Sara Moschini, Head of Fashion at Grazia.IT on Fashion Week and Career

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure to meet and chat with Sara Moschini who is the Head of Fashion at Grazia.IT. Sara is one of the 100 Observers featured in The Observers 2022 list: fashion professionals from around the world who are making and leading the fashion industry. The list appears in The Glam Observer Report 2022 which covers the most impactful moments that have made the fashion industry this year: from acquisitions and launches to sustainable efforts, who’s in & out at fashion brands, and the most remarkable fashion initiatives. We also feature the top fashion products, brands, and moments of the year. You can download the Report here.

We talked with Sara Moschini about her career, how she started in the fashion industry, and what she likes most about her job, as well as what it is like to attend a fashion show in her personal experience. She also shared some advice for freelance editors who want to attend fashion shows, and for all those who dream of breaking into the fashion industry today. 

You can listen to this interview on the Glam Observer Podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or you can read it below.

Sara Moschini, Head of Fashion at Grazia.IT on Fashion Week and Career

1. Can you tell us a bit about your career from what you studied, to where your passion for the industry comes from, and what was your first job in fashion? 

Thank you so much for having me. I’m the Head of Fashion at Grazia.it, and Grazia Factory, which is our house of production for the Grazia Italy website. I’ve been at Grazia for 13 years now. About how I started, I didn’t have a regular path; I don’t think in fashion there’s one path; there are different lines that take you to one point to another. I studied languages and literature and I was very passionate about photography, and illustration, so I started drawing a lot when I was a teenager and by doing that I used a lot of fashion magazines. So I started to know by heart all the names of the photographers, all the brands, and I just started to develop a passion for fashion and images.

I always say I didn’t start in fashion because I love to dress up.

I mean I do, but it was more something linked with images and communication. So when I grew older, I understood that I wanted to do something in communication. And it was the very beginning of social media, blogs, and I was very interested in blogs – but not fashion blogs, but blogs in general and I started studying them. One day I was in Milan and I was searching for a job doing lots of interviews for assistant jobs and through contacts – because they help a lot in this world-  I knew that Mondadori [Group] at Donna Moderna was searching for someone to work during fashion week to follow events and presentations and take street style photos. So I was like “yes I can do everything, anything you need me to do.

I can take pictures, I can write…”.

And that’s what I did for a week and it was very very funny and I understood that this was what I wanted to do – to create content and be around this crazy world. At that time they were searching for someone to create the new Grazia Italian website, and so they asked me, and I stayed, and I’m still there. 

It’s really impressive that you’re staying at the same company for such a long time because in fashion people change companies every 3 years on average. And it’s also very encouraging to hear your story that you also started in the fashion industry without a fashion degree because one of the most common questions I get from those who are seeking career advice to get into fashion is “Can I get into fashion even if I don’t have a fashion degree?”. So your story is very inspiring because it’s another proof that a fashion degree is not absolutely necessary to work in this industry. 

When I started there weren’t so many fashion schools.

There were the big ones, but now you have such amazing little schools, and lessons that you can take about social media, marketing or influencer marketing, or whatever is out there. I know a lot of people who didn’t start with a fashion degree. If you do have it – lucky you – and I think it’s good, maybe it’s better, I don’t know, but it depends on how you are and how you learn day-by-day in your life and job. 

When I started I was doing lots of things together: I was taking pictures, I was writing, I was editing, and then I understood that I love to write, but there were people that were so much better than me I liked photography, but I couldn’t be a photographer and I really wanted to put all people together and be there when the magic happens, so that’s why I started to do fashion editorials from a production point of view and from a creative point of view. I wanted to create stuff. I also love editing, of course, but more on the organization part. So I think it’s very important to understand what you’re good at, what you want to do but also what you’re good at, and to understand that other people are really good at doing something. 

2. What’s your favorite season of fashion week between haute couture, men, women SS, FW, and why? 

Usually, Fall/Winter women ready-to-wear because I can’t separate the thing that I really want to wear. I know I should separate the two things but sometimes I just enjoy the clothes so much. And I think Winter is a little bit more inspiring than spring and even if going to fashion week is very challenging in Winter cause it’s really cold, I enjoy it very much.

3. What was the first fashion show you attended in person? Were you invited for a job? How did you feel? 

It was when I was at Donna Moderna because at the end they took me to shows – not many shows – the little ones. It was a swimsuit fashion show. Now fashion shows are something else. But it was exciting. It was the first time and I couldn’t believe I was there with all the TV celebrities around, so it was fun. 

4. What do you like the most about attending a fashion show? 

I like the complexity of it, that’s why I think we have not found anything to present and to show new collections that can replace them. A fashion show is so special, so magical; it involves all your senses. The collection has to be beautiful, of course, because otherwise, it’s empty, but when the collection is beautiful, the music works, the location is breathtaking – everything works. And I think casting is also very important right now. I especially like when now there are also some older models, it’s interesting to see how they can wear these clothes like normal people.

5. Do you have a favorite show of all time? 

I have a lot. But I think Alexander McQueen was so special – the Shalom Harlow one in 1999. And then I also loved Miu Miu Spring 2010. I have a lot, but I think Alexander McQueen was magical, always. 

