In Defence – Unpaid Internships

Started from the bottom, now we’re (almost) here.

  ‘Can you fill up this water bottle please?’   ‘Can you take these returns all around London?’   ‘Can you go get some more water bottles please?’   Fashion interns of the past have heard them before, and interns of the future will hear them again. For unpaid interns these questions are pretty commonplace. We’ve all been there. You’ve spent three weeks putting together the PERFECT outfit. You’ve read up on the magazine; you might finally be ready for your first (unpaid) job. As a teenage, I aspired to work in the fashion industry. The first step was to secure an internship with a reputable fashion magazine. Instead of checking my hotmail account (yes i had a hotmail account.. don’t judge me) every 20 minutes waiting for their elusive email, I put myself out of my misery and walked in, unannounced, to one of my favourite fashion magazines. THEY SAID YES! I heard the three questions above rather a lot when I was slaving away in their offices (/dungeons) and learnt a lot whilst I was there. One of the most important things I learnt was how important it is to be multifaceted in this industry along with the importance of making connections and contacts. This experience took me one step closer to my goal of working in fashion. What made the experience of being a glorified courier easier to bare was the idea that I was making connections with people who would be in the position to give me a job in the future. Secondly, the fashion industry is small and everyone knows each other: photographers, stylists, editors, agents, models, make-up artists, and journalists. It helped to remember that the Anna Wintour’s of today started as interns. From the bottom. Just like you and me. The fashion industry is cut-throat and ANY experience sets you apart from other people. If one is lucky enough to be financially able to do unpaid internships for long periods, this provides that. Vivienne Westwood ‘employing’ unpaid interns for half a year illustrates this. The implication, that students with well-off parents have an advantage in this regard, is undeniable. I have watched my favourite movie,The Devil Wears Prada, more times than I can remember. It is often used to characterise unpaid internships as negative, exploitative and useless. Andie interns at the fictional magazine, Mode, and she, on balance, has a negative experience. I disagree with this characterisation. I believe the message of this movie is a positive one: without taking this internship Andy would not have known that she did not want to work in fashion. This is the integral value of internships; they provide the intern with a snapshot of the industry, environment and responsibilities of an industry, without the long-term commitment inherent in full-time work. Ultimately, I think the experience I’ve gained working at internships is invaluable and something which cannot be bought. Unpaid internships are useful and I would go so far as saying they are an essential part of working within the fashion industry.