I studied economics. What can I do in fashion?

If you’ve been reading/following me for a while you know that I always say that a fashion degree is not necessary to work in fashion because people who work in the fashion industry graduate in many different things. 

So if you studied economics but also any other analytical degree including management, business, finance… then what can you do in fashion? 

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Well, let’s start by saying that you should not decide your career path based only on your degree (unless you want to become a doctor of course 😉 well, in that case, you must have a medical degree).

I remember when I was about to graduate 10 years ago that I thought I had to find a job that was fitting for my degree, but I’m glad I decided this didn’t have to be the case and I followed my passion. 

So you should not choose the job based on what you are currently studying if this is no longer your passion. 

We decide the degree course when we are just 18 or even younger so it’s hard to stick to that decision for our entire life. Many of us choose a degree over another based on which one could offer a stable career in the future or following parents or friends’ recommendations or even just what we saw in a movie… so it’s very hard to really choose what your dream role will be upon graduation.

There are some people who stick to that decision and some that change their minds completely. Whatever you choose, it’s totally okay. There is no right or wrong here.

Some of my friends studied law so they were supposed to become lawyers, and instead? They are now buyers in fashion!

Some other friends studied law and they are in fact lawyers.

I studied management engineering and most of my classmates are now working as engineers, but what about me? I decided to move into fashion and I ended up working in the eCommerce department at Alexander McQueen. So as you can see I made a huge shift in terms of the industry, but at the same time, I still liked the management side. So I found a way to combine my passion for fashion with my analytical mindset. I also developed a huge passion for fashion journalism and I in fact started writing here on Glam Observer in 2014. Something completely unrelated to my management engineering degree, right? 

You should follow your heart, and your passion and not stick to a role or career path to please your parents or to not disappoint anyone. At the end who is going to do that job every single day? It’s you. So you are the only one who knows what’s best for you and what would make you happy and fulfilled.

 And you should not be too hard on yourself because you chose a certain degree and now you want to do something completely different. It’s normal to change decisions. It’s part of our growth. We get clarity with time and our passions and interests change. It’s okay. 

Choose a job that you are really passionate about and if you studied economics and now you want to go into fashion, well you can and you should. 

So if you studied economics, what can you do in fashion?

Most people who studied economics typically tend to still like numbers and mix the two, so they end up more towards the management/business side of the fashion industry.

Common jobs for those with an economics degree include: 

• Fashion Buyer/ Merchandiser
• Brand Management
• Marketing
• Project Manager

Actually, if you like one of these roles above, you should in fact be very proud of your economics degree because an analytical mindset is required for each of these roles. This means that you’ll have more chances to get one of these jobs above thanks to your economics degree. So if up until now you believed that you made the wrong choice years ago when you opted for an economics degree because now you want to go into fashion, well you should not regret it cause fashion companies will appreciate your analytical mindset and familiarity with numbers for these roles above.

You are perfectly qualified for these jobs. Why? I’m pretty sure you are familiar with these skills which are the most required for roles such as buyer, brand management…

• analytical mindset
• reporting and analysis
• Microsoft Excel

If you know how to use Excel then the job is yours. (Interested in learning Excel applied to fashion? Click here to learn more about our online course Excel for fashion).

Unlike what you might think, those who studied fashion are not more qualified than those who studied economics for these analytical roles mentioned above. They just might have more knowledge of the fashion industry (which btw you can acquire by following a quick fashion history online course or reading books) but you are the expert on numbers and analysis and this is something fashion companies look at and appreciate.

“Yeah but what if I want to change completely and not only work in fashion, but work in the creative side of the fashion industry??” 

Even if like I said most who graduated in economics will fit into buying, brand management, marketing… There are also those who graduate in economics but with a strong sense of style and a huge talent in putting looks together, that end up shifting into the creative side of the industry becoming stylists for example. Many people are just so naturally creatively talented. Creativity is many times a talent more than a skill. And do you know what’s the difference between a talent and a skill? A skill is something you can acquire through experience, while talent is something that you just have innate no matter what you studied or the experience you have. So you could be a talented fashion illustrator or stylist or designer despite having a degree in economics. No one can deny the evidence of talent, that’s why a portfolio that showcases directly your talent is more important than your resume to land a creative job (stylist, editor, photographer, designer, illustrator). Because regardless of what you studied you just SHOW directly what you can do. 

So what are the first steps if you want to work in fashion and you studied economics?

Just do what everyone else has to do: start with fashion internships. Look for internships in your favorite department. I graduated in management engineering and landed my first internship at Alexander McQueen, here I shared how I passed the job interview and landed my dream role.

Want to learn more about how to land a job in fashion? Click here and register for my free masterclass.