How to write for Vogue

As part of our new series diving into how to become a fashion writer, this week we also posted 10 Skills you need to work as a Fashion Editor. Today we bring you how to write and pitch your article to the Chanel of magazines; Vogue. Of course the strategies I will give you can also be applied to pitching to any of your other favourite magazines.

(PS We are also hosting a free live webinar next week on March 2nd and 3rd about 3 steps to become a fashion writer, click here to register for free.)

Whether you choose to freelance on the side or full-time, you need certain strategies in place to help you. While you might believe it is as easy as writing up an article, a lot more work goes into the entire process of submitting your work to Vogue or any publication. From pitching to understanding tone of voice, we have all you need to know to ensure you can pitch to the best of your ability to Vogue.

Understand the tone of the publication

Before you begin to consider anything from your pitch to your article idea, it’s important to first research the publication! Head to vogue.com or to your local shop to pick the latest print copy up. It’s crucial to have an understanding and knowledge of the magazine from the tone and style to the content. This will ensure your pitch and ideas will fit Vogue perfectly. When looking at the online publication, take note of which categories and subcategories stand out to you. Which best suit your niche and writing interests? Ensure you read some of the articles within this section to get a feeling for the tone of voice of the magazine. You can apply the same strategy when reading through the physical copy. You should even underline or highlight phrases, words, or sentences that stand out to you within the articles.

As you read the articles within your niche ask yourself;

Is this a more casual, chatty tone or serious and professional? Is this in the first or third person? Do they use numbers or write the numbers out? Does it feel like you’re reading from an older sister or a serious industry insider, or even a mix of both?

Use these questions to help you get a deeper understanding of the tone of voice within Vogue, to ensure you can fit within this writing style.

Generating ideas 

Coming up with the idea to pitch can be the most challenging part of fashion writing. Sometimes you can feel out of inspiration or lost of thoughts. To guarantee you can bring out your best ideas, there is a plan you can put in place. Let’s face it, you don’t want to be having one of those blank days the day you send your pitch to Vogue, do you?

Firstly you need to consider lead time! Before you begin brainstorming any ideas, it’s important to consider the overall lead time. Any professional writer will be mindful of how relevant and fresh an idea will still be, once it is published. The Industry used term ‘lead time’ acknowledges the time taken from your proposal, to writing the article, to the publishing date. So, it is important to first decide if you are aiming to write for Vogue digital or print. As print is published monthly, the lead time can be from 6 weeks to 3 months. Therefore you have to think ahead clearly. Whereas if you aim to write for vogue online, the digital platform is updated daily and the turn over is a lot quicker. So you can even pitch a week in advance. However, as Vogue is the top fashion magazine in the world! I would include even a week or two to answer your email pitch. Ensure you consider anything from 2 weeks to one month in advance when searching for your ideas to get published for Vogue.

Try to begin by mind mapping any ideas you may already have stored or have come to mind. It’s surprising once you start writing down your base ideas, how many more will suddenly spring to mind. Take a look at current news affairs and the digital Vogue categories again. Write each category out and think about what you would like to read within that category. Or what the audience of vogue might be missing? Don’t underestimate the power of a good pen and paper brainstorming session. Once you have your idea, you can search the keywords of them within the website, to ensure they haven’t been published recently. You don’t want to come across uninformed to the editor of Vogue.

Of course this strategy is more difficult with print, as there is no way to see a constant workflow of ideas from the publication. It is crucial you take in to account the longer lead time and even propose several ideas, if you want to write for Vogue.

Considering Writing Style

So, you have your idea and your beginning to prepare and think about how you will write this piece. Take your notes from the very beginning and remind yourself of the tone of the publication and their writing style just before you write your piece. This will ensure you are fully in the mind of a writer of Vogue. Even re-read your favourite articles to soak up the writing style. Nevertheless, it is also important to not loose your unique voice within your writing. Don’t be nervous if your writing does not read exactly as theirs. Everyone has their own personal writing style which will shine through all their articles, even making it recognisable as a piece of theirs. Publications want you to show you can fit within their tone of voice, but also bring something unique and fresh to your article. Which is a fundamental aspect to consider to write for Vogue.

When writing your piece, it is crucial to re-read numerous times to check all your grammar and spelling is on point. No publication, especially Vogue will ever publish an article with a mistake. This is incredibly important to establish yourself as a professional writer to the top global fashion publication. If you want to impress the Editor and you are aiming to write for the digital platform of Vogue, then consider SEO. Including SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies within your writing is fundamental to fashion publications to drive traffic to the website. Although it may sound complicated, it is as simple as following some guidelines when writing. This can include adding keywords throughout and external and internal links.

Perfect Pitch

Pitching is the most effective strategy to get your work published. This is when as a fashion writer you contact the Editor directly via email to propose your article idea, in order to write it and get published within the magazine. So, once you have done all your research, brainstormed your proposal ideas and considered the writing style; you are ready to draft your pitch.

The first step is to find the email you need. It’s crucial to ensure you pitch to the right people. A common mistake many people make is pitching to the wrong Editor, which often leads to your ideas being ignored. To guarantee your article and proposal is considered correctly to write for Vogue, you need to find the email of the correct Editor working within the category your idea falls under. For example, you wouldn’t pitch an article on the latest beauty trends to the Fashion Editor! It’s also important to consider the country you are pitching to. A publication as large as Vogue will have a different Fashion Editor for Vogue UK to Vogue America.

The next step it of course to draft your pitch. Make sure to keep it short and sweet, but you should include the following sections

1. Introduce yourself. Briefly explain who you are and what you do

2. Pitch your idea! Explain how your article fits in with Vogue and what date you can have it to them by

3. Offer links of sample articles of previous work you have had published

4. Add your contact details; portfolio, email, LinkedIn

While it’s important to keep your pitch condensed, you also want to make it clear you are familiar with the publication and it’s work, while keeping a professional tone.

To learn more about how to start your career as a fashion writer and become published by your favourite publications, register for our free webinar about the 3 steps to become a fashion editor. Or join the waitlist now for the new course The fashion writing accelerator. Enrolment is opening again soon this month!