When you realize that you want to work in fashion, you may not know right away which career is the best for you, or you may be undecided between two roles. Whatever the case, if you feel like you need guidance to navigate the different careers in the fashion industry, you are in the right place!
On Glam Observer, we covered many fashion careers to help you find the right one for YOU and help you land an internship or full-time job to break into fashion: Product Developer, Trend Forecaster, Buyer, Merchandiser, Stylist, Editor, Fashion writer, Fashion Management jobs, Fashion Communication jobs, and Fashion Sustainability.
Today, let’s look at another of the most popular careers in the glamourous industry: Fashion PR.
Working in fashion PR is one of the first career options for those who approach the fashion industry for the first time, not only for those who already have clear ideas that PR is the field they want to get into. Even those who then end up becoming editors, stylists, or who end up in a totally different department (Emily started with a PR internship and today works in Merchandising at Balenciaga and recommends a PR internship to anyone who wants to work in fashion) have one fashion pr internship at their back.
How To Get Into Fashion PR
What Are Fashion PR’s Responsibilities?
A PR’s responsibilities include:
- Building relationships with key figures of the industry (editors, influencers, celebrities…)
- Pitching stories/products to the media
- Writing Press Releases
- Organizing events: product launches, press presentations, fashion shows. A PR takes care of the event from the idea to the day of the event: from making lists to sending invitations, choosing the location, welcoming guests, taking care of the social profiles during the event, and sending photos of it to the publications the following day
Press Days are organized by brands and PR agencies to show to the press (editors, journalists, bloggers, influencers) the preview of a new collection before or to celebrate the official launch.
- Samples Management: pack, dispatch and receive back clothing and accessories from editors, stylists and influencers for editorials, red carpet/event dressing.
When you see a beautiful Valentino dress in a Vogue editorial, behind all this huge work, there is also a PR of the brand who had to coordinate with the stylist and the magazine to dispatch the clothing or accessories for the shooting. The role also takes care of the returns and prepares everything to send to the next magazine.
- Maintain existing and updated media lists and contacts databases
- Research, monitor and track all daily newspapers, print, and online for brand mention(press coverage)
Fashion PR Skills
Here are the most common skills that every PR professional needs to have in their skills arsenal.
- Communication skills both written and verbal – the main role of a PR is establishing and cultivating relationships with many different people in fashion: editors, influencers, celebrities, stylists…Building as many relationships as possible is crucial so it’s for sure the perfect job for extroverts and in general people who feel comfortable talking to many people and are social
- Excel (this is in fact the n#1 skill used in 90% of all fashion jobs! You can learn more why and how it can be useful for your career here LINK)
- Graphic design
- Social Media
- Research skills and knowledge of the industry magazines and people
BONUS TIP:
Start building today a database of fashion contacts (editors, influencers, stylists…) using an Excel spreadsheet and bring it to your job interview to demonstrate you have strong research skills and that finding the contacts of the right people won’t be a problem for you!Â
- Organizational skills (remember pr sample management?)
- Multitasking (can you handle multiple and last-minute requests during a fashion event?)
- Flexibility (if the person you reached out to for the event is no longer available, find an alternative, no panic!)
- Passion (many fashion events take place during weekends or evenings, so you need to be passionate about your job to work outside the standard office working hours)
Needless to say that if networking is essential for your career in fashion, it’s even more essential for a career in fashion pr. Not just because the more people you know, the more career opportunities you have, but because you’re working in fashion PR, the contacts you have matter. Use LinkedIn and Instagram to connect with other fashion PRs but also create your own database of stylists, editors, and influencers. Write down also who are the celebrities your favorite brands work with so you can bring this information to the job interview and prove you have strong research skills which are quite important for a fashion pr intern.
Having also a knowledge of the media landscape is important. Get ready to answer questions like “What are your favorite magazines? Which magazines and influencers do you think our brand should be on/work with? What was your favorite red carpet moment of our brand?” and so on.
What To Study To Become A Fashion PR
First of all, as usual, let me begin by repeating the same thing I’ve been telling over the past 10 years since I started Glam Observer. It’s not necessary to study fashion to work in this industry. And it’s not necessary to study fashion pr to get into fashion PR; a PR degree is not necessary either. The #1 skill you need for a career in fashion PR is your communication skills – both verbal and written and this is definitely something that you can learn in any English, Communication, Psychology, Art, or History degree. But you could also have a business, law or economics degree and still be great for the job! This is to say that there isn’t one specific degree you need to get into fashion PR.
In this article, I told you that the fashion industry is now hiring for potential, which means that pr professionals are no longer looking at tons of experience and a fancy degree. When hiring, fashion companies are now looking at other things such as how creative you are with your application so you can impress them, and if you have the right mindset to learn everything you need on the job.
Fashion PR Jobs
Like for any other career in fashion, the best way to get started when you have no or little experience is through PR internships. Internships are your ticket to the fashion industry, and fashion PR internships are your ticket into the world of fashion as well.
Fashion pr internships are in fact quite common on fashion resumes.
The reason why Fashion PR is a common career option for fashion newbies is because of the fascinating side related to this job. When you think about fashion PR and you have in mind fashion events, fashion shows, working with celebrities, influencers, and goodie bags, if you dream about the glamorous industry, this might seem one of the most fun and exciting career options.
The second reason why PR is a popular choice for beginners is that fashion PR internships are among the most popular ones. If you have already started doing some job research, you might have noticed that. Out of 10 fashion internships, more than half are related to PR. Fashion brands, pr agencies, e-commerce companies… they are all often looking for interns.
If you’re considering a career in fashion PR, you can work in-house for a brand or agency.
The main difference is that in an agency you work with multiple brands (most of the time, especially when you are an intern you’ll not choose which brands to work on) while in-house you work for a specific brand.
PR interns support PR managers with day-to-day tasks. They assist with press monitoring and clippings (aka checking what websites, social media, and magazines mentioned the brand and making a report of these mentions). They manage daily send-outs to the press and returns for fashion media shoots, send invitations to celebrities, press, and influencers for the events, and assist on the event date by welcoming guests and maintaining organization and inventory of the PR closet.
Get ready for more operational jobs, like adding sample labels, bringing coffee, and making lists. Someone even has to clean up after an event. Working in PR means you are often behind the scenes watching the glamorous happen while you work, but as an intern or entry-level starter, the exposure you get in doing so is what really helps make a career.
Fashion PR internships typically go from one to a couple of weeks up to some months.
You can imagine that if they last a couple of weeks, it means that a fashion brand or pr agency has a pr internship position open twice per month. Hence why there are many internships available. Being that short, internships are perfect also for those who are looking for a short experience, maybe to combine with your studies or another job. It’s in fact a popular choice for students.
The great news, as I said, is that there are so many pr internships that get posted every day that you can always make a list of your favorite brands and agencies and email them if they don’t have anything open online. Don’t focus only on the most established fashion brands and pr agencies. Any company, even the smallest ones you follow on Instagram needs some PR help, whether it’s helping them get their products featured in magazines or working with influencers.
The bad news is that PR is one of the most competitive fields in fashion, so using unconventional strategies to impress recruiters and fashion pr is a must! I share them in my free webinar. You can register here.
If you’re interested in Fashion PR also suggest you listen to this episode of The Glam Observer Podcast (available on Apple Podcast and Spotify) where Laura Schupp, PR Manager at Mytheresa, talks about how she got into fashion PR, her tips to get started, the difference between working in fashion pr in-house, at an agency or an online retailer, and much more.
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