Home alone - and interning!

Today I've been interning entirely from home. How is that possible, you ask? Well particularly with fashion journalism its extremely easy and often more convenient. Normally I get sent a list of tasks to do, which could be anything from picture research to writing trend reports, I complete them and then email them back, simple. 

Interning from home is great in some ways, you get to sit at home in your pyjamas all day, you don't have to pay for travel into London and you can work at your own pace, yet it also has a lot of downsides. One of these I felt the true force of today. As one of the fashion people I intern for is away at the Bread and Butter trade show in Berlin I was given the task of writing some trend reports from home for her. I completed the tasks last night and felt happy in the knowledge I could upload them to her idisk in the morning and have a free day to myself - joy! However things weren't as easy as they seemed. Every time I tried to upload the file it said there was an error and after a good few hours of constant trying, internet researching and turning my pc off and on again I still couldn't figure out what was wrong. Eventually the woman gave me a contact who helped me fix the problem but I couldn't help thinking this never would have happened if I'd have been in the office with her!


If your not a computer whizz then interning from home often leaves you stuck with weird pc problems, which can be super frustrating yet normally have really simple solutions. If you were interning in an office these would fixed with a quick call to IT, but interning from home you have to figure it out the hard way. This is all good practice for the 'real world' but I do wonder if sometimes interning from home is necessarily the best option. Another key part of interning that you miss out on when working from home is building contacts. Office chit chat and conversations over morning coffee are vital in building bridges and connections, and I often feel like I'm missing out on this when the only communication I have with other people all day is via email. While I know you should take every intern opportunity you can I'm not sure if I've picked the right path by agreeing to do so much interning from home...

Intern Tip #1 - Pump that iron

One tip I'd give to any wannabe intern - pump some iron!

 Filled with clothes these heavy buggers are an interns worst nightmare
image from scattysquirrel.co.uk

Today my interning consisted mainly of unglamorously lifting large laundry bags of vintage clothes from one place to another. Onto a train, off a train, down a flight of stairs, up a flight of stairs... Being a fashion intern you're often given the joyous task of carrying heavy quantities of clothes around and so you definitely need strong arms to survive. Today I was interning for a well known blogger (yes even they have interns now), helping her to select clothes for a photo shoot. I accompanied her to an amazing vintage warehouse, got a quick tour and peep at some of the clothes but then it was on with the camel-like carrying duties. My arms weren't aching too much  as I'm used to lugging things - thanks to my wonderful (yeah right) retail job - but its still more psychical work than most of the fashion world do in a week! Whilst carrying stuff may not that fun or intellectually stimulating its just one of those things that you've got to do, so excuse me while I go pump some metal before bed...

Leave your social life at the door...

Hello, my name is fashioninterngirl and as you've probably guessed already - I am a fashion intern. But what exactly is a fashion intern? Well for those of you that don't know I'm basically someone who works for free for a fashion company/publication/brand/person in order to gain experience, and I can be required to do anything from make their tea to assist them on a photo shoot. I'm currently at the beginning of my interning journey having only done it a few times before but I'm sure I'll be a veteran before long. I've started this blog so I can chart my progress, share what I learn and hopefully entertain a few people along the way too!

Along with interning I'm also a student, shop assistant, student magazine editor, girlfriend and workaholic - (evidently why I'm writing this at 11.50pm on a Tuesday night). All together these elements can be a struggle to balance and sometimes when a birthday and business meeting collide can make a lethal combination. While my life isn't perfect it's often interesting and unusual, so if you want a glimpse into what breaking into the fashion industry is really like be sure to follow me on my fashion journey...