
How To Get A Writing Career In Fashion
with

If you love to write, you may have considered it as a full-time career. Breaking into the fashion industry as a writer is probably a thought that has never crossed your mind, but in a time where blogging dominates the online world — it’s never been a more realistic career path.
Most people who enter the fashion industry have come from a high-profile family or have spent years studying at a fashion-focused university. While this often still applies, the fashion community has become less exclusive and recently welcomed more entry methods for driven fashionistas with a voice.
The fashion sector holds low unemployment rates and is showing stability. To give you an idea of the scale of work in the UK, there are 555,000 people in fashion, textiles and fashion retail — which is a market with a domestic value of £66 billion.
How can someone land a career in fashion journalism? QUIZ, maxi dresses retailer investigates…
When you become a fashion journalist, many opportunities will be presented to you, which will allow you to generate various routes of income and become more experienced in different areas of journalism. When you think of fashion journalism, your mind will naturally consider print magazines — the likes of Vogue, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan and ELLE. This is the most dominant medium for fashion communication, followed by newspaper columns and books.
Although many people believe that print is a dying art form, it’s still popular for fashion magazines. Writing is a massive part of fashion journalism, especially for well-established publications. It’s a chance for those passionate about fashion to share their own experiences and opinions on the latest events and trends within the industry — building up a loyal community of readers who will likely return to read future pieces.
The world is truly your oyster as a fashion journalist — writing, broadcasting, podcasting and more! This in turn has allowed people to further their own career across a range of areas. When TV opportunities do present themselves, you will usually see fashion experts appear as correspondents on news shows where they can express their opinions on any topical areas, or as guest panellists on daytime programmes. As well as those routes of presenting, online video platforms that host interviews or Q&A’s are becoming more common too.
One of the main parts of being a fashion journalist is being able to develop strong relationships with people across the industry. Taking up new opportunities and gaining experience in an array of different areas will allow you to become one of the most powerful fashion journalists in the world — but drive, passion and attitude all play a significant role in success.
Most people considering a career in fashion will plan on going to university, and this will prepare them for the working world. Today, courses will cover a range of print and digital skills, which allows graduates to easily adapt to any working environment and keep up with the constant changes that the industry is facing and making them more employable than any other applicant.
These courses usually last for three years and require a portfolio during the application process. With this in mind, it’s crucial to gain as much experience as you can get in the area you’d like to focus on in the future and express this in your personal statement. For writers in particular, having your own blog where you can express your own views is essential. Aside from this, you could even reach out to major publications and ask them to host your work; building up valuable relationships at an early stage of your career.
A lot of people consider work experience when trying to boost their personal statement. Although the companies you work for will depend on your location — with many major brands and publications in London — there are still countless opportunities up for grabs. Check out your regional news publications and marketing agencies that work with big brands, where you could become a copywriter!
However, it’s important to understand that university isn’t appealing to everyone, and that’s perfectly normal. If you want to enter the fashion industry more naturally, it will take a lot of hard work and dedication, but if you’re passionate, this shouldn’t be a problem. It’s all about studying in your own time and developing your knowledge about the industry itself.
Blogging is a good way to gain experience and present your passion — it could even allow you to collaborate with brands. Fancy reviewing some new men’s shirts? QUIZ is one brand that champion customer opinions and works with bloggers all of the time! You can create your own website for free on the likes of WordPress, Wix and Yola, which will allow you to test the waters and publish your work for the world to see.
Using social media as your right-hand man can allow you to build your personal brand and get more exposure to your blog. As fashion-focused content is usually visual, Instagram could allow you to create a loyal audience if you’re able to post high-quality images for everyone to gasp over. If you want to create a strong image portfolio for everyone to admire, you should try and stick to a colour theme which allows your profile to look professional — think whites and pastel hues! From this, you’ll be able to direct your following to your website.
Freelancing will soon become an option when you have work to show off. This could be offering expertise on major fashion events for a range of different publications, or editing other peoples work; allowing you to maintain a stable income each month.