In Fashion Part 3

Advanced Degrees.

Earning an MBA or, as in my case, an MS in journalism doesn't buy you much in fashionista land. Large fashion conglomerates (LVMH or Jones New York) or large retail organizations (Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus) may find a business degree helpful in a.n.a.lyzing data or working on mergers and acquisitions. Smaller designer brands do things in such quirky individualistic ways that an MBA might go bonkers with the lack of process.

A master's in journalism says that a candidate is serious and that he or she better understands the rules of journalism than a kid just out of college. In my case, it just meant that I loved being a student and that I was terrified to get out in the real world and earn money. Clearly, I had no clue how much fun it would be. Beauty school might get you the license you need to work in a salon, but it's not necessary for runway and studio hair stylists.

Homeschooling.

Instead of whiling away your underage exile on the couch dreaming about the fashion world, learn about it instead. References from the past are a constant source of inspiration for every type of fashionista, designers, stylists, journalists, and retailers. Research, read, form a bond with an icon who inspires you.

Players.

The following is a list of key fashion personalities, past and present. It's not exhaustive (you'd need an encyclopedia), but it's a start. You should be able to p.r.o.nounce and spell these names as well as understand their unique contribution to fashion. You'll definitely grow from their experiences and examples.

Adrian Azzedine Alaia (A-lie-uh) Giorgio Armani Kevyn Aucoin Richard Avedon David Bailey Glenda Bailey Cristobal Balenciaga Fabien Baron Cecil Beaton Geoffrey Beene Manolo Blahnik (BLAH-nick) Bill Bla.s.s Isabella Blow Hamish Bowles Alexey Brodovitch Bobbi Brown Naomi Campbell Pierre Cardin Mary Randolph Carter Paul Cavaco Coco Chanel Jimmy Choo Grace Coddington Andre Courreges Bill Cunningham Carrie Donovan John Duka Hubert de Givenchy (Jee-von-she) Loulou de la Falaise Ines de la Fressange Oscar de la Renta Patrick Demarchelier Christian Dior Stefano Dolce and Domenico Gabbana (Dolce & Gabbana) Carrie Donovan Simon Doonan Alber Elbaz Arthur Elgort Perry Ellis Fendi Sisters Salvatore Ferragamo Patricia Field Tom Ford John Galliano Garren Jean-Paul Gaultier (Go-Tee-A) Nicolas Ghesquiere (JESS-Key-Air) Madame Gres Tonne Goodman Guccio Gucci Jerry Hall Edith Head Halston Hiro Cathy Horyn Lauren Hutton Iman Marc Jacobs Norma Kamali Donna Karan (Care-on) Rei Kawakubo Kezia Keeble Calvin Klein Elsa Klensch Michael Kors Christian Lacroix Karl Lagerfeld Helmut Lang Jeanne Lanvin (LON-van) Ralph Lauren (LAW-ren) Christian Louboutin Alex Liberman Phillip Lim Claire McCardell Alexander McQueen Stella McCartney Jack McCollough & Lazaro Hernandez (Proenza Schouler) Craig McDean Pat McGrath Tomas Maier Didier Malige Martin Margiela Raymond Meier Steven Meisel Polly Mellen Suzy Menkes Grace Mirabella Isaac Mizrahi Issey Miyake Kate Moss Helmut Newton Camilla Nickerson Norman Norell d.i.c.k Page Irving Penn Phoebe Philo Stefano Pilati Orlando Pita Paul Poiret Zac Posen Miuccia Prada (Me-ooo-cha) Emilio Pucci Mary Quant Paco Rabanne Narciso Rodriguez (Nar-sis-o) Carine Roitfeld Yves Saint Laurent Jil Sander Elissa Santisi Elsa Schiaparelli (Sha-per-elle-ee) Jeremy Scott L'Wren Scot (La-REN) Eugenia Sheppard David Sims Ingrid Sischy Hedi Slimane Paul Smith Carmel Snow Carla Sozzani Franca Sozzani Amy Spindler Stephen Sprouse Anna Sui Juergen Teller Mario Testino Olivier Theyskens Liz Tilberis Isabel Toledo Ruben Toledo Philip Treacy Andre Leon Talley Stella Tennant Twiggy Emanuel Ungaro (UNG-arrow) Dries Van Noten Valentino Donatella Versace (Vair-sah-chee) Gianni Versace Roger Vivier Matthew Williamson Diane von Furstenberg Diana Vreeland Alexander w.a.n.g Melanie Ward Bruce Weber Linda Wells Vivienne Westwood Anna Wintour Charles Worth Jason Wu Yohji Yamamoto Zoran MUST-READ BIOGRAPHIES.

