Working at a fashion magazine is the first most popular option for those who want to start a career in fashion. Mainly because it’s one of the most well-known careers of this industry together with the role of the fashion designer, thanks also to the influence and exposure given by movies such as The Devil Wears Prada.
But also because let’s be honest, fashion publications are at the heart of the fashion industry. Fashion stories are everywhere. Even before digital platforms, we were already exposed to many printed fashion publications: Vogue, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, and others. Nowadays we consume fashion news without even noticing by scrolling through our Instagram feed.
Personally, fashion journalism is something that I’ve always loved. Despite I’m the CEO at Glam Observer today and I also run fashion courses with the fashion academy, I still love to cut myself some time to write weekly for Glam Observer. Thinking back to a decade ago when Glam Observer started as a blog, I can say now that I have a decade of experience as a fashion editor too! I write weekly for Glam Observer, I interview fashion industry professionals…all things that fashion editors do. Writing about fashion is not just covering fashion shows and suggesting the latest hit bag to buy or how to style your denim.
So considering its fascinating and glamorous side and all the multiple opportunities you can have by writing about fashion, let’s see how to write for fashion magazines.
What is fashion journalism?
Fashion Journalism is the field that takes care of writing and reporting about the fashion industry on different media: from print publications, glossy magazines, and newspapers to digital ones: blogs, online magazines and social media. Fashion Journalism is often defined to include writing and styling mainly because fashion is an industry that communicates through images a lot so any fashion story is normally supported by fashion images.
What do fashion journalists do?
Fashion Journalists or fashion writers are the professionals who take care of researching and writing all the fashion stories. Fashion is a vast industry and there are different publications fashion journalists can write for: from glossy magazines such as Vogue to newspapers that have fashion columns like The New York Times, to fashion magazines and online fashion blogs and websites. Writing about fashion includes many things: you can report catwalks, write about fashion trends and what celebrities are wearing, cover fashion events, and even report about the business side of the industry including marketing analysis, industry news and sustainability.
Typically a fashion journalist picks their niche: some fashion journalists write about the business side of the industry, and others always write about the latest fashion shows, while others suggest the latest products to buy for each season. More experienced fashion writers in fact have their own column (also called “vertical”) where they will write articles around a given theme or under a specific angle.
Fashion Writing Jobs
Fashion writers are among the most popular roles at a fashion magazine. There are 3 main categories of writers.
1. Fashion editor
“Fashion Editor” is a role that may come to mind first associated with fashion magazines, but there are specific aspects to consider about this job. While many imagine fashion editors as those who write articles for the magazine, they are often stylists taking care of the editorial content of the magazine (yes, styling the shootings, the images that you see on the issue every month or on the website). Of course, fashion editors do also write some articles that go with the editorial content, but for the biggest publications such as Vogue, there are fashion editors who mainly style (see the famous Grace Coddington for example) and there are writers (features editor, fashion news editors, digital fashion writers).
2. Staff Writer
A staff writer is someone who writes for a specific publication at the magazine’s office. They write content for all categories of the magazine, research and pitch ideas to write articles on, and conduct interviews for magazine content where necessary. They will also work closely with the Sub Editors to ensure word counts, deadlines, and overall tone of the writing are kept in line with the publication.
3. Contributor
A contributor is a freelance writer who isn’t employed as a full-time employee within the office of the magazine, but writes for multiple publications at the same time. In fact, many well-respected fashion journalists are working as freelancers selling their stories to a variety of magazines. So you are not employed by a single magazine but you collaborate or, to use the industry term, contribute to many fashion magazines: Glamour, L’Officiel, Marie Claire… as many as you can and want. Contributors will be writing articles for a magazine on a topic they have either pitched or been briefed – often under a category they specialize in as their niche.
How Much Do Fashion Journalists Make?
Fashion writing is a career with many different opportunities: you can write full-time and make a living from it, you can write on the side during the weekend or in the evening while having another job. It’s also the perfect job that you can do remotely from anywhere! So yep, if you are looking for a remote fashion job, fashion writing is the best option.
At the beginning of your freelance career, you might write for free or get paid just a little for your articles, but you are already building your name as a writer without having to spend months or years inside the fashion cupboard to be able to publish your stories.
