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Fashion or whatever: _Working in the fashion industry isn’t all glitz and glam — it’s grit, too_

Backstage at the Y-3 fashion show, models get their hair and makeup done. Working runway events is among the many duties of fashion industry interns.

Courtesy of KK Cressman

Fashion internship websites

Check out these sites for internship resources:

freefashioninternships.com
dailyfashionjobs.com
fashionista.com/fashion-careers
wwd.com/wwdcareers

Compiled by Teresa Jue

By Teresa Jue

Jan. 5, 2011 12:37 a.m.

Models get their hair and makeup done backstage at an Anna Sui fashion show. Fashion interns have a chance to work at such events; for instance, KK Cressman, a fourth-year world arts and cultures student, has worked for makeup artist Pat McGrath during the Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week.

Courtesy of KK Cressman

I blame Lauren Conrad for the increased interest in working in the fashion industry.

The reality star went from pining for unattainable boys in the MTV show “Laguna Beach” to pining for guys in “The Hills.” Except in the latter of the shows, she interned at Teen Vogue and the fashion public relations firm, People’s Revolution, where she got to talk about pining for guys on the job.

Thus began the Lauren Conrad effect, which is as vexatious as it is virulent, where giddy girls strive for a career in fashion with hopes that the job description is wearing Chanel booties and eating lunch at the Geisha House on a regular basis.

Even before I came to UCLA, I imagined the fashion industry in Los Angeles as a mecca of drones who clipped their hair with a braid on the side and talked about their relationship travails over racks of clothes.

There seems to be a notion that working in the field simply requires a passion for shopping. However, the lackadaisical nature of working in fashion as seen on television can be likened to the amusing yet unreal nature of a Chia Pet commercial ““ plants don’t grow that fast and working in fashion isn’t that easygoing.

“It’s not easy,” said Jazzi McGilbert, a freelance fashion assistant, stylist and writer. “One of my problems with all these reality television shows that glamorize the industry is that the glamour is one-tenth of the job. It’s actually a lot of research and sitting at a desk but it takes a certain type of personality to make it work. I have noticed a lot of kids get into it now, because they think it’s going to be something like “˜The Hills,’ but it’s really not that.”

McGilbert, who started her career in fashion as a contributor to Teen Vogue at the age of 14 and subsequent internships at Vogue magazine and Fashionista.com, said that she studied the mastheads of fashion magazines and researched meticulously to obtain those internships, and recommends those who wish to work in fashion to do the same.

“A lot people forget that a lot of the contact information is listed on the masthead. I studied the mastheads and knew which editors were there, which editors were leaving, what are the chances that they are going to look for new interns,” McGilbert said.

Fourth-year world arts and cultures student KK Cressman said that passion is mandatory for those who want to work in fashion, which can be a grueling business at times.

“A lot of people don’t see the bad side of the fashion industry. You have to be really motivated and be tossed around a little bit to start from the bottom and work your way up,” said Cressman, who has worked for world-renowned makeup artist Pat McGrath during Mercerdes Benz New York Fashion Week and eco-designer Joann Berman.

What’s even more ironic is that the grueling side of the industry that was dramatized in the 2006 film, “The Devil Wears Prada,” also seems to be an invitation for those to work in fashion. Even as the film depicts the coffee fetching and slight masochism of working at a fashion magazine, there still seems to be a disconnect from reality and fantasy.

In a June 25 blog post for New York Magazine’s fashion blog, “The Cut,” real Vogue interns anonymously described duties such as packing trunks and steaming clothes as well as going on various errands around the city and eating lunch in the closet. Sure, it’s great to hang around models and sneak a peek at an ab or two, but there is a fair share of grunt work involved in churning out fashion magazines.

So for those intrepid few who thrive in the fashion world, I congratulate them. But for those of you who list Lauren Conrad as your top fashion inspiration for going in the business, I’m just going to wish you a lot of luck, because you will need it.

If you dislike those who want to work in fashion just because they love shopping or saw it on television, e-mail Jue at [email protected].

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Teresa Jue
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