So you want to work in… Fashion PR?

What is fashion PR?

Fashion PR in basic terms is the promotion of fashion brands and fashion designers to consumers.

It’s a versatile industry and you could find yourself working with luxurious high-end brands, well-known high-street labels or new emerging designers. No day is the same.

One day you could be doing stylist appointments where the stylist will come in and select garments for their shoot. Other days, you may find the senior fashion director of Grazia or GQ directly emailing you, requesting a highly sought-after runway look for a very important shoot.

How do I get into fashion PR?

The best way is to send your CV through the recruitment email address which is usually on companies’ website. Alternatively, you can go via a direct contact you may have who already works for the company and some fashion colleges have a direct internal contact for fashion agencies.

What’s the best thing about working in fashion PR?

The people you meet, from working with talented designers through to meeting and working with likeminded people. A huge bonus is also having access to the collections which you may have an opportunity to wear.

It’s also really satisfying to see editorial coverage of your clients published in magazines, on-line or seeing a high-profile person wearing one of your client’s looks. That’s really rewarding and means you’ve done your job well.

Are there any drawbacks to working in fashion PR?

Yes, it’s a highly competitive industry and you’ll need to be prepared to work hard. You may find yourself working long hours daily which has become the norm. It can also be quite a pressurised environment and you may have high monthly targets to meet per client.

I found after six years that I wanted more then to only work in Fashion and decided to go freelance. This meant I got to work across various other industries within PR from consumer, lifestyle, beauty while still working with fashion clients. These roles are easier to get into and will offer you a greater insight into each industry without commitment, which is great if you want flexibility, or just want to test the waters to see if its really for you.

What’s the difference between doing it in house or in an agency?

An agency environment is very fast paced and ever changing. No day is the same and you will typically work with multiple clients at one time, therefore you need to be able to work fast and multitask. An agency does present more opportunity in some cases as you have more clients therefore more projects on the go throughout the year. You will experience and learn a lot more in a shorter space of time and likely meet more industry people due to there being more activity. You may also find yourself writing multiple press releases for each of your clients which requires you to understand the individuality of each.

Working in-house is a steadier pace and allows you to really get to know a brand from the inside out. You’ll have the opportunity to work with the various teams involved, where you all share the same goal in making the brand a success. These team functions include marketing teams, design, e-commerce, buyers and more.

Is fashion PR right for me?

In PR, you need to be able to think quickly and have the ability to turn a negative into a positive.