Diary of a fashion intern - Part 5: Last days and FAQ

 Hello there! So here is the final part of my fashion intern diary. 

Click here to read the Russian version on Look At Me.

p.s. read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Finally, the Paris Fashion Week has come to an end. The last two days were almost unbearable - everyone has run out of steam, stamina, clothes and patience. 

The night before our last day in the showroom we went out for a VERY extravagant dinner at one of Paris' finest restaurants - La Societe. Surrounded by the fashion crowd and sipping our bellinies we were exhausted to even talk. The dinner was eaten in record time and we headed back to the hotel. By the end of the week you can see the light at the end of the tunnel and all you can think about is "how soon can I get back to London and sleep in my own bed?". 

The last day is quiet and the appointments finish at 3pm.. after that there is stocktake of all the items that are in the showroom - everything is checked off, organised into piles and packed into a million suitcases. When I say EVERYTHING is packed, I really mean everything - hangers, bag stands, plastic mannequins, chairs, telephones and printers - next week all of this stuff will make its way back to the London showroom. Everyone is so keen to get out of there as quickly as possible that  everyone is involved in checking and packing - normally it should be the interns doing it but tonight even the director of sales is running around packing things. Models and Paris interns are saying goodbye, hugging each other and exchanging phone numbers and emails. Every now and again someone yells out: "Bye! Add me on Facebook!"

Stocked up with bottles of french wine, cheese and macaroons we board the Eurostar to head back to London. It feels somewhat like the end of a school camp. Everyone is looking forward to going home and is chatting excitedly. The sales team haven't seen their better halves for 21 days between NY, London, Milan and Paris sales campaigns (apart from one of the girls whose husband came to Paris to surprise her for her birthday).

And so it's over until December - there are 4 collections a year so this madness happens every three months. All of a sudden December seems not so far away at all!  Until then, we are back in the office and back to relative normalcy...


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I thought I would also use this opportunity to answer some of the questions that I get asked by my friends - if any of your questions are not here, please write your question in the comment section and I will do my best to answer them.

How did you get your internship? Can you get it if you don't know anyone in fashion?

I applied for a lot of internships - I sent applications to at least 20 internships. I got called back for 3 interviews.  I did try to get an internship through friends of friends in fashion but the interviews I did get were actually off my own back and had nothing to do with friends or connections.

How many people apply for an internship?

I don't how many people applied for this particular internship but one of the other brands I interviewed with had 200 applications for one role from people all around Europe. Having multiple languages really helps. 

What did they ask you in the interview?

Each of my 3 interviews was completely different - one was almost 1.5 hours long, the other just under an hour and the third (the one I ended up taking) was approximately 30 minutes. The questions are very similar to a normal job interview - tell me about yourself? why our company? why fashion industry? On top of that you have to be prepared to answer questions like Who are your favourite designers? What do you think about the current trends?

One of my interviews was with a major accessories brand and since I own a pair of their shoes (which I bought about 2 years ago) I decided to wear the shoes to the interview. The interviewer noticed the shoes and asked me if I knew the name of the model of shoes I was wearing. I didn't. I thought that would ruin me but I got an offer from them anyway. The lesson is - do your research!

What did you wear to the interview?

You have to wear something that you feel comfortable in and that reflects your style but you also have to think about the brand you are interviewing with. For one of the interviews I wore a white silk cami, with a flowing bright orange skirt and a jacket. High heels - of course! 

How long is your internship for? 

My internship is for 3 months and covers two sales campaigns September and December.

How much do you get paid?

The internship is unpaid but trips to Paris and Milan are completely covered by the company - accommodation, travel, lunch and dinner.

What perks do you get?

Every month we get a piece of clothing to a certain value.

How do interns live? How can you afford to work for free? 

Everyone is different - most interns are straight out of university so are still supported by their parents. I planned to make a transition into fashion for a while so I saved up for the internship. I also work in retail on the weekends. 

And then of course there are those whose better halves are kind enough to support them. Depending on how extravagant your lifestyle is you may need the support from your better half even when you are on a salary as the first couple of years in fashion always pay very little due to the intense competition for the roles.