D.V. by Diana Vreeland Front Row: Anna Wintour: The Cool Life and Hot Times of Vogue's Editor in Chief by Jerry Oppenheimer Chanel and Her World by Edmonde Charles-Roux No Time to Die by Liz Tilberis A Dash of Daring: Carmel Snow and Her Life in Fashion by Penelope Rowlands FASHIONISTA FICTION.

Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger Little Pink Slips by Sally Koslow MUST-READ NEWS DAILIES.

Women's Wear Daily New York Times Style section Gossip and "Media Ink" pages from the New York Post and MediaBistro.com MUST-READ GOSSIP DAILIES.

MediaBistro.com New York Post WWD Memo Pad WEEKLIES THAT'LL MAKE YOU SMARTER New Yorker (or at least the twice-yearly fashion issues) Statistics page from Harper's monthly (genius-this is all about editing, packing in great knowledge in small s.p.a.ces.) T Magazine: The New York Times Style Magazine ESSENTIAL MONTHLIES.

Vanity Fair W Magazine American, British, French Vogue FLIP-THROUGH WEEKLIES.

People US Magazine OFTEN-REFERENCED FILMS TO NETFLIX.

The Blue Angel Citizen Kane (especially if you work for Hearst) Metropolis Nanook of the North The Ice Storm 8 by Fellini Eight Miles High (about 1970s German supermodel Uschi Obermaier) Pillow Talk The Birds, Psycho, North by Northwest, Vertigo, Rear Window (all by Hitchc.o.c.k) Belle de Jour Office Killer (Cindy Sherman's 1997 horror film about the actions of a disgruntled former copy editor at Constant Consumer magazine) Out of Africa (a Ralph Lauren fantasy) Pretty Face Swept Away The Getaway (Ali MacGraw and Steve McQueen, very Michael Kors) The Great Gatsby (especially if you work for Ralph) Factory Girl Pret-a-Porter (Robert Altman send-up of 1994 Paris season) Sabrina FASHIONISTA DOc.u.mENTARIES.

Grey Gardens (the Maysles brothers' 1976 original) Unzipped (Douglas Keeve turns the camera on Isaac Mizrahi at the peak of his stardom.) Valentino: The Last Emperor (Matthew Tyrnauer) The September Issue (R. J. Cutler tracks Anna Wintour as she and her team build the biggest Vogue of the year.) FASHIONISTA TELEVISION.

It's always important to have one tacky TV show to which you're addicted. This helps you fit in, allows for funny asides, and keeps you real. It was once Ab-Fab, then, Friends, s.e.x and the City, Project Runway (first three seasons), Ugly Betty, Mad Men. Stay tuned because there's sure to be something new soon.

Getting Your Manolo (Flip-Flop?) in the Door

Whether you are still in high school or midcareer in finance and looking to make a switch, the following information should set you up. (If too first-step for you, go directly to your career focus category: For the Creator; For the Visualizer; For the Critic; or For the Seller.)

How to Get Your First Fashionista Internship

Schedule appointments with your current teachers and past teachers (don't start this process in the last week of school), and take notes at these meetings. Be serious about getting their suggestions, and keep them in the loop if you explore the contacts they share with you.

Visit your school's career or internship office frequently. Develop relationships with these people. Don't be shy-your tuition helps pay their salaries.

Keep in touch with friends who have graduated and now work in fashion. They may need help where they work, and they will have already established a network in the business.

Use your personal networks. Ask members of your family and friends of your parents whether they know anyone who works in fashion. Call all the contacts you have-your mother's childhood friend, your boyfriend's step-uncle-because a personal connection is always the best way in.

Look online for internships (see "Online Fashionista").

When you've run out of the above options, don't be afraid to cold-call.

Online Fashionista

Fashionistas would be smart to avoid generalist job search engines like Monster.com and loosey-goosey ones like craigslist.com. It's best to launch your searches with fashion-focused career sites like Women's Wear Daily's wwd.com/wwdcareers or fashion.net, or the site that is the most specific to your field that you can find. And don't disregard the obvious: Posting your portfolio on your school's website (most inst.i.tutions invite graduates to continue to do so regardless of when they've graduated) can produce surprising big-time results.

