How To Find The Right Fashion Internship For You

I studied Italian literature and International Relations, so I didn’t have a clue on how to find an internship in fashion when I decided to go for what I loved the most. At the time, I was blogging about culture and fashion. This platform was an outlet that, on top of enabling me to meet like-minded people, exposed me to burgeoning sites like Business of Fashion, Fashionista and many others. And though I had access to all these exciting resources, I was clueless about where to start my internship research. Back in 2012, digital jobs were beginning to take off, but they weren’t yet what they are today. Thanks to my blog, I started acquiring a new set of skills that included blogging, writing and social media. But individuating my newly acquired talents, I couldn’t get a grasp of how they could help me find an internship in fashion. In France, anyone studying Humanities is formatted to think they are going to be and stay jobless because being creative is not supported at all. So I was carrying this heavy luggage of anxiety thinking I would never be able to find something suitable. Fortunately, at the time, a lot of style platforms like lookbook.nu and Chictopia were booming. But instead of looking at people posting their looks on these platforms, I was interested in the people writing articles on these platforms. Who were they? What did they study? How did they end up writing there? Were they interns? Were they paid to do that? These were all the questions I asked myself.

This process of questioning everything and doing research paid off as I found an internship in content & community management at Stylight – which at the time was a German-based new style platform. If my blog contributed to helping me find this opportunity, I still think that if you don’t come from a fashion school or dream to work in this industry since a long time, you will need to do some homework. So here are a few tips and tricks I have learned along the way to help you find the right internship for you.  

Know what you are good at

I didn’t study fashion because I never intended to work in this industry. It was living in Italy that I developed an interest in it. But when you are in my case, it takes more than a passion for fashion to carve your path in this sector. Not having any connection in this world and having studied things far related to it, I didn’t know where to start to find a fashion internship fitting with my profile.

I had my “aha moment” when one day, my mom told me being creative didn’t mean I had to know how to draw or to sew. She made me realise any writing is a form of creativity. That’s when I decided to find an internship that would help me hone my writing. But the thing is at the time; there weren’t many online French fashion publications. Furthermore, in France, fashion magazines don’t seem to be inclusive. Being an intern there depends on your network, and at the time I had no connection in this industry. So I sat down a moment and listed all the qualities I had and deemed of value to work in fashion. Soon enough, I realised one of my biggest strength was the fact I spoke and wrote in all the languages of fashion – French, Italian and English. Suddenly, I understood I had a vision of fashion other might not have because I was multilingual. When I applied for my internship at Stylight, the fashion platform was one of the rare site translated into many languages also creating localised content relevant for each country represented through their platform.  There, I used everything I acquired through my years of blogging, studying literature and languages, and surprisingly International Relations. My background in Political Sciences gave me the advantage to understand the many specificities of the different markets of Stylight quickly. So besides writing and translating in my mother tongue, I started writing in English and Italian for Stylight magazine because my point of view was global.  

When looking for an internship in fashion, I would say being passionate is a must but really take that time to look at where your strengths are. Fashion is a vast industry, and I think that the professions glamourised by the magazines only show you the tip of the iceberg. Being a buyer isn’t about getting photographed in cool outfits going to catwalks and showrooms, it is a job that requires an excellent affinity with numbers and Excel, and you must be ready to be on a plane often. So if numbers, spending time on Excel spreadsheets and travelling are not your cup of tea, then reconsider an internship in buying.

Look for people in the industry that will provide you with the information you want

Before applying to an internship, I would advise, on top of looking at your strengths to do your homework, i.e. looking for fashion professionals that will provide you with the information you need to know about your internship. Now, with Instagram and Linkedin, people are more accessible than the time I started, so take the opportunity to write them a message. So here is an example of what you could send them:

Dear x,

My name is xx, and I am writing you because I have seen you are a [insert the profession you are interested in]. I am currently studying/finishing my studies in [insert what you are studying]. I have read your job description on your profile, and I would be interested in doing an internship in the same field as you. I know I am good at [insert any qualities related to the role you want to intern for] but would like to have additional information about your position hence why I would like to ask you a couple of questions:

[insert any questions you have]

Thank you for your time.

Kind Regards,

xx

Keep in mind you are writing to someone who doesn’t know you, and you are asking a favour so don’t be too “greedy” and ask one or two questions. Now the example I have given you above is very generic, but you can insert a little bit more about your background – especially if you didn’t do anything related to fashion – to explain the person you are contacting where you are coming from professionally.

It is a method I used on Facebook before Linkedin was all the rage and though I got few answers, some people still replied back with useful information. I didn’t send this to one or two people but made a list and sent a message to the people I selected. Look for people who intern at places you want to and have a background similar to yours.

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Nowadays, there are also workshops, conferences and talks giving you the possibility to approach fashion professionals, so don’t hesitate to take part in them. We are always tempted to look for the big shots at these places but the people attending are as witty as the one on stage telling their career stories, so be sure to mingle, you don’t know who has precious information about where you want to intern or the internship you are interested in.  

You can also keep on reading our career interview series – we created it to help you find out where you want to go, so this is the right place to glean information about internships and the ins and outs of fashion jobs.

Do your research about the companies you are admiring  

When I applied at Stylight it was because I enjoyed the company culture. It was multilingual with people coming from all other the world with interesting profiles. How did I know before even interning there? It is because the company did an amazing job inviting my favourite bloggers to their HQ – I can tell you seeing a firm has beautiful offices does have an impact on you wanting to work there or not. At the time, they also used their career page to introduce members of their team in each department which gave me an idea of how the company was structured, the working environment and the type of people they liked hiring.

Nowadays, it is even easier to get a grasp of a fashion company environment with Linkedin. Your favourite brand must have created a profile there where they post about initiatives within the office, their employees, job offers and internships.

I invite you to visit Asos or Matchesfashion pages to get an idea of how these brands use their presence on this platform to build their professional influence. Each of them introduces you to their culture with their unique flair. If Asos focuses on its employees with short videos of them telling what their role is within the company and creating graphics to present the skills needed to do a job, Matchesfashion mixes their site content with quotes of their employees and less curated images of their initiatives to improve their staff working environment. The storytelling can make it look all glamorous and cool but having an overview of the company culture will help you decide if you want to intern there. If you are going to spend six months of your life working hard to gain experience, it should be in a place where you are happy to come every morning.  So be sure to check this kind of details in the process of applying for internships (and full-time jobs later).

If any of you have other tips and tricks on how you found your fashion internship, please tell us below in the comments.

Featured Photo Source Pinterest Words Emmanuelle Marechal

This post was originally published on Jan 8th 2018