Are the girls in your company all very skinny?

Our office does not have any anorexic looking girls but everyone is very health conscious and tries to eat healthily. Favourite lunch is some sort of salad.  

What do you wear to work?

You can wear whatever you want but generally people put in a fair bit of effort. Not everyone wears heels but people do dress nicely - I think it is only natural as people working in the fashion industry are all very interested in fashion. It was a big change for me because at my old job I would often roll-out of bed, put my hair in a bun and wear whatever is the first thing that I pull out of my wardrobe that morning (only grey or black of course.. ahh the corporate world).  Here I have to think about what I am going to wear because what you wear is very much part of who you are. 

What happens after the internship? Do you get a job?

The company does not guarantee a job at the end of the internship and they make it clear in the interview. However, because the industry is so fluid and people are constantly moving from one job to another, there is a chance that you may get a permanent position. My company is based in NY and the London office is very small and hence the prospect of a job is unlikely. However, having a big brand name on your CV is a big deal and will make other potential employers consider you more seriously. I even noticed it when applying for weekend retail jobs - big name showroom on your CV makes you a more favourable candidate over others.

Do you make many contacts during your internship?

It really depends. It depends if you get to work with buyers and if they remember who you are. You will not make a huge number of contacts because as far as buyers are concerned you are merely an intern but it only takes making one good contact to open future doors. The biggest lesson to learn is to never burn your bridges because the industry is in fact very small and everybody knows everybody so pissing one person off may have implications on your future professional relationships.

  

Was your internship what you expected it to be?

I didn't expect it to be so physically demanding and I most certainly did not expect to be working such crazy hours and give up my weekends during the sales campaigns. However, I do like the people that I work with - they are very cool and I enjoy their company which for me is an important factor. I have heard a lot of stories about how bitchy and mean the fashion industry is so it was a nice surprise that the people here are actually very normal - everyone has a personality but there isn't any intense bitchiness or politics. Apart from that I had very little idea of what the internship actually involved so I am learning a lot and I am enjoying it. 

Hope you enjoyed it! xxo

Diary of a fashion intern - Day number…i've lost count "Bonjour Paris!"

Hi guys! Here we go - Part 4 of my fashion intern diary. Click here to read the Russian version on Look At Me.

One more to come, enjoy xx

p.s. read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

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Tomorrow we leave for Paris! Half of the interns are going straight from Milan and it is only me and two other girls who will be going from London. Preparation for Paris fashion week is a serious matter but rather than packing fabulous outfits we are stuffing our bags with food - chocolates, biscuits, chips as well as other necessities like pillows and towels. It is going to be a looooong week so you want to be as comfortable as possible - your own pillow is a must! 

I'm catching a 5.25am Eurostar from London which means I get somewhat 3 hours sleep that night. Luckily we have the first day off so after dumping my bags at the hotel, I grab my camera and head straight for the Tuilleries where Paris fashion week shows are starting. During London fashion week I was really sad that I didn't get to shoot street style as I normally absolutely love being in the midst of the fashion week madness. So when the opportunity presented itself to have a day of shooting in Paris, of course I jumped at it. Who cares about sleep anyway… it is so overrated. 

For next 10 hours I am running around from show to show all over Paris, by the end of the day I know the metro map like the back of my hand. Get back to the hotel around 8pm and spend the next 4hours editing photos and catching up on emails. 

The first day at the Paris showroom is quiet and we spend most of the time organising clothes and training up Parisian interns. Since I had already done the London fashion week, I'm all of a sudden the big boss and get to tell other interns what to do and I don't even have to get my own Starbucks anymore… :))

Paris fashion week in the showroom is different from London in two ways - firstly the showroom is bigger so you work harder and secondly you eat A LOT. The morning starts with croissants which are followed by mini macaroon towers and coffee which are followed by lunch then by fruit and then by biscuits in the afternoon. All the girls are worried about gaining weight but everyone continues eating anyway. 

