4 Fashion Insiders Give Their 5 Tips for Starting Out in One of the World’s Toughest Industries

This past Wednesday, June 22, we hosted our first Office Hours event of 2016 with a focus on the fashion industry. We brought in four impressive panelists to give us the lowdown on everything college students and recent grads need to know to succeed in fashion careers.

There was a lot of great advice over the course of the 90-minute event (you can watch the full conversation on our Facebook page!), but here were our favorite tidbits of wisdom every college student and recent grad can take to the bank.

1. Network, Network, Network (But Be Kind to Everyone)

Like many industries, fashion is a small world. Whether you’re a buyer for a major brand, a designer, a fashion and beauty influencer or an account executive for a label, chances are you’re running into the same people over and over again.

“It’s a really, really small world,” says YouTube influencer and TODAY Show correspondent Deepica Mutyala. “You have to be ‘on’ at all times, because you could be at an event with somebody and not realize that they know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody. Everybody knows somebody!”

Mutyala also preaches the importance of never being afraid to network, and she knows what she’s talking about: She saw The Honest Company co-founder and famous actress Jessica Alba at a hotel lobby bar and found the courage to go up and say hi. After having a nice conversation, Alba actually ended up personally inviting her to a private dinner several weeks later.

Her tip for making those cold pitches easier? Don’t think about how someone could help you. Instead, “think about what you can do to benefit that person.”

2. Find Creative Ways to Take Initiative

One of the hardest things about getting your start in the fashion industry is working for potentially working for a boss who’s busy all the time. One audience member asked our panelists how to find work to do in the office when your boss just isn’t giving you much.

First and foremost, don’t shy away from work that doesn’t seem the most exciting or brag-worthy. “You’ve got to work the long hours, you’ve got to get the coffee, you’ve got to make the copies,” explains Christina Holody, a senior account executive at Rag & Bone. “The stuff that isn’t fun is what will make you noticeable to your manager or to the person you want to promote you.”

Second, don’t be afraid to ask for work from others at your job if it looks like your boss doesn’t need your help or just isn’t around. “See who else is in the office who’s equal to your supervisor or slightly junior and ask them what’s something they need taken off of their plate,” Rachel Abeles explains. “When you’re interning, you’re not just proving yourself to your direct boss, but to the company. The biggest thing is showing that you’re resourceful.”

Fashion designer Becca McCharen also adds that it’s important for her to find interns who can be mature and figure things out on their own. If your boss tells you to deliver a sample, for example, you should be able to figure out the cross streets, where you’re going and whom to talk to without your boss having to spell out everything for you.

3. Don’t Feel Pressured to Start Your Own Business Right Off the Bat

People might look at fashion designer Becca McCharen and think that she has it all together: Her fashion line, Chromat, has been worn by the likes of Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj and Beyonce in recent years. She’s worked with huge companies to create wearable tech. Her designs are being talked about on some of the biggest fashion sites like Fashionista and ELLE.

However, McCharen wishes that before taking the plunge herself she’d been able to work under others in the industry to learn the ins and outs of constructing clothes and building a business.

“I think people who go straight from school to starting their own label have so much more to learn,” McCharen says. “It would be so good to see how other people run their companies. For me, I’ve been making it up the whole time and flying by the seat of my pants. I would’ve loved the opportunity to work for others in this specific industry.”

In fashion, you may feel pressured to do your own thing or showcase your own point of view. While working for yourself can be liberating in many ways, it can also be stressful and overwhelming to start without a foundation.

4. Your College Major Won’t Make or Break Your Fashion Career

Want to go into fashion but didn’t major in design, merchandising or textiles? Don’t sweat it. And if you majored in any of those fields but still feel unprepared, you’re totally fine.

All four of our panelists didn’t exactly know that they wanted to go into fashion from a young age, and they found that the classroom didn’t necessarily prepare them for the careers they have today.

“College for me was more about the experience and learning how to make a connection and learning how to stand out when you’re in a group of 200 freshmen in an intro class. I use those skills every day,” explains Holody. “Was [a] broadcast journalism [major] a direct correlation to what I do every single day now? No. Is communication a part of every single thing I do every day? 100%.”

If you’re worried that you won’t be ready for day-to-day life in the fashion industry because of your major, don’t sweat it.

“The biggest thing [I learned] is that college isn’t going to train you to do whatever job you end up in; it’s an experience to help you grow up,” explains Abeles. “The only things you need to be prepared to enter the workforce [are] to be driven and to be passionate and to be inquisitive. As long as you are willing to learn and put in the time, you will learn whatever you need to when you’re on the job.”

5. Be Persistent

Towards the end of our panel, one audience member asked how to stay positive when you’re doing everything right in the job search but just not landing any roles. The biggest piece of advice our four young professionals could give? Be persistent, and don’t be afraid to ask for feedback.

If you get a rejection letter, that doesn’t have to be the end of your interaction with a potential employer. “When you do get to speak in these follow-up situations if certain things don’t pan out, it’s not inappropriate to ask for feedback,” Abeles says.

By asking a potential employer what they thought of your resume, cover letter, portfolio or interview, you’ll be able to get valuable advice for fixing or tweaking things you might not have even been aware of.

By taking just a few of these helpful tidbits, we hope you’ll feel more confident applying for fashion jobs and heading into the industry in the future.

Want to get more career wisdom from influential young professionals? Check out our Office Hours events this summer, taking place in New York City and Washington D.C.