Working at Fashion Week – Why it’s great for your career and how to find opportunities

September is just around the corner and it is therefore again that time of the year when everyone is focused on the fashion capitals: New York, London, Milan and Paris for the most important fashion weeks. All those who work in the fashion industry are getting ready for intense days: fashion shows and presentations, articles to write, wearing the right clothes to win the street style game, running from one fashion show to another…. But fashion weeks are not only a fundamental moment for the insiders. If you are at the beginning of your career in fashion, you can make the most out of this period not only in terms of getting updated about the latest collections and future trends or to comment on the most interesting designers, but in terms of your career development. Working at fashion weeks is great to make short experiences (usually even the single day of the fashion show or if you’re lucky, lasting a maximum of 2 weeks) to live and breathe a bit of the fashion industry from the inside. Being a volunteer, intern or assistant during a fashion week is not just an opportunity to get in touch with the fashion show environment, but it’s an excellent opportunity to create your first connections in the industry, and of course to grow your CV.

Usually fashion week jobs include: dressing the models, setting up the locations, running errands, packing and unpacking clothes from one location to the other … Most of these jobs are very manual and include practical tasks, the days start very early in the morning and end late at night and generally, they are rarely paid, but considering that they last from 1 to 15 days, it’s not a bad compromise as these experiences will leave you so much.

Once you’ve found the opportunity, make the most of it and make an excellent impression with everyone, from the other assistants to the designer and any editors, stylists and other figures you meet behind the scenes. Take your business cards, CV and Portfolio with you that you will give to the right people when you’ll have the occasion. Speak with as many people as possible and get as many email contacts as well, but keep focusing on doing a great job while you’re there or you’ll leave a bad impression.

When you’re looking for volunteer experiences or internships during fashion weeks, don’t just reach out to the big brands, but consider emerging designers, PR agencies, sttylists or photographers. Every kind of experience is valuable.

Below you can find some job offers that are mostly internships and volunteer offers for the fashion weeks coming up in September 2019. It is difficult to find job offers posted online for this type of experience, so my advice is to download the calendar of fashion shows from the official websites of each fashion week ( https://www.cameramoda.it/en/milano-moda-donna/,https://londonfashionweek.co.uk/Schedule ,https://cfda.com/fashion-calendar/official-nyfw-schedule,https://fhcm.paris/en/paris-fashion-week-en/fashionshows-schedule/ ) and contact the brands that show or present the collections by sending an email. If you can’t find the email address related to the careers, send your application to the generic email address [email protected] or other addresses that you find on the brand website. If you’re lucky they’ll forward your application to the appropriate person in the company. Submit your CV and Cover letter and tell you would like to volunteer during fashion week and assist with any tasks they need help with.

The jobs below are just a couple of experiences available during fashion weeks. I’ve posted them to give you an idea of what a job opportunity during a fashion week looks like, but as I told you, finding them online is quite difficult so it’s always better to email companies.

• Fashion Assistant Intern-(NYFW’ 2020-Staci Sherri Runway Show) New York

• Intern Showroom Assistant for Italian Fashion Company New York. Limited days in August but fulltime during the first two weeks of September.

• Fashion Week production Intern Street Fashion Week Brooklyn, NY

• Black Group PR is looking for Interns during London Fashion Week email [email protected] with your CV and Cover Letter
• Julien MacDonald Fashion Week Experience internship from 2nd September to 16th September Full-time

• Paid Catwalk Dresser Internship Established bridal brand, Watters Sunday 8th and Monday 9th September 2019

• London Fashion Week Volunteers AADNEVIK 

AADNEVIK, a luxury womenswear brand, are looking for volunteers to help at their SS20 London Fashion Week Show, which will take place on Sunday 15th September 2019!

As you will be dealing with VIP attendees you will need to have excellent communication skills and be able to think quickly on your feet if any problems occur.

We are looking for volunteers who work well in a team, who are motivated, committed and proactive.

Applicants must be available Saturday 7th September for an interview and Sunday 15th September for the show.

At the show, the tasks will include:


• Meet and greet VIP attendees  
• Assist with queues and seating for the show

• Assist with preparing the room for the show (placing goody bags on chairs, etc)
• Backstage model dressing
• General runner tasks

To apply please send a CV and photograph at [email protected]