Today I want to read you chapter 12 of my book Your Fashion [Dream] Plan. In this chapter, I share a key concept, my #1 piece of advice when it comes to getting your first internship or job in fashion. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t attend a fashion school, you don’t have experience, you believe that your CV doesn’t have the qualifications to get that job or if you have zero connections in fashion, if you use a creative application you can overcome any skill and requirement outlined in the job description!
Listen to the free chapter for more tips and the full story:
“Tom Ford enrolled at New York University in 1979 to study art history. After a year, he dropped out of school and moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. A few years later, he returned to New York and enrolled at the Parsons School of Design to study architecture. During his last year there he realized he wanted to work in fashion. In 1985, after graduating from Parsons with a degree in architecture, Ford wanted to enter the world of fashion by working with the designer Cathy Hardwick, not only because she was a famous fashion designer, but to learn the business side of a fashion company as well.
Ford called Hardwick’s office every day for a month straight.
Hoping to finally get rid of this person who called every day, Hardwick herself answered the phone and asked Ford what was the earliest available time he could meet for a job interview. A little less than two minutes later, Ford showed up in her office. He had called from the lobby.
Hardwick recalls their memorable first meeting:
“I had every intention of not giving him hope. I asked him who his favorite European designers were. He replied
“Armani and Chanel.”
“Why Armani?” I asked. “Because you were wearing something Armani.” Tom said.”
Lazaro Hernandez, one of the designers behind the brand Proenza Schouler together with Jack McCollough, shared an extraordinary anecdote about Anna Wintour at a conference at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston some years ago. Hernandez was still a student when one day he found himself on the same flight as Anna Wintour heading from Miami to New York. He was sitting in economy class with his mother, and during the flight he decided to write a note on a napkin for Anna Wintour, in which he expressed his passion for fashion and his favorite designer Michael Kors. He decided to go to first class and give his message to Anna Wintour. She was resting, or maybe not (who can tell behind her dark glasses), so he decided to leave the napkin next to her, so they had no contact.
Two weeks later, Lazaro got a call from Michael Kors, telling him that Anna Wintour had given him a letter from a guy on the plane and that Kors should hire him as an intern. The rest is history.
I could have started this chapter explaining how to write your resume to get a job in fashion. But the reality is that these two stories represent the real way to get a job in fashion, and that I have been sharing for six years now: going beyond the standard application and exceed expectations.”….
… watch the video or listen to the podcast for the full chapter.
Excerpts from “Your Fashon [Dream] Plan” by Giada Graziano
