Fashion is a global industry offering opportunities to live abroad. Just like in an Erasmus program, you will learn while discovering another culture. Going abroad for your internship will unveil how the culture of a country shape the way fashion works in different places of the world. Interning at Louis Vuitton in Venice could give an insight into the leather industry and how small suppliers and artisans work with such big brands; Paris will give you a taste of what is corporate fashion with institutions like La Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture et de la Mode and conglomerates such as Kering and LVMH; finally London will be the city in which you will learn how to turn a creative idea into a business.
Interning in a fashion capital within a top company is the wish of everyone desiring to work in this industry.
When looking for the right internship for you, considering going abroad is of significant importance to understand the fashion industry globally.
Internships are the first approach to work, whatever industry you are evaluating, including fashion. Many are starting to do some internship experience during their studies, so if you’re considering an experience abroad, you must first finish them or think of interrupting for a period your studies or take advantage of the summer holidays to mature a bit of experience in another city.
The Benefits Of Doing A Fashion Internship Abroad are multiples
Personal and Professional Growth
In general, internships are essential for gaining experience. Evaluating one abroad means adding another piece to your career path. As a Master after the Degree.
Some want to have an experience abroad because they have a passion for that city that also combines fashion. Just think that the fashion capitals are also world capitals, cities that have so much to offer and it is, therefore, the dream of so many people to live in London, Paris or New York.
Others, on the other hand, simply want to make an experience abroad to feel more complete. You can have a short/medium experience and then return to your country of origin. Making an experience in a completely different city, far from one’s roots, leads to radical growth on a personal and professional level. A new language, a new culture, a new company, new people to know. Everything will be more challenging and stimulating, but in the end, you will grow much more.
2. Your CV will Shine
Almost everyone today can boast of having a degree and a master’s degree. Experiences are the competitive advantages that distinguish us from one another, and those abroad are evaluated very positively during the interviews because it shows your open mind and especially, they prove you dealt every time with new beginnings, new challenges, new cultures with which you have interfaced. An experience abroad will be like a medal on your CV.
3. New and Different Opportunities
Each city offers different opportunities. The culture itself and the approach to work changes.
Emmanuelle, our Content Editor, told how her experience abroad was dictated by a need. She began to evaluate opportunities abroad when, after her degree (not in fashion), she couldn’t find in Italy or France, an internship in Fashion that satisfied her tastes, skills and also her wallet.
This is to show you that sometimes, it is not just a matter of desire to make an experience abroad, but a necessity. Each country has its own culture on internships. In some cities, you may find an unpaid internship and in others, someone receives a salary equal to a full-time job. Although the salary should not be your priority during the internship, it is normal that it is conditioning. And if in London we find an internship for the same paid position, it is entirely logical to evaluate to combine the experience abroad with the financial part. The opportunities are different, maybe your dream is to work for the ” X” company that is not based in your country and then you have to move.
You have to evaluate different factors when looking for an internship the company, the role, the people with whom you work, the salary … and many times the best combination of these factors is in a foreign city, it is there then the moment to move.
4. It’s a strategic Choice
Not only London, Paris and New York, in Europe there are many cities that offer opportunities in Fashion and, although they are not as attractive as the fashion capitals, there is still an advantage that should not be underestimated: less competition. Many companies have their headquarters in the fashion capitals, but then have offices and branches in other cities throughout Europe. Fashion is a highly competitive industry so it would be smart to start to mature the first experience in the city where it is easier to find an internship (maybe even paid) and then move later with skills and added values that make you “palatable” by the companies despite the competition.
Imagine looking for an internship in London. There are so many boys and girls just out of school and as qualified as you. You will all be on the same level so finding an opportunity is much more complicated. Imagine now looking for a job in London after you worked in Berlin for a year and in Spain for another couple of months. Your CV will certainly be more interesting than those who have mapped those years only in the same city.
Have you interned abroad? Tell us about your experience in the comments below.
This post was originally posted on Jan 29th