During the day the showroom is an absolute mayhem and you have to adapt to hearing and understanding different languages. There are 10 sales executives who meet clients from all over Europe. As I walk through the showroom with a stack of clothing towards the change room someone asks me for a coffee (in Italian) another table asks for photocopies of something (in French) and the third table throws more clothes my way asking for them to be tried on (in Spanish). By the time you get to the kitchen you need to still remember who asked what and what it means in English and not go crazy.

On the second day, two of the Parisian interns do not turn up - apparently it all got too hard for them. 

Do you remember the scene from the Devil Wears Prada where she is balancing coffees from Starbucks in one hand, documents in the other and her phone doesn't stop ringing the whole time?? Well that's me. I get sent to the photocopy centre to make copies of line sheets, whilst grabbing coffee (soda water, toothbrush, cigarettes) for someone on the way and my phone is going off constantly. 

Many many years ago I used to take French classes. All of a sudden I find myself at the dry cleaners speaking some weird combination of French and sign language trying to explain that my colleague dropped off a dress in the morning (SHOOOORT, BLAAAACK, LACEEEYYY - I tried to speak slowly and loudly .. as if it is going to help!) but we have since lost the ticket and I now need that dress NOW to take back to the showroom before someone gets very angry with me. The queue behind me is trying to contain their laughter as I am acting out my charade. The lady at the counter looks at me and probably (highly likely) thinks I'm crazy. 

The only thing that gets me through the day is the nice dinner at the end of the night. Every night all the interns from London get together and go out for a nice meal and a bottle of red. On the third day to say thank you for all our hard work our manager makes a booking in one of the trendy restaurants in Monmartre. As we finish our entrees, a lady with a blonde crop enters the room and joins a loud (and amazingly stylish) table next to us. Kate Lanphear, editor of US Elle. I literally can't stop staring. Four days ago I photographed her exiting the Balmain show in Paris. I absolutely love her style. And here she is hanging out with her friends looking fabulous as always (and you cant even tell she spent the whole day hopping from one fashion show to another in 30 degree heat). 

Paris is growing on me, that's for sure…

To be continued xx

Diary of a fashion intern - Part 3 "Guess who's going to Paris"

Sorry about the delay! Here is Part 3 of my interning diary. The Russian version is running on Look At Me (and I must say I find it so flattering that someone finds this blabbering interesting enough to publish :))

You can also read Part 1 and Part 2.

...By my third day at the showroom I'm starting to feel somewhat comfortable with what I am meant to be doing during my time here. We are constantly being reminded that we are the face of the brand and to look and present ourselves well. Today I'm blending in well - wearing all black (do you know how hard it is to find a good matching black outfit?! you know how they say there are 30-something shades of black? well it's true!).

Today it feels like finally all the interns are getting comfortable with the process and everything is starting to fall into place. The showroom is running smoothly and I'm trying to concentrate on getting all my tasks done perfectly.

Having said that, there are certain tasks that I am desperately trying to avoid… For example, every morning we get a new set of "line sheets" from our head office in New York. Line sheets are essentially catalogues of the current collection and get updated every day depending on the brand's decision to cancel or modify the production of certain items.  Anyway, so every morning we need to make multiple photocopies of these fresh line sheets and I am literally avoiding eye contact with anyone who is remotely involved in the process. If you are pulled into this task, you will essentially be stuck in the back of the office, by yourself, next to a hot photocopier.. for hours…Not ideal! The trick is, like I said before, not to make eye contact.. the reason being is that the more senior members of the team might still not know your name and hence will think twice before calling out. On the other hand, once you have made eye contact, they start with a polite "excuse me…could I ask you to".

At the end of the day, every intern wants to be on the floor, meeting buyers and learning from the sales team.. not photocopying or dressing the models in the back room.

Oh and about the back room - the back room is essentially a space that is separated from the rest of the room by a screen and that's where the models are 'based' all day as well as the interns who are responsible for dressing the models. Occasionally, the action in the showroom dies down and we all get a break, during which you essentially just plant yourself on the floor (wherever there is space) and pray that you have enough time for a proper 'long' cup of coffee. Some of the models curl up on the floor and fall asleep, others are typing furiously on their phones.. Sometimes I wonder - is it even possible to spend that much time on the phone or do they just not want to socialise??

