Two weeks ago, @FashionUnfold celebrated its first Twitter anniversary with a successful July debate and we recorded our highest followers gain in one day, exceeding the 100, just WOW!!
We attribute this success to the hot topic of the month:Unpaid Internships in Fashion and to you, our faithful followers for your avid participation.
The topic of Unpaid Internships: Beneficial or Rip-Off had surfaced few months back, but we felt that July was the perfect month to address it.
With many students filling interns positions during the summer and Fashion weeks season just around the corner, the timing couldn’t have been better.
So enjoy the read and feel free to spread the word. Weigh in your two cents in the comments section.
Are unpaid internships a fair game? Is the Fashion industry taking advantage of the practice? Do interns have any rights or should they just suck it up for knowledge’s sake? Do unpaid internships grant an unfair advantage to upper-class kids?
These are some of the questions we asked during the live debate and Participants along with our Panel, were quick to tweet their opinion. The first tweets were not pro-unpaid.
But what’s a debate if everyone agrees within the first minutes? More participants weighed in, recognizing the value of Internships – paid or not, stressing on the source of knowledge and experience they represent.
In a sense, internships are already a huge compensation: networking, first hand experience and mentorship are highly valuable, so money shouldn’t really be a question. The problem arises when unpaid internships exceed 40 hours per week – now that’s Free labor.
In such extreme cases, it is pretty much up to the candidate to draw the line and decide what he/she is willing to compromise for a place in the sun.
But too often, many candidates give into the pressure, compromising the impossible and putting themselves in unmanageable situations. Thankfully, not every candidate is willing to sacrifice blindly more than they can afford – unless Anna Wintour was to ask maybw? To each their own.
Internships generally last between three to six months, but you can easily find yourself interning for a longer period, without pay and no guarantee to score a job.
If this was to happen, you’d have to weigh the pros and cons for the situation, and decide what is in your best interest, on short or long-term.
The lack of regulations contributes to blurring the line between what is acceptable and what isn’t. And with the growing number of people interested to join the competitive Fashion industry, who knows where this is heading.
The glamorization of fashion, via Magazines, TV shows, Celebrities lifestyles and most recently, Top fashion Bloggers living “the life”, is partly responsible for the general public’s outpouring interest. But we must note that many fail to realize just how much work goes into “making it” especially in Fashion.
In fact,even your Top Tier fashion bloggers *insert ‘The Blonde Salad, The Man Repeller, Garance Dore, Bryan Boy’ here* put in the hours, trust us.
“There is no such a thing as an overnight success.”
But we are not here to discourage you, but rather to inspire you to find your passion and have the courage to pursue it obsessively, relentlessly.
And if you are seeking a Fashion internship (there’s one coming chez miss SLY! for Montreal soon #Staytuned) then here are some tips you might find useful, courtesy of our #FashionUnfold July participants.
Fashion isn’t for the faint of heart.
But if you possess the dedication, talent and vision then don’t let these mere career setbacks stop you from reaching your final destination, just know that you’re in for a trip, so buckle up!
On these notes, it was time to bring our July live debate to a close, so we asked participants to share their final thoughts, advice and observations on the topic and here’s what they had to say:
It was another informative discussion, with so many passionate people from all over the world and we can’t wait to do it again of course. Hope you enjoyed the read, and next time join us live if you haven’t already, it’s 100x better we promise!!
This is it for the first half of the year Ladies & Gents. @FashionUnfold will return Tuesday, August 14 LIVE on Twitter for the AUGUST Edition, so save the date and tweet you there.
A Huge thanks to our JULY Panelists!!
- @ElliotCarlyle (Charleston)
- @BeeLauraTee (Toronto)
- @BoyIn_PR (Cape Town)
- @MISSkiadenise (Philadelphia)
- @legacystyle (Florida)
B.Y.O.V (Bring.Your.Own.Views)
Share and Enjoy
When I first started working as an intern assistant-designer after College I wasn’t paid for a whole year…But I wanted SOO much to work in fashion it was my childhood dream. So I kept up and now I have my own company in the fashion industry =D Its really unfair that we have to give up our time free when whe start in this industry but for myself It was really positive because I learned soo much… would I have prefered to receive an income for my hard work and ideas YES of course =D
Thx for sharing your thoughts here. Yes, experience especially in Fashion can come at a steep price.
In the end, it really comes down to how you make all these (unfair) sacrifices work for you.
Glad it all worked out in your case