When I was four, I insisted on always dressing myself because I told my mom I had better fashion sense than her (I needed that creative freedom. Sorry for insulting you, Mom). Though lime green floral leggings paired with a red, white, and blue striped top and my mother’s expensive red lipstick may have been a low point for my young fashion savvy self, I pranced around in that outfit as if I looked like a million bucks.
From there, my passion for fashion only flourished with age. I would, and still do, sit for hours watching all the red carpet events for award shows and judge each celebrity’s outfit. I never even thought my love for clothes, shoes, handbags, jewelry, and beyond could ever be turned into a lifelong career.
I am sitting in my intern apartment in Herald Square finishing up my spring semester internship. As I look back on the last five months I have seen my life transform from 19-year-old college student to 20-year-old New York City based fashion intern; from sheepish and apprehensive to assertive and confident. I moved to New York, literally, not knowing a soul.
I have had my ups and downs with work, roommates (going in blind with two random girls is a story for another day…), and just figuring out how to adjust to a completely different lifestyle. Lucky for me, I love being here and interning; it’s everything I have ever dreamed of (sorry for being cliché, it’s hard to contain myself sometimes). I don’t mind getting coffee—I speak fluent Starbucks now. And can you even fathom that I’ve never had a cup of coffee in my life!? This internship has been such a fantastic, eye-opening experience that I get to do it all over again for the next four and a half months at this summer's magazine.
Now, with a good five months of knowledge about the fashion world under my belt, I realize that becoming successful in this line of work is no easy feat. It’s a fast-paced, cut-throat, competitive world and even though interns are at the bottom of the very well-dressed food chain, you need to bring your A-game everyday. So even though I have already begun to gain an immense amount of knowledge about this world, I have an insatiable thirst for more. Which is why I have become a kind of internaholic. I have learned that fashion isn’t just about what clothes you put on everyday. It’s an art form, it’s a way of self-expression, it’s a culture, community, and a way of life.
Going into my second consecutive internship I am ready to immerse myself into the magazine and work my butt off to learn even more than I think I already have. I hope my next internship will allow me to learn more than which brand goes to which PR firm or which editor prefers unsweetened green tea and which wants a double espresso. I want to learn about the different markets, I want to know how the creative director and fashion editors come up with story idea, how trends transcend from the runways of New York, Paris, and Milan, to the sidewalks of suburbia.
Before I moved to New York this past January, I felt like I would just learn how to do stereotypical intern duties and maybe gain a few networking contacts. I didn’t think I would actually see a fashion spread be created from start to finish. I didn’t think I would get to go on photo shoots with famous models, stylists, and photographers and watch fashion come to life. I thought Michael Kors and Ralph Lauren were the only designers worth knowing. But now, the only think I know for sure is that there is so much more for me to learn in this industry. And I now know for sure that I want to be apart of it.
So, Edsters, I’ll be the guinea pig for those of you who haven’t experienced closet life yet. Ready to immerse yourself into all things fashion with me?
See ya next Monday,
Fashion Intern
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