The interns generally spend their breaks chatting to each other about themselves and all things fashion. One of the most popular topics is 'what do I want to do when I grow up'. Everyone is sharing their experiences in the fashion world and trying to figure out what they need to do to get a grown-up (i.e. paying) job. 

I was actually surprised how varied the internship group is. The ages of the interns are between 19 and 32, one of the girls has a toddler at home which makes long hours difficult, the other one is currently studying a masters degree in fashion management, whilst the youngest is doing this as part of her european baccalaureate program where you have to do an internship somewhere/anywhere before you can graduate - she is the only one of her friends who chose to do an internship in fashion. This is her first job and she tells me in secret that for the first couple of weeks she often felt like crying because she didn't understand what she was required to do.  One thing that we all have in common is that none of us are Londoners or even from the UK, I find that fascinating!

In the afternoon the pace picks up a bit. A team of three buyers from a kind-of-a-big-deal online shop come in to look at the shoes and accessories. I decide not to tell them that I am currently a recovering shopaholic and used to spend a considerable amount of time and money on their website. I cant help but stare - I love their webshop so much and hence I instantly love them too because these are the people who used to (back when I had a paying job) make me so-so happy : ) All three are perfectly tall, thin and immaculately groomed. Wearing only the latest trends and super-duper high Louboutins. They are what people think all buyers look like.

As I am shamelessly checking them out whilst they are checking out the collection, one of them says that she would really love to see what the shoes look like on and looks directly at me. For the next hour I find myself in intern heaven - trying on every  shoe in the collection and having a photo of my foot (in the shoe) taken. That's right ladies and gentleman, I am now officially a shoe-model!! 

Tomorrow is the last day of London Fashion Week and the most important question of the day is 'who is going to Milan and who is going to Paris???' The newer interns who have not yet done a season are buzzing with excitement, the old dogs are rolling their eyes and trying not to ruin the mood - they know that above all Milan and Paris are both HARD work and if you thought London was intense… well.. lets just say London was a warm-up. The trips to Milan and Paris are fully covered by the company but then again I cant imagine us having much spare time to do any sightseeing. 

I am yet to find out if I am going to either as I was the last intern to join the team. Although it is hard work I would hate to be left out as the whole sales team would be away and I'm pretty sure I would feel like I'm missing out on an awesome party and yes I do realise it's not going to be a party at all but I guess I just hate missing out!!!

By the end of the day my boss puts me out of my misery and tells me that I will be joining them in Paris. Not sure why but I feel a sense of relief..  

To be continued...xx

Diary of a fashion intern - Day 2 "To Market, To Market"

So having survived my first day I was feeling a bit more comfortable heading into work on Monday. For my second day I decided to go with a more casual look - red jeans and a denim shirt.. casual yet has character, cant go wrong really!

We were asked to get there by 7.30 am, I hadn't been to work that early since… well since I moved to London actually! 

When I got to the showroom that morning I, for the first time in my life, realised what visual merchandising actually meant. The night before we left the clothes hanging on the rails in random order which seemed normal… Our visual merchandiser stayed in the showroom until some ungodly hour to make it look… sellable. It was actually amazing how arranging clothes in various colour combinations made such a difference. 

Anywho… so I get to the showroom that morning to find a bunch of interns having breakfast… dressed in all black with full make-up and hair done. Awkward. I guess my red jeans are no longer a 'cant go wrong' item. I enter a mild state of panic. They all turn around, see my get-up and one of them draws a long 'I'm gueeeesssing no one told you to wear black…" The showroom manager enters, looks me up and down, realises that he forgot to tell me to wear black, quietly walks off [im pretty sure he may have had a tiny heart attack when he saw my bright red jeans in the sea of "all-black" interns]. Im perspiring. A lot. It's 8am so none of the stores are open to go and buy a quick change of outfit. The first appointment is at 9am. I am iiiiinnnn trouble. 

I am sent to photocopy a bunch of stuff - obviously to get me out of sight before the first customer gets here and before the 'head honcho' sees me.

