As you may know I'm currently interning at Fabulous Magazine, the
Sunday supplement magazine that comes with The Sun Newspaper. Now you
may not know but the building and location of Fabulous and The Sun is
also the headquarters for The Times, Wall Street Journal, Harper Collins
publishers amongst others - which means there's always free newspapers
by the very fancy lifts and there's also a discounted Harper Collins
bookstore in the communal canteen (like I needed an excuse to buy more
books... anyways!)
So in my role as fashion intern I'm basically in charge of helping
look after the fashion cupboard alongside the Fashion Assistant and
Fashion Editor - in my case Daisy and Lynne respectively. So I help tidy
up, sort out things that need to be returned to the relative companies
or PRs (and trust me there's a lot of returns but it's so nice to see
the space become clearer after sorting through, filling up, sealing and
carting off around 50 or more bags to the mail out cages).
I also do what is known as special deliveries, which are
essentially the same as returns but are often for brands, PRs etc that
are located outside of London or for expensive goods. For example, on
Friday I packaged up, created a docket (essentially it's like a list of
what's inside the package and that Fabulous is the one returning it) and
arranged the post and insurance for some shoes to go back to a London
PR agency which were used for the Mollie King (aka from the Saturdays)
cover shoot for this week's issue - how cool! Doing special deliveries
is quite time consuming but again it's so rewarding to see the
overpacked area shrink day to day, and I think the fashion assistant and
editor are happy as some of those things have been there for months !!!
[pictured above is the second fashion cupboard that belongs to the
fashion editors Tracey and Lynne. Often ill get messages from PRs and
Brands asking me to find specific items from their sections and then
it's my job to go through and locate them)
Also whilst doing all these tasks, you're often emailed by PRs,
brands, other members of the fashion team such as stylists to locate
items that are needed for shoots or to be sent back ASAP. This can be
quite stressful as many want to arrange a courier to pick up the item/s
asap so it's up to you to find, locate, package and drop off at the mail
room as quickly as you can. All of the PRs / brands etc I've spoken to
though are all so nice - one lady from marks and spencer's press
showroom even told the fashion editor that I was such a credit to the
company and how great I was (sooooo not blowing my own trumpet but it's
nice that my hard work has been recognised).
One of the most exciting bits I would say is getting to unpack the
new delivery items, particularly if its for a specific story or
editorial for in the magazine. I got to unload lots of incredible cowboy
boots, leather jackets, checked shirts, neck ties, fringed dresses and
embellished denim for a western theme shoot that's coming up!
One of the highlights of my first week (apart from buying some new
books - thank you Harper Collins for your 60% off book stall) was the
cupboard clear out of old stock - this meant that some items couldn't be
returned due to lack of clothing labels, being too late to return
(again some had been there for months) or ones that simply didn't need
to be returned / were gifted to members of the fashion team. This meant
the fashion cupboard held a "help yourself" free shopping for the
Fabulous team to have a look through the items and help themselves to
anything they fancied, with all left over items going to charity. I
myself picked up a gold bangle, some sunglasses, a gold choker, a
turquoise and silver Thomas sabo bracelet, ripped denim shorts, a floral
bomber jacket, a bikini top, a thin western belt and a tie (that's for
my dad), which I think is a pretty good haul indeed - thank you @
fashion cupboard for satisfying my shopping needs despite my lack of ££
on a student budget!
[the view from the canteen is insane as it's on the 14th floor -
you can enter through 2 doors either "riverside" or "southside" to which
you can get get panoramic views of the city]
I thought I'd finish this post with some tips I have for anyone interning looking to be a fashion intern
- Be wary of wearing short dresses and skirts as for returns you'll spend a lot of time on the floor (and in my case on carpet which results in carpet burns or accidentally flashing the office workers outside, oops sorry The Sun staff)
- Being nice to people via email is a MUST, - sending a polite email to PRs or brands or finding their items super quickly makes yours and their life so much easier and who knows if you make a lasting impression on someone they could be a contact you can utilise in the future
- Never underestimate the power of a good playlist or music selection to get you through returns - thank you to kiss FM's Kisstory throwback playlist for helping me and the fashion stylist Lara get through a hell of a lot of returns
Kisses,
Chlo x
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