person as well as the stylist of the brand. 

If you see yourself working in a magazine you need to learn what are the different roles at a fashion magazine and explore the opportunities made for you.

Most of the roles at the biggest companies in the industry are in-house and not remote. These companies’ offices are based in the fashion capitals: Milan, Paris, London and New York. If you are considering becoming a fashion writer then you can do it remotely but if you aspire to become a fashion designer, buyer, or work in marketing and you dream of the biggest companies (see Dior, Louis Vuitton, Chanel..) you need to move to where these companies have their offices. 

While most of them are based in the fashion capitals: Milan, Paris, London, and New York, they also have offices all over the world so maybe there is a close country/city to yours where you can move. 

Freelancing

Becoming a freelancer is another option you can pursue. This is the case if you want more freedom and you want to work with multiple companies. However, you don’t have the stability of a monthly salary and you won’t likely have a stable desk. You’ll work on a project. Until you are established, you’ll have to constantly pitch yourself out there to get clients. Most freelancers work as stylists, photographers, editors, writers, art directors, or general consultants. But to become a consultant you need to have several years of experience in the field already.

You can also have a full-time job Mon-Fri and freelance on the side during the weekend or in the evenings. For example, you could pair your PR job with a freelance styling career on the side if you want to pursue multiple passions.

STEP 3: Read job descriptions

Whether at this point you have an idea of what job in fashion is right for you or you are still undecided, reading job descriptions online can help you find a role you didn’t consider or assess if a role you were considering is really made for you. Most people are fascinated by the job title but what you really need to look at are the tasks aka what you’ll practically do every single day at your job. 

Say that getting a buying internship sounds amazing, but you didn’t know that working on Excel spreadsheets is a daily duty (and I guarantee that all fashion buyers use Excel on a daily basis,) so if this doesn’t sound appealing, you might reconsider your career options. 

By reading job descriptions, you can also find out that an internship with the same job title involves different tasks at Company A and Company B.

Other things to remember when choosing your dream fashion role

Rule N°1: Don’t lose focus on your ideal role

Looking for similar opportunities doesn’t mean applying to all fashion jobs and internships. You still have to be selective and keep the focus on your dream job. 

Before applying for a job, ask yourself these questions. Is this aligned with my career goal? Even if this is not exactly the role I had in mind, can it get me closer to my dream job or are they too disconnected? 

If you know you want to become a fashion designer, then stay focused on applying for fashion design internships or something related such as pattern making, don’t go into visual merchandising if it’s not what you want to do only because it’s the only job you think you might get.

Don’t apply randomly to whatever role you find online. 

Rule N°2: What you studied doesn’t define your career path

Very often, those who are looking for their first job in fashion come from another industry or didn’t study fashion. So they think that they cannot work in the fashion sector, or that at best they can only do something related to their degree or previous experience. 

I am here to tell you that this is a big misconception. It doesn’t matter what you studied at university . Whether it’s economics, law, art history, or communications. You can get a job in fashion with whatever degree. In fact, I am not sure if you know this but most fashion professionals hold traditional degrees. Others didn’t attend a fashion school. For example, many editors studied journalism or literature, and fashion marketing managers studied marketing. But there are also many professionals who made a career switch. For example, some studied PR and became stylists, and I have friends who studied law and became buyers. There are many, many different examples like this in the industry. I wrote an article about how you can apply your degree to work in fashion that I invite you to read here. 

This is to tell you that when you are trying to understand what fashion job is made for you, don’t think about what you studied/what you are studying. You don’t have to put yourself in a box and think that if you studied law, your only option is to become a lawyer, or that with a degree in journalism, you need to become a journalist. 

My friend, the fashion industry offers endless opportunities for you to thrive, and your dream job shouldn’t be necessarily linked to what you studied. 

Rule N°3: What you choose now doesn’t have to be the job of your life and define your career. 

You can always change paths along the way. So don’t stress too much thinking about choosing a job that you’ll still like in 10 years. People tend to change jobs and companies on average every 2 or 3 years, and you will likely do as well. 

Fashion Internships: the ultimate strategy to understand what fashion job is made for you

All the recommendations I gave you above can help you figure out what fashion job is made for you. Open your eyes to opportunities you may not have considered before. However, only through experience you can really understand what fashion career is made for you, and it starts with fashion internships.

Fashion internships provide a first-hand experience into the inside of the fashion industry. You gain practical experience and start noticing what tasks you like, and which ones you don’t. Maybe you’ll realize that you prefer your colleague’s job!

Therefore, if you are undecided, my advice is to do different internships to understand what career path in fashion is made for you. 

Understanding what fashion job is made for you is just one part of the puzzle to break into the fashion industry. In my online course Break into the Fashion Industry, I teach you where to find and how to apply for fashion jobs. I also teach how to build your CV, cover letter, and portfolio. The course also includes learning how to network in the fashion industry, build your personal branding, and much more! Enroll here and join thousands of my students who found jobs and internships at prestigious fashion companies including Vogue, Dior, CR Fashion Book, Burberry, etc. without any experience and no fashion degree. 

Want to get a glimpse into my teaching style? Register for my free webinar to learn 3 out-of-the-box strategies that will impress the recruiters.