6. What designers are you most excited about for the upcoming fashion week season? 

I’m very excited about all the second shows of the new designers, the ones that in September showed the first collection, like Ferragamo, Etro, and Bally. They need time and when you see the first collection you have an opinion – because we are so opinionated all the time – but they need time to enter these big companies.. So I’m very excited to see the second step about that. Then of course Gucci because we’re all waiting for what’s going to happen. And Burberry, because there is Daniel Lee and Burberry is such a huge, important brand. Also Bottega Veneta, it’s always a surprise. So I think Milan right now is really hot, even if Paris is always where things happen.

7. What’s it like working during fashion weeks? What do you do? What and how far in advance do you prepare for these events? 

Fashion Week is a really stressful time because you’re outside your house and your office like 14 hours per day, maybe more. So it’s really, really challenging. You have to organize your day extremely well because your normal job doesn’t stop; you have your projects, you have your clients, you have the news that has to come out, but you are outside all the time running from one place to another. And these last two seasons I followed our project called ‘The Gazette”, which is a video project where I go with our videomakers to every show and do an instant video for Instagram, which we edit soon after and it goes live in 1 hour – 2 hours tops.

It’s really challenging but beautiful to see what you did immediately online.

Something else I do before shows is writing to all the PRs, to all the brands to know if I can go backstage, if I can talk to the designer, if there are celebrities that we can talk to. And then see what events are there in the evening, who’s playing, if there is a musical artist. It’s a long job also before, but it’s exciting. I love fashion week, but when it’s over I need like 2 days off (laughs). Right now I’m doing just Milan because with the children I can’t really travel that much, but before I was doing New York, London Milan, and Paris. 

I always say that maybe from social media you always see what’s beautiful and the best of things, but when it’s your job, you have deadlines, you have stuff that you really don’t like to do or you really have to do because it’s your job, and you don’t see that. Sometimes, you just want to stay home because you’re very tired or maybe you don’t feel very well and you have to go to a dinner and talk to people.

So it’s challenging, but also from an emotional point of view because it’s a very exclusive world, so you don’t get the invitations and then you don’t get to go where everybody else is going, and then you see that they are going, so it takes a lot of inside work. You see other people doing some stuff that you can’t do. I know it’s challenging for editors, but also for influencers – all the people that are in this world.

8. What’s your advice for freelance editors who want to get a fashion show invitation to start covering catwalk reviews? 

It’s not so easy, actually, because it’s also difficult for us, and we are the press. But if you like to write, I think right now you need to find your format that works, and it has to be the social format. I saw many people become very famous instantly because they found their format. I think this could be your way to get in. Otherwise, try to ask editors if they need someone over shows. Maybe they can ask for a standing invitation, and you can go to the small ones, or the new designers’ ones which are very interesting but not many people go there. You can try. Find your own voice. I know it looks like an empty sentence but it’s the only thing that can make you stand out from the crowd.  

9. How do you take notes of show details? 

I use my phone all the time. It’s like an extension of my hand, I can never be without a phone because my life is in there. I take pictures and videos all the time so I can use them to write the captions for the Instagram video that we produce. I mean, I’m not writing a review because it’s not opinionated. But if I’m there and I have the chance to talk to the designers, I want to put his words into that. I also record people and I take notes. Sometimes when you go to the show, the press package is already there, or you can ask the PR to give you one, so you have at least some points that are interesting and that you can put inside the text and the review. 

10. What do you like the most about your job?

As I said before, it’s never the same, I think this is really a privilege – to see places and being in places that are not accessible usually. When I was at Fashion Week in London, we were going to churches, or when you’re in Florence for Pitti – it’s the best. I saw these historical buildings with the most amazing art, and you can just walk around, and have wine. Sometimes I need to do a reality check, remember you’re here and how much it’s beautiful. Because sometimes you are working and you don’t realize how lucky you are. And I also like creating stuff, and the work with creative people like photographers, videomakers, makeup artists, models, or other talents. I love to meet people who are so creative. 

11. What would be your advice for those who dream of breaking into the fashion industry today? 

I think you should really get into new stuff like social media because we’re old and we don’t know that much about this stuff so we need young people to help us., Use this new technology also to do something really creative. My advice is always to be curious. Everything can be helpful. I didn’t know when I was younger that the literature that I was studying could be helpful to do a fashion shooting but it is. Everything that you’re passionate about – just study, read, watch movies.  

12. What do you look for when you’re hiring someone new to the team, especially young people? 

It depends what you want to do. If they want to write, of course, they have to send me something. And if they want to style, I need to see something that they did – even by themselves in the countryside with their friends like I was doing with my friends when I was younger. If you have a vision, you see immediately if there is potential. So first of all it’s very important to understand what you want to do.

I like to talk to people, I immediately understand if they’re really passionate about it, and if they have interests. And I need people that bring me something that I can give to the brand, new interests like technology that I don’t know about or that I don’t have time to explore. I read the resume but it’s not enough because our job is so full of stuff to do inside.

Last week we launched a new edition of The Glam Observer Podcast, so stay tuned as more conversations with fashion professionals are coming. Plus on this podcast, I share the behind-the-scenes of the fashion industry, as well as career advice to help you land a job in fashion. 

You can find us and listen to the previous episodes on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. See you soon!