MediaBistro.com. This is the hands-down best source, especially for non-first-job-level positions.

Ed2010.com. Great for REAL internship listings and entry-level a.s.sistant jobs. If you can get past the "let's havvanother beer" sense of camaraderie. Look for the cheat sheet on e-mailing almost anyone in the business.

Condenastcareers.com. The company's website warns that the Conde Nast Publications summer intern program is (h.e.l.lo) highly compet.i.tive. It is designed for rising college juniors or seniors who have a demonstrated interest in media and publishing and are available to work for the entirety of the program (June and July) working alongside professionals in editorial, advertising, and online or corporate departments. Resume, cover letter explaining why you are seeking an internship at Conde Nast Publications, and professional or scholarly letter of recommendation. Deadline for internship applications is March 1.

INTERVIEW NOTES INTERN FULL-TIME.

Length of interview 20 minutes 30 minutes to 1 hour Number of people you meet 1 to 2 1 to 4 Number of times you come to the office (before being hired or not) Once 2 to 3 times Don't Be late; make excuses; change your shoes in the lobby Mention other companies where you'd rather work Portfolio factor Important that you have something to show-sketches, clips, blog, web design, etc. Critical that you have a brilliant portfolio-it's how your eye and abilities will be judged How long before you'll hear if you got the job Within 1 week From 2 weeks to 2 months or longer Interview a.s.signment None Critique four issues of a publication. Write ten headlines. Sketch and think through a small collection for the current season Who you'll meet Design a.s.sistant, plus possibly a more senior buyer, designer, or editor Buyer, editor, head designer, a.s.sistant designers, production head, business manager, owner What to wear Current season; good shoes Current or next season, something of your own design; new shoes Questions to ask "With whom will I be spending most of my time?"

"How can I be of the most help to the team?" "What's working really well currently?" "What's working less well?" "Is the brand or publication looking to change direction?"

Questions NOT to ask "Do I get my own computer?" "When can I take vacation?" "Whom am I replacing?" (That person may still be working there.) Good sign If they ask when you can start; if you meet the interviewer's boss If you're asked to do an a.s.signment and told that they like it; if you meet the owner Bad sign If the person you're supposed to meet isn't around; if interview is over before it starts If you're not asked to do an a.s.signment; if the interviewer stops looking halfway through your portfolio Follow-up Short handwritten thank-you notes to everyone you meet mailed within 24 hours Typed or handwritten note to key person(s) attached to beautifully executed interview a.s.signment Best possible outcome That you adopt your boss as a mentor; that you develop lots of friends and contacts; that you eventually land a job here and love it That you get the job, love it, and make your indelible mark on the publication or brand; that the company offers to launch your own

The Real Deal: How to Get Your First Fashionista Job

Seven Sacred Rules of the Search

1. Know who you know. When I moved to New York City from Stevens Point, Wisconsin, my mother knew only one person in the city. Well, actually, she knew the mother of one person, who happened to work in magazines. My mother wrote her acquaintance on her tasteful Crane stationery, and within a week, I was seated in front of Miss Jean Pascoe, senior editor of Woman's Day magazine, at the time a six million newsstand circulation powerhouse owned by CBS. Miss Pascoe worked for the glamorous and high-profile Ellen Levine.

Your contacts are usually more impressive than you realize. Use the people you know to find an in into the business you're craving to enter: friends, family, former cla.s.smates, cla.s.smates' parents, friends of friends, and alumni organizations. Former teachers or professors can be valuable sources. Don't be too proud, jerky, or sn.o.bbish to ask. One professor with a friend willing to speak with you is worth ten thousand blind letters to HR offices.

Chat with everyone to find out if anyone knows of anything. Ultimately any personal contact, however distant, is going to work better than responding to job postings in a trade journal, general HR department requests for resumes, or a craigslist entry.

If you worked as an intern, send frequent quick e-mails to a.s.sistants you cultivated as contacts to see if they know of any openings. When a new a.s.sistant needs to be hired, the first thing a smart editor does is to ask the top a.s.sistants for recommendations.

2. Your resume and cover letter must be compelling and honest, clear, elegant, and mistake free, while managing to put you in the best possible light. Both resumes and cover letters are expected, and routinely ignored. Regardless, you must put thought and care into these two doc.u.ments to ensure that they are polished, mistake free, and compelling. Tweak them for every potential job.

