Are you looking to become a fashion journalist?

If you have a passion for using your creative flare to write intriguing pieces of content that everyone enjoys reading. Breaking into the fashion industry as a writer is probably a thought that has never crossed your mind, but in a time where blogging dominates the online world — it’s never been a more realistic career path.

Once before, making any sort of name for yourself in fashion would be down to your family ties, or studying at a top university. While this often still applies, the fashion community has become less exclusive and recently welcomed more entry methods for driven fashionistas with a voice.

The industry itself has a low unemployment rate and is showing a positive year-on-year growth. To give you an idea of the scale of work in the UK, there are 555,000 people in fashion, textiles and fashion retail — which is a market with a domestic value of £66 billion.

But what does it take to be a fashion journalist in 2019? We take a look at the opportunities below…

Becoming a fashion journalist
If you’re looking to develop your personal image while discussing fashion, journalism is a good place to start. When you think of fashion journalism, your mind will naturally consider print magazines — the likes of Vogue, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan and ELLE. This is the most dominant medium for fashion communication, followed by newspaper columns and books.

Despite magazines making room for digitalised publishing networks, print does remain well-respected in fashion with many offering monthly subscriptions. Writing is a massive part of fashion journalism, especially for well-established publications. It’s a chance for those passionate about fashion to share their own experiences and opinions on the latest events and trends within the industry — building up a loyal community of readers who will likely return to read future pieces.

Of course, writing is a main part of journalism — but more broadcasting opportunities are also arising. This in turn has allowed people to further their own career across a range of areas. When TV opportunities do present themselves, you will usually see fashion experts appear as correspondents on news shows where they can express their opinions on any topical areas, or as guest panellists on daytime programmes. As well as those routes of presenting, online video platforms that host interviews or Q&A’s are becoming more common too.

To properly develop your own prospects, networking is essential. Taking up new opportunities and gaining experience in an array of different areas will allow you to become one of the most powerful fashion journalists in the world — but drive, passion and attitude all play a significant role in success.

Entering the industry
When studying at university, you’ll learn the key skills of becoming a fashion journalist. Today, courses will cover a range of print and digital skills, which allows graduates to easily adapt to any working environment and keep up with the constant changes that the industry is facing and making them more employable than any other applicant.

If you do choose to study fashion, you’ll need a strong portfolio of work when applying — this could range from designing your very own blazers for men for example. With this in mind, it’s crucial to gain as much experience as you can get in the area you’d like to focus on in the future and express this in your personal statement. For writers in particular, having your own blog where you can express your own views is essential. Aside from this, you could even reach out to major publications and ask them to host your work; building up valuable relationships at an early stage of your career.

You’ll also need to realise that work experience can be beneficial too. Although the companies you work for will depend on your location — with many major brands and publications in London — there are still countless opportunities up for grabs. Check out your regional news publications and marketing agencies that work with big brands, where you could become a copywriter!

You may hate the thought of going to university, and that’s completely fine. If you want to enter the fashion industry more naturally, it will take a lot of hard work and dedication, but if you’re passionate, this shouldn’t be a problem. It’s all about studying in your own time and developing your knowledge about the industry itself.

Your very own blog could help you develop an online presence too. You can create your own website for free on the likes of WordPress, Wix and Yola, which will allow you to test the waters and publish your work for the world to see.

As fashion-focused content is usually visual, Instagram could allow you to create a loyal audience if you’re able to post high-quality images for everyone to gasp over. If you want to create a strong image portfolio for everyone to admire, you should try and stick to a colour theme which allows your profile to look professional — think whites and pastel hues! From this, you’ll be able to direct your following to your website.

If you’ve built up your own personal empire, you’ll be able to get more freelance work. This could be offering expertise on major fashion events for a range of different publications, or editing other peoples work; allowing you to maintain a stable income each month.