Like most creative industries fashion doesn’t always seem like the most realistic dream when seen in the eyes of your family or friends who don’t really understand what you do or want to do. Not having a solid support system in place is extremely challenging but very common in any creative path you take, but it just makes you work that much harder.
The most common questions I get are “Soooo….what do you again? or “What do you REALLY do?” It’s difficult to example exactly what you do in the fashion industry especially when you’re just starting out and don’t have a specific job/title in mind. Usually at this point I would just reply to people “I’m working towards (BLANK) to achieve my dreams of (BLANK)”, that way they might get a general understanding of what you’re currently doing.
Going into fashion isn’t considered the most traditional path, you don’t just go to school and have ONE job you could possibly do and get right out of college. You could be working internships for 1-2 years until you finally land a decent job. It’s hard to explain this to people who don’t understand the fashion industry and how it works, you have to work extremely hard and have an amazing work ethic to make it in this industry and you can do that by proving yourself through internships and volunteer positions. Most of the people I know who are either working in fashion already or still starting out have had to s on top of a job just to survive. Some people work internships full-time and only have a part-time job to pay basic bills, and this is what a lot of your peers will not understand…. “Why are you doing free work when you could be getting paid doing something else?” It all comes back to proving yourself within the industry and also for yourself to discover which area of the industry you want to work in.
A common misconception of the careers in fashion is that you are a super “girly girl” or perhaps maybe you weren’t the smartest kid in school, which couldn’t be further from the truth. The fashion industry isn’t for everyone and you need to work extremely hard to just get a chance at making it, and what makes it that much harder is the people around you saying things like “Did you go into fashion because you couldn’t do anything else?”..No, we go into fashion because we love it and want to be part of this magnificent world of art. We go into a certain industry or job not because it’s what is expected of us or because of the money, but to be truly passionate about the work we do.
If you’re finding it difficult to maintain a positive attitude with the continuous negative comments towards your fashion career path my biggest piece of advice is to network and connect with as many people who share the same dreams, interests, and passions as you. Being involved in a community will help motivate you and keep you on track to score your dream job or build your own fashion business. Through our membership program at Glam Observer we offer a private community group for those who want to be encouraged and surrounded with other girls who share the same passions, and also get amazing career advice to help progress your career that much faster!
Don’t let those negative comments scare you away from your dream of working in fashion, use those comments as fuel to energize your determination and work that much harder to land your dream job and be able to say “I did it!”