Do you print your name in Day-Glo orange? Maybe, if that says who you are. Or frame your name in a box? Why not, if it's well done. Or add a design element that stands out and helps interviewers remember who you are. Sticking to the formula in every other way is essential. See Resume Creativity box.

Your resume and cover letter must be easy to read and nicely structured. Nix the paragraph about what you did on your year abroad in Florence (everyone knows you did very little that had anything to do with academics) or your hardship summer in Costa Rica (everyone also knows it's a privilege to go on the same hut-building expedition Prince William did over his gap year). Work hard to make it look like you know how to work hard.

Don't mention that you prefer to work on a Mac. (Spoiled.) Or that you are willing to move to New York City. (Deal with that like an adult if you get the job!) Make finding you easy: e-mail and cell phone. Check your e-mail daily, and change your voice mail message to something normal. No heavy metal. No b.i.t.c.hy innuendo. No naughty sounds.

3. No little white, red, or blue lies. It's a huge, th.o.r.n.y issue plaguing resumes. Rounding up your grade-point average from 2.8 to 3.2 is a lie. Expanding the dates that you interned at the David Letterman show from one summer to one year would qualify as a total fib. Some experts blame e-mail for the rampant cheating in resumes, saying that the impersonal nature of cybers.p.a.ce entices otherwise honest people to take liberties with the "facts." Some blame increased compet.i.tion for cool jobs. You wouldn't be alone if you fudged the facts: You'd be part of a giant cheating epidemic that seems to have grown like mold on the job market. Don't do it.

In 2005, the Rutgers University Career Services office did an audit of resumes, and the audit revealed that 20 percent of students submitting resumes had inflated their grade-point averages. Resume Doctor, a Vermont firm that helps people write their resumes, randomly pulled one thousand doc.u.ments from its website to check them for easily identifiable facts like education, job t.i.tles, dates of employment. The results? 42.7 percent of them had significant inaccuracies.

The bottom line? Lying is the fastest way to sabotage your job search because the fashionista world is small and incredibly inbred. Chances are, there is a staff link back to almost anywhere you may have worked. That person will be asked about you and her voice will help determine how you are viewed. This is the great leveling force of creative businesses. Even former interns have the power to ding or cement the deal for a much more senior person. If you are panicked about a less-than-stellar GPA, don't list it. Most interviewers don't care that much to ask because they know that good grades don't necessarily translate into good employees. In all resume-related items, you can hedge and you can delete. Whatever you do, just don't lie.

ReSUMe CREATIVITY: HOW FAR CAN YOU GO?.

You must make your resume one page in length. NEVER under any circ.u.mstance, no matter how fabulous you are, let it creep onto a second page.

It should be easy to read. Don't oververbalize to justify what you were doing in Bucharest on your junior year abroad. White s.p.a.ce is not a bad thing.

You must adhere to the conventional format: name on top, then, depending on which is more impressive at this point in your life, an education section, then experience section, brief personal data at the end. When in doubt, stick to a conventional format.

Where you can, add subtle touches of personality.

Use an interesting typeface for your name (say, Bodoni) and a highly readable conventional typeface for the body of the doc.u.ment, like Arial or Times New Roman.

Print your name in a color that expresses who you are-Day-Glo orange if you're a hipster, apple green if you're a prepster, navy blue or chocolate brown if you are understated and chic.

Find an icon that represents you. A feather. A dolphin. A turtle. A swan. A falcon. A crab. A moon. A sh.e.l.l. Nothing daft or immature like a smiley face or daisy. A shoe, bag, lipstick tube, or dress form could be cute. Use the icon at the top of the resume just to the left or right of your name. Postage-stamp size is good-don't make it so huge that it overpowers the page and don't make a big deal of it. This could be a good conversation piece, so be prepared to discuss what it is, how you got it (legally, but free), and what it says about you. "I swam with and attempted to learn the language of dolphins during a semester at sea." "I always loved the Aesop fable of the hare and the turtle. In life, I'm the turtle, deliberate and steady, and I always get the job done." Use the same icon on stationery or e-mails to consistently telegraph your personality.

