What To Study To Become A Fashion Editor

Watching legendary fashion movies and TV shows like The Devil Wears Prada, The Bold Type, and others makes us dream of becoming fashion editors. In the United States, the fashion industry has traditionally been headquartered in New York City, and as such, most fashion editors are based in that city. While in Europe, most renowned fashion editors and their magazines are based in Milan, London, and Paris. Imagine working in a fancy magazine office in a fashion capital. Or working remotely, because yes, writing for magazines is the best job for someone who wants to work remotely. This is a role perfect both for those who dream of living the glamourous world of a fashion capital, and those who prefer not moving abroad but still work in the fashion industry. How does it sound?

If becoming a fashion editor sounds like too big of a dream today because you don’t have experience yet, remember that even Anna Wintour started with an internship, and look where she is now. You can take inspiration from movies and real-life people who can serve as an example that you too can become a fashion editor. Today, we are going to tell you how to make that dream come true. 

It often happens that when you decide to pursue a career in fashion, the first question that comes to your mind is: what should I study? This is why we prepared an article to guide you through all the possible studies to become a fashion editor. 

Who is a Fashion Editor?

Even though they work at magazines a fashion editor’s duties include more than just writing articles. A fashion editor is a fashion writer + stylist. Some fashion editors do more styling, others do more writing. 

Besides writing in fact, editors also work on set to produce fashion editorials and they are responsible for deciding what goes on the magazine’s fashion pages – from selecting this season’s staples to put on the product pages to which articles to feature or what photo shoots to include. They are ultimately responsible for their whole sector. Whether this is digital content to choose from or organizing the layout of a shopping page in the physical magazine. 

Fashion editors can work as freelancers or be employed by a magazine. Freelance fashion editors can have multiple clients and therefore work with different magazines at the same time. They get paid for the project. Employed fashion editors instead, work full-time at one magazine.

Before we go on, let me tell you that being a fashion editor is not an entry-level fashion job.

If this is your dream job, but you are a student, recent graduate, or just someone with no or little experience, you will need to start with an internship at a fashion magazine first – for example as an editorial assistant, an intern-assistant to the fashion editor, intern writer... Then you will make your way up to the editor’s assistant (not an internship, but a job this time), and only after a couple of years, you can expect to become an editor. Therefore, this article is meant to introduce you to the role and give you tips to prepare yourself for this career by choosing the relevant studies, but in any case we are saying that you can become a fashion editor today if you have no previous experience. 

Now that we sorted that out, let’s look into today’s topic and see what you can study to become a fashion editor.

What To Study To Become A Fashion Editor

First, let’s clear out one important detail: you don’t need to study fashion to work at a fashion magazine as an Editor. You may think that studying fashion journalism or styling makes you more accountable to hold the title of a fashion editor, but in reality, it’s about so much more than fashion, style, and trends. 

An editor is, first of all, a person with a rich culture and knowledge; they have to be experts in different topics. Yes, you could be assigned a particular niche, like being a beauty editor or features editor, but in general, no matter your niche, you need to be curious and read a lot about one or several topics to have ideas to write about, develop your vocabulary, cross-cutting dates and compare how a fashion movement has evolved over time, etc. And it goes without saying that an editor-in-chief needs to be an expert in a little bit of everything.

If you think about it, you don’t need to hold a degree in fashion to learn and stay updated about the different topics covered in a fashion magazine. Just read any article, or look at the photos and ask yourself: did the person who prepared this content study fashion, and even if they did,  did they rely on the skills they could’ve learned elsewhere – not necessarily at a fashion school? What you really need is knowledge of the topics you cover, and skills to spread the message, and you can acquire them through different means.  

More than 90% of people who work in the industry didn’t attend a fashion school; they hold traditional degrees from universities, so you can too. Let’s see which studies can help you get a job as a fashion editor. 

Journalism

Let’s start with the first degree that may come to mind when you think about fashion editing: journalism. Because yes, fashion editors are like journalists, in part. Creating content for the magazine pages involves researching information, interviewing people, reporting, and writing. In addition, it’s good to master technical and multimedia skills such as photography, videography, audio, editing, and web design. All of this can be learned in a journalism degree. 

Communication & PR

Having excellent written and verbal communication is essential for any fashion editor in order to communicate well and transmit the right message in a beautiful and clear way to the audience, and avoid misunderstandings, or worse – not being understood by the readers at all. This is why a degree in Communication or Public Relations will prepare you for the fashion editor’s role. 