If you learn how to do it correctly, freelancing often pays more than a staff role and you have more opportunities (you can write for magazines, write for brands, write captions for social media posts…) and freedom as you can basically work from anywhere, decide your working hours and who you want to work with. Not only good for you, but for companies as well. They don’t have many obligations to you, you are not a full-time employee so even though they might pay you the same, the cost for a company as an employee vs a freelancer is totally different, it’s more convenient hiring freelancers for a company.
Being a freelance fashion writer also comes with responsibilities.
It will be your job to find your clients aka the publications that will publish your stories. You have to pitch all of your favorite websites, newspapers, blogs, magazines… and propose your article ideas. So your job depends entirely on you and your pitching abilities. That’s why it’s a bit difficult to say exactly how much a freelance writer makes, because there is no real limit. It’s better to go the other way around and determine how much you would like to make per month, and write as many articles and for as many publications as you need to reach your goal.
As for fashion journalists who work in-house, their average annual salary in New York is $59,000, £40,000 in London, €46,000 in Milan and €47,000 in Paris. These salaries can vary depending on the magazine you work in, as some more prestigious magazines could be paying more than niche publications, as well as on your experience level.
What to study to become a fashion journalist?
Before you ask, a degree in fashion or journalism is NOT absolutely necessary to write about fashion – not even to write for Vogue. Fashion journalists and writers, even those who work at the top publications, graduated in different things: from journalism to art history, communication, political science, and even management (or if you want to take my example into consideration I’ve been writing about fashion with a management engineering degree).
You can indeed leverage a different degree to bring your unique point of view: for example, if you studied art history, you can write about culture & art sections of the magazine, write your impressions about fashion exhibitions and how fashion connects with art. If you studied business – you are welcome to write about the business side of the fashion industry, what impact it has on consumers and what’s going on in sustainability. You can become a fashion critic with any degree, really. Writing is a skill that you can learn but I believe is also a talent. You can be a talented writer because you just love reading and writing even if you graduated in something completely unrelated.
The skills you need
There are many skills worth having to write for fashion magazines, we are listing below the most common skills you can develop right now to get your dream job.
Writing skills
With time, you will have to develop your writing style and find a unique way to communicate your voice to your target audience, so that your articles are engaging and interesting to read. On top of that, your grammar and spelling must be on point from the very first moment you decide to write an article, and you need to proofread them.
Knowledge of the fashion industry and its history
You can learn the basics of fashion writing but what makes a great fashion writer is also their knowledge of this industry. You cannot write about fashion if you don’t know its history or how this industry works. Fashion journalists in fact have extensive knowledge of the fashion industry. Let’s see what are the skills you need to write for fashion magazines. Want to learn more about the fashion industry and its history? Check out our Inside the Fashion Industry course
WordPress & SEO
With digital magazines that produce more content than print issues, fashion editors and writers no longer need writing skills only but they need to complete their skillset with new technical skills. So you need to know how to upload an article online on WordPress and learn SEO (SEO = Search Engine Optimization.) to make sure that their articles rank high in the search results (aka more people find it when they Google about the topic).
Imagination and brainstorming
We live in a world saturated with information. And when you think about it, there are so many topics that have already been covered by dozens of different magazines. But that doesn’t mean you cannot write about it as well. You just need to use your imagination to bring something new to the table by writing about the same topic from a fresh, different perspective, and also coming up with new ideas of topics to write about. Be creative and get ready to brainstorm: it’s an endless process in writing.
Research skills
Regardless of what you are planning to write on, you will need to do your research. Fashion journalists are not only writers; they are also investigators who take time to research quality information – either on the spot (aka fashion shows, meeting with people to interview, visiting places to report about, etc.) or by analyzing the archives.
Pitching
Finally, in order to get a job in a fashion magazine, you need to practice your pitches to double your chances of your article to be accepted.
How to get a job at a fashion magazine?
Before starting your job search, there are things to consider.
First, decide what would work best for you – freelancing or becoming an employee?
Freelancing means that you are not employed by a single magazine but that you are paid for each article you write for one or multiple magazines at the same time. Being an employee means that you work at a single fashion magazine. There are pros and cons of each from a different salary to freedom to decide what magazines you want to work with as well as flexibility in terms of time.
Then, choose your niche.
