One of the biggest misconceptions about the fashion world is that it is a glamorous environment to work in. When you read fashion magazines you can only find images of perfectly photoshopped models and you could easily think that people behind this publication -- photographers, stylists, journalists -- are themselves the representation of this kind of aesthetics. But then when you actually get to work in this industry you quickly learn that these images are very deceiving. There is often nothing glamorous about the people who work in fashion.
The first time I realized this was during one of my first interviews for an internship at one famous fashion brand's press office. I wanted to leave a good impression and I thought it was expected from all candidates so I tried to dress very well, nothing too much, but I was head to toe in Calvin Klein. On the other hand, the man who interviewed me, the director of communications of this brand, was dressed in old ripped jeans, stained white t-shirt and dirty white sneakers. It wasn't Friday at all, so all the casualness made no sense to me.
I didn't get this job, but in the next few years I did meet several extremely overweight fashion stylists -- including one that had to sit on two chairs -- and editors with some or no teeth. But all of them had one thing in common -- they had absolutely no sense of style. They either tried too hard to be fashionable and failed miserably or they just didn't care when it came to their wardrobe choice. This always intrigued me: "How can you work in the industry that strives for perfection and beauty, and still look like shit? How much must you hate yourself to choose this kind of job, when everybody knows that fashion world isn't, unfortunately, supportive of people who look nothing less than perfect?" Or are they just delusional and the reflection they see in the mirror isn't the one everybody around them sees?
This obviously doesn't apply to all people in fashion industry. I did meet some that dressed and looked really well, but mostly this is not the case. I will never forget the look of one senior editor of a major Italian fashion magazine. During one fashion week in Milan I heard her in the office while she was preparing to go to Prada's fashion show. She was so proud of her outfit for the first row. She was wearing a simple navy blue dress, under a navy blue coat, with navy blue shoes and accessorized with -- yes, you guessed well -- navy blue bag. Incredible color coordination...
So while some poor teenage girl is reading bunch of fashion magazines and obsessing about her weight, how she looks nothing like the model on the cover and how to convince her parents to give her more money so she can buy all the latest fashion, the people responsible for this photoshoot are probably eating potato chips and candy, and creating the new trendy looks that they themselves will never be able to wear or fit.
Crossposted from www.fallenfashionista.blogspot.com.