Styling

As I have mentioned, fashion editors often work as stylists, preparing clothes and accessories for photoshoots, calling in clothes, directing the shooting, taking care of the production, and so on. So your degree in styling will be more than relevant if you consider a career as a fashion editor. 

Art history and visual arts

Studying art will give you skills in the interpretation and critical analysis of works of art, and the competence to analyze the connection between the past and the present. Plus, you will develop high sensitivity for the visuals, beauty, and aesthetics, which is important for an editor who takes part in designing the layout of a magazine’s pages. It will especially serve you if you want to work at a high-end fashion magazine like Vogue. 

Marketing

Studying marketing can be a good idea because you will learn a mix of things that will be useful in your role as a fashion editor, from communication and public relations to managing social media and relationships with influencers and celebrities, to organizing projects and events. Knowledge of marketing will allow you to conduct research, come up with creative, fresh ideas for the magazine campaigns and photoshoots, and implement them; plan and manage different projects to fill the pages of the magazine, build relationships with the different stakeholders; assist with search engine optimization, and take care of the documentation, imagery, files, and presentations. 

What if I graduated already or I am studying something else? 

No matter which degree you decide to take – whether it is from this list or any other – remember that it doesn’t define your career path and that there is always a way to find transferable knowledge and skills for your desired role. 

You could not have a degree in journalism or fashion styling but you’ve been reading Vogue since when you were a kid and you’re able to write a great article even if you studied something totally unrelated like law or management or economics. Or even if you are a fashion designer. This is enough to become a fashion editor. Showing your skills is the best way to land a job nowadays. So no matter what you studied, if you want to work at a fashion magazine show and not just tell your skills and what you studied. 

You don’t either have to take an additional degree. As long as you are curious and productive in learning about fashion and acquiring new skills, you can become a fashion editor. There are so many other ways to learn about a topic nowadays. 

Where To Learn About Fashion Editing

Besides taking a formal degree at a university that gives you the required skills to become a fashion editor, there are many ways to learn about the fashion industry and enrich your general culture to help you do your job better. In fact, you may know that taking a college degree is not enough in fashion; learning should be a continuous process, and here are a few examples of how you can do it. 

Online courses 

There are plenty of online courses that you could take to complete your education. Some fundamental ones you need to become a fashion editor are:

1. A fashion history course because you cannot write great articles nor work on any editorial if you don’t know the history of fashion
2. A short fashion journalism course that will teach you writing skills specific to the fashion industry and how to pitch your articles to magazines. 

Magazines

If you are an aspiring editor, you should start reading different magazines. Well, you may tell me “I already do that”, but what I mean is reading them with the eyes of a professional – not just an amateur who loves fashion. Whether you have a specific magazine in mind you want to work at, or you are open to different ones, you need to read the different editions of that magazine(s) to pay attention to the topics covered and understand its writing style and tone. This way, you can practice your writing and become a successful editor of Vogue, Elle, or whatever magazine you choose. 

Books

Just like you read fashion magazines, you also need to read books, but here the goal is a little bit different. You may find books that teach you specifically about fashion editing, but my advice to you is to read any kind of fashion books to broaden your knowledge. As I said, a fashion editor has to be someone curious and cultivated, so if you dream to get that job someday, you should start reading as many books as you can (not just fashion ones, a good writer is first of all a good reader, you cannot write well if you don’t read a lot).

Podcasts

Another way to broaden your knowledge of the industry is by listening to fashion podcasts like the BoF podcast or the Glam Observer Podcast 😉 

Documentaries

Finally, there are lots of great fashion documentaries you can watch. An unmissable one if you want to work at a fashion magazine is The September Issue, but you can also find other recommendations here. 

Online resources

Working in a rapidly-evolving fashion industry, especially inside a magazine that reports what’s happening in it, means constantly staying updated on the latest news. To do so, I recommend following brands on social media, reading websites like WWD, and BoF, and subscribing to the 365 days of fashion newsletter that can give you your daily dose of fashion straight into your inbox 😉 

Network

Here is an idea that may not come naturally to mind when you think about learning about fashion editing, but the truth is, what’s a better way to learn about the job than by talking with fashion editors directly? I always encourage my students to network with fashion professionals to learn more about their job. So if you want to know what it truly means to be a fashion editor, you could reach out to the editors, or even their assistants, to ask for an informational interview.

We hope you are feeling more prepared to become the next fashion editor in a couple of years, and that you understand better which studies can help you along the way. 

Now it’s time to look for an internship at a fashion magazine. Want to feel more confident preparing your application? Register for my free masterclass to learn 3 strategies to get a job in fashion.