I wanted to work in fashion so badly that I used to tell anyone who would listen to me—and I mean anyone. I got my first fashion internship through my friend’s dad’s student’s mom who was a showroom manager in NYC and who knew one of her fashion designers needed an intern. If you’ve ever wondered “how do I get into the fashion industry with no experience?” you’re in the right spot.

I’ve previously worked as an editor at both Nylon and Interview and I have been a fashion blogger for over eight years but I started out with no connections in the fashion industry.

I wanted to share a list of several things you can do to position yourself to be in the best possible position to get a job in fashion ranging from easy things you can do to determine if fashion is the right industry for you to things that require a larger commitment to learning about the fashion industry. Breaking into the fashion industry isn’t easy but with hard work and lots of networking it can happen.

What kind of fashion job do you want?

First start out by thinking about what kind of fashion job you might be most interested in. You can be a designer and actually make clothing, a stylist who helps put together outfits for shoots, a buyer, an editor, a photographer, a social media manager...the list goes on and on!

Do a bit of research to learn what the day to day of these jobs are like and make note of what you like and what you don’t like. I thought I wanted to be a designer for a long time but after interning with a designer I realized I was more interested in styling and editorial so I ended up doing an internship in a fashion closet at a magazine.

I certainly learned a lot carrying bolts of fabric through the garment district and sitting in on fittings but I realized that rather than conceptualizing the clothes I wanted to be talking about them and thinking about the context of them.

Choose a college major that relates to fashion

Contrary to popular belief you don’t necessarily have to major in fashion to get a job in fashion. Many of my colleagues at fashion magazines didn’t go to fashion school, but it helps if your major relates somewhat to fashion.

I majored in art history and loved that it taught me how to write about art with a critical eye, something that proved helpful when I was writing fashion articles for Nylon. Think about a major in graphic design, English, media and communications, or something else depending on what you think you may want to do in the fashion industry that relates to your dream job even if you don’t want to get a degree in fashion design.

Ask your network for help

As you saw I pretty much got my first fashion internship through six degrees of separation simply by mentioning my interest to family and friends. To take your networking a step further, I’d recommend:

Sending a cold email to someone in the industry you admire
Following editors, brand managers, and stylists on Twitter
Trying to make some connections with fashion assistants on LinkedIn
Joining Facebook groups of other fashion lovers

Create your own opportunities

Start a blog

Fashion blogs used to be dismissed quickly by major players in the fashion industry but now having bloggers attend fashion week and work with top brands has become the norm. Consider starting a fashion blog and if you need tips for getting started, watch this YouTube video I created.

Use your Instagram account as a portfolio

If you want to work in fashion I would definitely recommend having a public Instagram account where you’re posting about fashion. It can be flat lay photos of accessories, text graphics talking about trends, or actual outfit photos that you take but having a visual portfolio that is well-curated and thoughtful can help you stand out when applying to jobs.

Get creative about industry events

I saw that Ed2020.com was holding a networking event of Cosmo.com editors in New York in 2015 and while I figured the event was for freelance writers and younger editors to meet and network with the staff I figured I could go and see if I could learn more about how to intern there. I connected with an editor who put me in touch with the fashion and beauty assistant and next thing I knew I had a phone interview for an internship.

Volunteer at fashion week

There are many different ways you can volunteer at New York Fashion Week or any other fashion week that is closest to where you live. You may be able to work backstage at Spring Studios or even reach out to an influencer and help her cover shows and take outfit photos.

Both of those would be great learning experiences and opportunities to see what fashion week is like and get to see some shows IRL.

Work in retail

I have a whole blog post about what I learned about fashion from working in retail at Free People for 2.5 years but if you truly love fashion and can’t afford to do an unpaid internship or to volunteer, retail is a fantastic way to learn about customer service, trending items, visual merchandising and more.

You can even get a seasonal position in retail during a busy season (like the holidays) to test it out for a bit without feeling like you have to make a massive commitment. The turnover rate in retail is high so you’ll work with lots of different personality types and learn how a store operates.

Fashion internships

Ideally you’d hope to land an internship in fashion. Internships can either be paid or unpaid and it’s up to you to decide which type you’d like to focus on. I was able to do an unpaid internship because I was also working part-time in retail.

If you find an unpaid internship that you love you might also be able to apply for some kind of internship grant or stipend through your school. Check out sites like Ed2010 and Free Fashion Internships to look for opportunities to intern in fashion. Sometimes internships can lead to full-time jobs as well.

Take an online course

These days there are online courses for everything! My friend Audree has a course called Fashion Fundamentals that you should definitely check out. You may even see a familiar face in one of the bonus career chats you get with the course!

Freelance for online magazines

Freelancing is a great way to start making connections at magazines even if there are no full-time roles available for what you might want to do. You can be a freelance writer, graphic designer, photographer and more.

As long as you have a few relevant samples of your work to send to an editor you can start freelancing for fashion publications even while you’re still in school. I’m a huge fan of freelancing and did it even after I worked on staff at magazines. For more details on how to pitch a magazine and get published, check out this blog post.

Move to a fashion capital

If you really want to be in the heart of the fashion industry and make connections in real life you may want to strongly consider moving to New York, London, Milan or Paris.

This isn’t necessary to be successful in fashion, especially now in 2020 where so many parts of the industry are becoming virtual and remote, but these are typically the cities with the most job opportunities in fashion.

If you don’t want to fully relocate to one of these cities, trying to get an internship in one of these places or trying to attend fashion week one year could be helpful for making new connections in fashion.

I moved to New York when I was 18 and never looked back but if you’re not sure if the city is for you or you’re not in a position to move here full-time trying it out for a bit will be the best way to learn if it’s something you want to consider more seriously.

General tips that will help you get noticed in the fashion industry:

Be enthusiastic
Keep up with trends
Read lots of books about fashion (like these and especially Making it in Manhattan by my friend Caroline!)

yours,

Austen

Photographs by Karya Schanilec

How To Start Working in Fashion With No Experience