I'm photocopying stuff and literally counting down minutes until 9am when the stores open. Unfortunately the closest store was Next which seemed to stock strictly the ugliest clothes (they should've put a sign up - Normal Clothes Not Allowed). I end up in an ugly black jersey dress (that ugly cheap black colour.. you know what im talking about), which is possibly a size or 2 too big. I make a mental note to burn it when today is over.

Head back to the showroom and see the manager breath a sigh of relief. Crisis averted. Then the craziness starts. The buyers start arriving one by one. There are four models in the backroom trying on clothes and modelling it for the buyers. The interns are running around like crazy. All of them red in the face… by this stage we need to know and remember if not all then a lot of the pattern names and style names of this season's collection. 

As an intern you are expected to do whatever is required to ensure the smooth running of the showroom - dress the models, greet the clients, make coffee, do a mountain of photocopying, get the clothes requested by the sales team, chat to the buyers and make them feel warm and fuzzy and most importantly remember the order that the clothes, bags and shoes were in this morning (as the visual merchandiser intended it to look). 

After a quick lunch break we are all back on the floor. By night time you literally can't feel your feet. Thankfully coffee is in unlimited supply so everyone is on a constant caffeine buzz. Throughout the day interns rotate in their duties. I am now following a girl from the sales team around. She is showing the new collection to a buyer, explaining the inspiration and the stories behind the collection. I am carrying a tonne of clothes to and from the change room every 2 minutes. My favourite part is putting outfits together - a member of the sales team passes you an item of clothing (like a shirt or a top) and you have to find bottoms, jackets etc to form a presentable and cool outfit in the right colour scheme. And you have about 30 seconds to pull the outfit together and drop it at the change rooms - I feel like I'm in an episode of America's Next Top Model (you know the ones where they need to demonstrate their personal style?! except obviously i'm not a model… obviously).

In between appointments I'm running to the backroom to have a quick coffee. Everyone only drinks espressos because you don't have time for a normal cup of coffee. Then back on the floor to listen (for the 50th time) the story about the inspiration behind the collection. Every time a new appointment starts the sales guys look like this is the first time they've ever told the story - full of excitement, big smile, sky-high heels. The buyers don't need to know that most of them haven't had a chance to eat lunch and have had about 30 cups of coffee and take their heels off for 2 minutes in between appointments. You can hear snippets of Italian, Spanish and French being spoken around the room, the whole team including the interns is bilingual (trilingual in some cases) so everyone is comfortably switching between languages.     

The day ends around 10pm and we literally crawl out of the showroom. Everyone is excited because we don't start until 8am tomorrow… extra half an hour of sleep! Yay! : /

We have another 3 weeks of this between London, Milan and Paris fashion weeks. Oh. My.God.

To be continued… xx


p.s. you can read the Russian version on Look At Me

Diary of a fashion intern - Day 1 "The Scary Sunday"

Since I'm not hanging out at London Fashion Week this season and hence don't really have anything to show you, I thought I might share with you about what I am doing instead of LFW.

The truth is, I am doing LFW but from the inside… the less glamorous inside that does not involve hanging out at Somerset House or dressing up. In fact, my official 'uniform' these days is all black. Here is why…

Do you remember a few months back I wrote about quitting my job and bla bla?

Well after I did that, I spent the following weeks applying for every single internship under the sun. Luckily, my timing was good and I started the process as the brands were heading into the SS2012 season.

So I scored myself an internship with a pretty-big-deal brand and was absolutely over the moon about it. The first (official) day was set for Sunday the 18th - smack bang in the middle of LFW… 

As it generally happens with me, I over-committed myself and promised Look At Me 'x' number of street style shots from Day 2 of LFW. So the day before my big internship I was hanging out at Somerset House snapping away the fashionistas… after spending a good 8 hours running after people and chasing celebrities from venue to venue, my feet were killing me and I spent the night feeling sorry for myself whilst editing the photos so that I could meet my deadlines.

