RE: The #TRYHARD Diaries: Landing My First Fashion Internship
Okay, first of all, I love the way this post was written.
But also, isn't it sad that us millennials (or whoever comes after millennials) have had to scrounge for internships? It essentially kicks out (most) people who don't come from a place of privilege, particularly in a city as expensive as New York. Unfortunately I've found that the single most important factor in breaking into any industry is making connections, unless you get extraordinarily lucky--for instance, stumbling on the right recruiter at a moment where they're desperate to hire anyone who looks remotely qualified to start ASAP--that's how I found my first career job. That itself is barrier #2 to people who are not coming from a place of privilege, because people with successful parents tend to be exposed to successful or influential people from an early age. (To clarify, I'm not making any assumptions as to your background in particular; there are of course exceptions.) But your advice is good--I agree with the strategy of reaching out to lower level people and seeing what intel you can get.
It is so sad how we have to scrounge!
While I feel like internships are VERY important and allow for you to get some real world experience under your belt while still in college, I find the fact that most are unpaid is grossly disgusting (all of mine were). There is definitely a level of privilege involved in interning I do agree. I myself took out a private student loan to fund my very first summer in New York. This loan was able to cover my flight, housing, and allotted me a certain amount of money to spend while I was in the city for the summer (though I have no idea how I survived on that amount of money for 3 months when I look back at it now). I ended up paying this loan off by selling my car right before I moved back to New York to live fulltime.
Connections are absolutely everything which is why I always stress to never burn bridges! You never know where people are going to end up! Coming from a rural farming community and attending a college that is definitely NOT on the same level as an FIT or Parsons I found it very hard to get ahead with limited resources and connections when I was first starting out. I always envied the kids whose parents funded their lives or the kids who could walk into an interview decked in designer when I was pulling together stuff trying to be on the same level. And once you fall into the temp-freelance trap it's hard to climb out of there as well.
Perma-lance is an entirely different post I’ll be tackling.
I could go on forever! But, my goal here is just to be a resource as best I can speaking from my experiences.
Do you live in New York as well? I’d love to hear more about what you do and where your journey has taken you.
Thank you for your feedback! <3
I lived in New York for a couple of years (2013-2015), but I moved back home to LA. New York just wasn't for me (I suck at tolerating real weather!), but then again, I'm not in the fashion industry. I currently work in the digital media industry, but I'm a former academic, and a lifelong side hustler. I tutor high school kids, freelance write, and work part time for a crypto exchange. I'm just the sort of person who constantly needs to be working on stuff and creating new things, which is why Steemit has been so great for me so far! Hopefully side hustling can be my full time thing soon--that's my goal for this year. :)
I thought I knew some things about tolerating weather having come from Eastern Oregon but, the winters here are just a little to long for me! I’ve been dreaming of making a pilgrimage to LA or Florida. I’m 110% not a California person though, I relate to hard to Amy Schumers feelings on what it's like walking down the street in LA (Why is that octopus out on Sunset?).
I feel that side hustle mindset and I know my platonic soulmate @taylerworrell can relate! I find that when I’m working full time like I am now, especially in such a corporate company I have more down time then when I’m working on freelance projects and it kills me. I always feel so behind when I’m not super busy or stressing! Which I feel like might be a side effect from all the internships where they demand the world from you… As a strategy minded person I’d love to talk about the steps you are taking to making hustling your fulltime – as I am attempting something sort of similar and would love to compare notes. If you’re down for sharing your trade secrets :)
I moved to LA for a bit to pursue my fashion photography ( I am from London) and its a LOT more commercial you won't get so many opportunities for high fashion s just depends on your preference. I find people in LA expect to get paid whereas in NY and London we are willing to do a lot more for free this is good and bad.I noticed in LA. a lot of people with like 0 portfolio or something in London we would consider pretty bad just expected to get paid for tests from the photographer who wouldn't be making any money from this shoot. This mindset just seemed to keep them stuck and with rubbish portfolios. In London and I assume New York we test a lot and build our books where all creatives give up there time and the stylists in general a LOT stronger than any I saw in LA and I think really people in LA just expect to get paid right away without any real skill level. I also find it weird how they expect a photographer who is also testing to pay them especially when their portfolio is much slimmer and not as good as the photographer. It's just a different mindset good perhaps for making money but also somewhat delusional for becoming great. I think problem we ended up finding here though is people working for clients for free /cheap. That has seriously diluted the industry to where everyone expects everything for nothing, but I thought the testing was great to build skills and books when everyone is gaining from the experience and no one profiting more than the others. I think borrowing clothes was weird in LA too they had to pay to borrow here pr loan for free so that added to the fact none of them wanted to test unless it was a paid shoot and it just meant it was REALLY hard to find talented stylists etc over there.
I love to get the West Coast vs. East Coast perspective – so thank you for this! I feel like being based out of New York for just about anything creative is a double edge sword. On one hand you get the whole, I’m trying to hack it in New York in one of those most oversaturated cities in the industry so there is a certain pride in that. On the other hand… unless youre a super established insider its so hard to break into the industry AND GET PAID.
As you mentioned there is some amazing talent out here and everyone is just scrapping by, especially in the beginning working for free and its so tragic because it feels like at this point - by the time all of the creatives are 25+ and have been buiding their books already for quite awhile you wouldn’t think it would be out of the question to get paid! My girl @kenseyjean is an amazing photographer and shes touched on her social media sometimes about her experinces in the industry that sound very similar to yours.
So weird that PR wants to be paid to loan samples out there! I get it for celebrity dressing but for a test shoot or an editorial in general? No way!
Have you shot in New York before? Is it New York where you were finding its hard to find talented stylists or LA?
I promise that LA isn't as bad as they say it is! It just depends on where you are. I avoid any neighborhood with "Hollywood" in the name, or anything adjacent to them. It's really the transplants coming to LA who were the most popular kids in their small town high schools and want to emulate Entourage. They tend to move to those neighborhoods. For those of us who just grew up here in the suburbs it's a totally different experience. There's a lot of cool stuff here, and the weather is unbeatable!
My main thing right now is getting my foot in the door with part time gigs and seeing if something turns out to be sustainable and reliable enough. Would be amazing to be one of those people who make their living on here (or even part of it) but I am under no illusions that would be easily accomplished overnight.
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