What do you want to write about? Style? Fashion trends? Report catwalks? Beauty? Sustainability? Marketing? The business side of fashion? Interview people? Celebrities? It’s important to decide on a niche so when you have to build your writing portfolio or pitch publications you can already filter opportunities.
If you know that you want to write only about the business side of the industry you might want to prepare sample articles on this topic and you’ll start pitching only publications that are inside your niche.
If you like more options, you can write about multiple things, especially when you are freelancing or when you are at the beginning of your career. When you are hired full-time by a fashion publication you might have your column with a specific topic to write every week, but when you are freelancing you decide if you want to write about style for Vogue and about sustainability for Elle. So have to think about what you’d love to write about.
Next, choose your dream publication: are you more into print or digital?
Vogue is great but there are many other fashion magazines out there that you can write for and that you probably haven’t considered so far. So if you want to write for fashion magazines, don’t be too selective and expand the list of publications you’d like to write for. Online/digital publications are the future and they also update their websites daily so this means that they need more articles than print magazines. Almost all print publications have their own website, even Vogue. I’m pretty sure you have noticed that the articles published on vogue.com are much more than those published in the print issue each month. A digital/online fashion magazine needs 10-15 new stories every single day. So you’ll for sure have more opportunities.
If you are at the beginning of your career, working at fashion magazines means starting with an entry-level position aka internships or placement opportunities.
Giada, how can I get an internship?
Build a writing portfolio
When it comes to fashion writing, unless you are already a recognized fashion editor and your name speaks for yourself, you have to build your reputation within the industry. Even more than your Resume and Cover Letter, the thing that will get you the job is your writing portfolio. A writing portfolio is a collection of your sample articles. Why is this important? Because from your CV it’s hard to understand if you are a great writer. Especially when you don’t have any experience already and so you don’t have any fashion name on your resume. A writing portfolio will instead demonstrate practically your writing skills.
Samples articles can either be articles that you have previously published for other magazines or even articles that you have written only for your portfolio or your own fashion blog. Great articles are great articles and editors don’t mind if your amazing article is still only living on your desktop. If you can prove that you can write for that publication then you get the job even if you have zero experience.
So if you don’t have one, build your writing portfolio to show how amazing you are at writing so you can start writing for fashion magazines.
Having your own fashion blog or Instagram page where you share about fashion is something recommended nowadays – especially to land a job at a fashion magazine because editors kind of expect you to have a sort of online presence if you want to work in fashion and become a writer. Consider creating a website with the articles you have written for other publications or even the ones you wrote for yourself and kept in your drawers.
In addition to the website, it can be a good idea to have an Instagram account where you talk about fashion: not only it is a great way to have something to add to your resume, but it’s also a valuable experience and skills to show off to potential recruiters and editors. It’s also great for you to start building some fashion experience while learning precious skills along the way: tech skills to build your website, visuals and images skills, plus your fashion tastes and knowledge.
Build a strong resume and cover letter
You may not be surprised when I tell you that you need to build a strong resume that contains keywords from the job description. A strong resume doesn’t mean it has to be long. It can be short, as long as the template is a professional one. If you are not sure about how to build the best resume for fashion magazines check out our Fashion Resume Kit where you’ll find CV templates and video lessons on how to build the perfect resume for the fashion industry.
Editors and recruiters want to know that you are very passionate about their magazine and the position. So to express your passion for the job and bridge any experience gap you have, make sure you always attach a super strong cover letter even when it’s not required.
Pitch, pitch, pitch
Don’t fall into the trap of waiting for your favorite magazine to open a fashion writing/fashion editor position or you’ll wait forever. The best way to write for fashion magazines is by pitching. Make a list of your favorite publications, build your writing portfolio, choose 3-4 sample articles that suit that magazine to show to the editor and propose your fresh stories/ideas. Pitching /emailing directly magazines with your article ideas is the best and easiest way to write for fashion magazines. Editors love this approach because it goes straight to the point. The magazine will like or not your story (if you learn how to pitch the right stories according to the publication you’ll send only great pitches that will get accepted 80% of the time) this way both you and the editors are happy because no one is wasting time.
If you want to learn more about fashion writing and make it your career, check out our Fashion Writer Accelerator course. Now you know all the tools to become the next writer for Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar…whatever your dream publication is, I wish you the best of luck!