When I finally got to bed, I couldn't sleep.. guess what was bothering me??!! WHAT SHOULD I WEAR TOMORROW?????? I mean think about it.. I'm an accountant.. going into fashion.. whilst being slightly older, shorter and less savvy than my potential co-interners. Intimidated? Me? Noooo…. ok, may be a little.

So the next day, I got up early, got ready and headed for the showroom - I felt like it was the first day of school! I also felt terrible about missing the hoo-hah at the Mulberry presentation which was happening literally down the street from my new 'job'.

The first thing I saw when I arrived at the destination is a huge bright room full of stuff! I was like a fat kid in a candy store - bags, shoes, scarves, wallets - you name it! I felt like I had just discovered Narnia… except I was finally 'out of the closet' and loud and proud legit fashionista.. interning in fashion'n'all…

It would be an understatement to say I was delusional about what a fashion internship involves. I thought I would head in for a couple of hours, hang out with the cool kids, look at some clothes and then head to the afternoon LFW shows (even brought my SLR camera in the bag). 

Errrm think again! 

The first thing that I saw when the initial shock had worn off were three massive bags that had just arrived from NYC… hot off the press so to say. The bags contained samples of the new collection… so the next 3 hours were spent steaming, labelling and hanging the clothes in the correct order etc etc. 

There were 6 other interns working in the showroom, all had been with the label for  different length of time.. mostly fashion students. Some were there just for the couple of weeks to help out with fashion weeks, whilst others had been there for a number of months.

The first thing I noticed about the interns is that they weren't at all glamourously dressed as I had expected them to be (based on my extenssive knowledge of The City and The Devil Wears Prada). Most of them were dressed in jeans and converse shoes… obviously because it was a Sunday and because we had to unpack, steam and sort the clothes. Obviously.. I didn't get the memo.

At first I was picking up every sample and admiring the beauty, appreciating the fabric and thinking how lucky I was to be surrounded by all these beautiful clothes. By the third hour every other dress was just a piece of fabric that had to be dealt with and I stopped noticing all the wonderful things about them.

By about lunch time it became clear that it was highly unlikely that I would see any of the shows that afternoon or even make it to Somerset House. The rest of the day was spent studying the new collection and listening to the 'head honcho' of the office talk about each of the pieces and how they fit in with the rest of the collection and how best to market it to different clients etc. It was like being back at uni… but amazingly interesting… I was mostly fascinated by the fact that the poor 'head honcho' probably hadn't slept for a number of days during NYFW and yet was so with it and spoke for hours non-stop and knew so much about so much.

Every now and again the team shared their opinions on the pieces and there was a lively discussion. The interns were mostly quiet.. taking all of the information in and trying not to interrupt the flow of the evening with stupid questions. 

I'm not even going to pretend that giving up a big fat corporate job and becoming the newest kid on the block is easy. It was crap. I am used to being listened to and knowing what I am talking about, to people respecting my opinion and being interested in what I have to say. There in that showroom no one cares if you are a doctor or a lawyer or whatever… if you don't know about fashion then you are at the bottom of the food chain. So I pretended to be mute and spent the rest of the day trying to absorb as much as I could about everything that was happening around me.

The day finished at about 9 or 10pm.. Im not even sure.. I was delirious by the end of it and was only capable of dragging myself to the nearest McDonald's to celebrate my survival of the first day.. well almost survival if you don't count me stabbing myself in the eye with the corner of one of the sheets in the lookbook. My eye went all red and started watering and mascara was running down my cheek as I was frantically trying to 'blink myself better'. Since no one saw what had actually happened, a few people seemed perplexed when they saw me 'crying' - they exchanged inquisitive looks but decided not to ask the obvious question as (judging by the looks on their faces) they'd decided that they couldn't have possibly upset me that much since no one really spoke to me much that day in the first place. I'm pretty sure that almost 90% of the people in the room didn't even know my name which was quite obvious because they referred to you as 'daahling' or 'hun' or 'lovely' if they need to speak to you or get your attention. I thought that was actually quite endearing since thinking back to my corporate job, it would be days before I would actually start properly speaking to the new interns at all…mostly because i didn't know their names and partly because they all looked quite scared. At least I got called 'nice' names :)

To be continued ...xx