How Should You Dress For A Fashion Job Interview?

‘I’ve interviewed plenty of people who’ve come in suits but we’re a startup with a casual dress code. I’m always unsure if this is a sign of preparedness or a lack of research.’

It’s a sentence from a thread that popped up on my Linkedin feed some time ago. It was from a hiring manager of a startup and I found it particularly interesting. Dress code is a thing everyone worries about for an interview, especially for a fashion job interview. Each company has an ethos, a style that shows in the way people dress personally and professionally.

When you come to a fashion job interview, your outfit acts as a business card.  Hiring managers will remember a candidate that wore that particular shirt or court shoe. It’s not even about wearing branded clothes but more about your style. Your clothes will tell a little bit about your personality to the people in front of you. After an interview, it’s not uncommon to hear comments like ‘I loved her earrings’, ‘she looked confident with her crimson red lipstick on’ etc…So your style really counts in fashion.

Yet, after working in fashion for almost five years now, I’ve realised each brand has a style and so do their employees. It was especially visible during brand trainings when I was working at Mytheresa. If someone from Acne Studios was coming you could immediately tell, it was the same for other brand representatives too. Now granted that brand trainings are special because all these people come to talk about the new collection of the brand they are working for so they need to dress the part. Nonetheless, it never felt they were trying hard or were emulating the looks seen on the catwalks. Even when two representatives came for one brand, each of them had their own style.

So here is the question, how should you dress for a fashion job interview? Here are some thoughts on the matter below.

Dressing for a fashion job interview should be fun

Fashion is one of the rare industry where you can have fun with your wardrobe. People in other fields don’t have it that easy, so when preparing for a fashion job interview just have fun picking up your clothing! It should be the first rule before thinking about making a good impression. You’re going to look for a job in an industry that is all about appearance, so your interest in it should shine through your clothes.

If it’s true every fashion brand has a certain aesthetic if you applied to have a job in X company it is because you appreciate their style. Most of the time, without realising it, your style will already reflect it. So the question of your outfit being ‘on-brand’ won’t happen. When it’s like that dressing up for an interview is fun. Problems start when even if you love the brand, you stress and try dressing up to only impress your examinator. Though you are here to show the best version of yourself, don’t forget to love first your outfit. If you don’t, it will show.

You’ve spent all this time looking for jobs and sending applications and now you’re going to an interview. All this is stressful, so try to balance things by having fun picking up clothes. Start with simple pieces like a shirt, a blazer and pants and then add your twist with shoes, earrings or hair accessories (the velvet bow is a thing right now if you didn’t know).

Pick up clothes that make you feel confident

The danger of dressing to impress is that you can lose your own style and end up wearing clothes that don’t suit you. During a fashion job interview, it is the last thing you want. If in your daily life wearing things you are not used to making you feel uncomfortable, imagine during an interview! You’ll lose all your confidence because what you wear doesn’t represent you.

Forget about being on-brand and think about this piece of clothing, this accessory or even that beauty trick that makes you feel you own the world. I don’t have a recipe to feel confident but I do own things in my wardrobe that make me feel powerful each time I’m wearing them. If I’m going for an all-black look, I’ll add interesting outerwear like my black haori (a coat you put on a kimono) to play with texture and proportions. It has tonal jacquard embroidery details that always attract the attention to good observers. And to add a pop of colour I use lipstick, earrings and rings. All I have below are some flare pants and a shirt and that’s it.

All in all your outfit should start with simple pieces so that you can add some drama, your drama to be correct to make it more personal. Even if we are in fashion, you’re still interviewing so don’t exaggerate. Your pop of originality should be visible and yet subtle.

There are no right or wrong answer for your interview outfit. With fashion, you have the chance to express yourself through your clothing so don’t hesitate to do it!

What are your go-to dress for a fashion job interview? Let us know in the comments below.

feat pic polienne