Leave plenty of time for proofreading and tinkering with these doc.u.ments. By this, I mean days, even weeks. Ask your mother, friend, grandmother, boyfriend, sister, someone to read whatever you send out very carefully. When you are working closely on a doc.u.ment, you stop seeing the mistakes.

RIGHT TIME, RIGHT PLACE: TEMPING AND VOLUNTEERING YOURSELF INTO A JOB.

During my first week as editor in chief of YM, I caught a glimpse of a cute young girl with great style-a relief to my eye since I'd found few staffers who seemed to have a natural connection with the reader. I introduced myself and asked her if she was "in fashion," that is, if she worked as an a.s.sistant in the fashion department. A tad confused, Nicole Fasolino explained that she was a corporate temp for the summer. She'd just graduated from college and was planning to move out west in the fall to live the life of a ski b.u.m for a year or so. But I had other plans for Nicole, and, I'm happy to report, she's been a successful magazine fashionista ever since. Lucy Wallace Eustice, a high school dropout shop girl at age fifteen first at Agnes B. then at Manolo Blahnik, also temped her way into publishing. "I joined a temp agency thinking I'd go back to school at night. My first a.s.signment was at Mirabella magazine. I walk in and they take a look at me, and they set me up answering phones at the front desk." Before long, Lucy was drafted into the fashion department; then she slid into her real calling, the accessories department. After increasingly senior a.s.signments at Harper's Bazaar and Elle, Lucy left to found an accessories company, M Z Wallace, with her partner Monica Zwirner.

Then, there's working for free. Atoosa Rubenstein was so set on a magazine career that once she started interning at Sa.s.sy magazine, she never left. The thinking is that if you show up and make yourself super-useful, you'll soon be indispensable.

4. Go through the front door, and the back. That means following the rules-sending your nice, neat, honest resume to HR departments-and writing, calling, e-mailing everyone you know or have connections with inside the business. Be thorough. Keep records of whom you've written to and when and whom you've called and when.

5. Be part of the community you're trying to join. Don't call it an "informational interview," but that's what it is. Show your face. Get a feel for the vibe of an office. Write down every name of every person you meet and follow up.

If you are in Boston and all magazine and TV internships are in New York, do some groundwork, then go to New York. Showing up will separate you from 80 percent of the other candidates. Volunteer at the tents for Seventh on Sixth fashion shows (early September and early February each year). Dress models, meet people backstage.

Offer yourself up for free as an intern. If there's a designer you're crazy about, write to him or her. Put yourself in the milieu.

6. Believe in providence and magic, and be on the lookout for the infinite collaborations of the universe. Look for doors that open to you. Believe that everything can change in twenty-four hours. The magical and mysterious do happen. Look for your moment, then grab it and run with it!

7. Find your fairy G.o.dmother and/or G.o.dfather. There's this sweet story of a young male design student in the back of the plane, flying from Miami to New York City. He saw Anna Wintour boarding the plane, and he sensed correctly that she is not the kind of person who cozies up easily with strangers. During the flight, he wrote her a letter, explaining his pa.s.sion for fashion and his particular admiration for Michael Kors. This was pre-9/11 and pre-heightened airline security so the young man was able to walk from his back-of-the-plane seat in economy up to the first-cla.s.s cabin in the front of the plane during the flight, slipping the note into Wintour's bag, again politely choosing not to disturb her as she was at this point resting or pretending to be resting behind large sungla.s.ses. Wintour made no contact with the young man, nor did she acknowledge she'd received the note. Nonetheless she must have been struck by his words. In her anonymous fairy G.o.dmother way that few give her credit for, she gave the note to Kors, and the young man was called in for a job. The fairy G.o.dmother thing? I never would have believed how far it could take me. Liz Tilberis, who was once my fairy G.o.dmother/boss/friend, is now my angel.

JOB SEARCH DON'TS Don't put yourself on the wrong side of the business. You might be able to go from design to sales. But NOT the reverse. You will be setting yourself up for disappointment if you go into advertising, sales, or public relations at a big company thinking that you will be able to jump to design later. Better to start where you want to start at a nothing company and learn some useful skills.

Don't think you can outsmart the system by presenting yourself with one set of qualifications and aspirations to one potential employer and then rolling out another entirely different set of qualifications and aspirations to someone else. That's naive. And confusing. Be true to yourself. And consistent about what you want and your story. The world is too small to spin different versions of your own reality. Trust me: Even if you don't realize you're getting caught, you will be.