The Glamour Girl's Guide to Life - Interning in NY

[Meg]

I don't even think the majority of these women do it for the men - they do it to impress the girls around them. Honestly, these sorts of people perpetuate a myth that they themselves have created. It's all subsidized and quite frankly, they think they are more important than they are. I love fashion but I didn't want to enter the industry because even at the 'lower' levels of the parties and things, it's all just so tired. People trying to social climb. I know when you're in it, it feels like the whole world revolves around but it doesn't and the majority of people really don't care. And sorry but who can't pass a 50 wpm typing test these days? (and is proud of it?!) I'm sure they've used a computer and the internet. Anyone who can email can type 50 wpm.

 

[writergal28]

I don't even think the majority of these women do it for the men - they do it to impress the girls around them. Honestly, these sorts of people perpetuate a myth that they themselves have created. It's all subsidized and quite frankly, they think they are more important than they are. I love fashion but I didn't want to enter the industry because even at the 'lower' levels of the parties and things, it's all just so tired. People trying to social climb. I know when you're in it, it feels like the whole world revolves around but it doesn't and the majority of people really don't care. And sorry but who can't pass a 50 wpm typing test these days? (and is proud of it?!) I'm sure they've used a computer and the internet. Anyone who can email can type 50 wpm.

Yeah, but many younger girls today e-mail with 'net speak, not real words.

And yes, many of these girls are doing this to impress other girls. I have to admit that I was actually one of them. I took on a PR internship (unpaid) with a woman that other people in my PR class considered a big snob. I took the internship because I wanted to prove to the women in my class that I could handle her.

 

[Meg]

Well it's just a one upmanship. None of these people have any real influence. Sorry but the SA at Polo Ralph Lauren (we're not even talking Black or Purple label) is not going to really affect a. fashion or b. the world. Sure she can tell her friends she works at Ralph Lauren but at the end of the day, so? It's just such a skewed vision of the world.

 

[rangerrick14]

i gues the important thing is even though you don't have any clout you are near those people and others see you and recognize you as a person good work ethic just in case someone wants to advance and be important in the fashion industry

 

[dsq]

i think there's a greater potential to become successful and to become the desirable client that these glamour companies and firms covet; rather than to work in the glamour jobs in hopes that you can make it up the ladder.

 

[pinkpalm]

And sorry but who can't pass a 50 wpm typing test these days? (and is proud of it?!) I'm sure they've used a computer and the internet. Anyone who can email can type 50 wpm.

I type with two fingers. My prep school didn't offer it (but we had yoga, go figure). Unfortunately I've never taken the time to learn...I also run an online business and have around 200 emails a day...So it's possible.

 

[writergal28]

I type with two fingers. My prep school didn't offer it (but we had yoga, go figure). Unfortunately I've never taken the time to learn...I also run an online business and have around 200 emails a day...So it's possible.

Didn't you have a computer class? My school required everyone to take an intro to computers course by the time they were in Grade 11 starting with my grad class (1998). The intro to computers class always had a typing section, usually for the first two or three weeks of class. A few years later, every student, starting from Grade 9 had to lease a laptop for classroom use. Intro to computers is now much more technically based (rather than a "how to type" or "how to use Word, Excel and PowerPoint" kind of class)

You also have to remember that the article is almost 10 years old. Many people who were going for these internship programs would have graduated from high school in the late 80s when computer courses weren't as common/mandatory.

 

[rangerrick14]

Its actually kind if sad really these women have no passion and drive for the ecentricity that is fashion; their as boring (all be it luxurious) as their ralph lauren purple label cashmere cardigans.

 

[Street_a_Licious]

Regardless of what is said here about that job, to me it sounds like a lot of fun (til some point). I mean, 'why ponder life's complexities when the leather on the passenger seat runs smooth'? As long as you know how to distance yourself from the fakeness, everything can be done.

If I'd know how to land such a 'glamour job', I totally would!

 

[pinkpalm]

Didn't you have a computer class? My school required everyone to take an intro to computers course by the time they were in Grade 11 starting with my grad class (1998). The intro to computers class always had a typing section, usually for the first two or three weeks of class. A few years later, every student, starting from Grade 9 had to lease a laptop for classroom use. Intro to computers is now much more technically based (rather than a "how to type" or "how to use Word, Excel and PowerPoint" kind of class)

You also have to remember that the article is almost 10 years old. Many people who were going for these internship programs would have graduated from high school in the late 80s when computer courses weren't as common/mandatory.

No, never. Sure we had computer claases before high school even started but it wasn't exactly a typing class. It was just understood that you knew how to use it. I'm sure if I had sought out extra help I could have gotten it but frankly I didn't care to and it really hasn't affected me. Laptops were given as a part of tuition, but no I never learned to type. i don't think that we were expected to know how to type because we were all most likely going to go into something a bit more important than just typing correspondence. If I do need tons of things typed now, I have an assistant for that. I could quote Cornelia guest here, but I'd probably get flamed. I realize that the article is almost 10 years old, as I have stated before (waaaaay upthread); as I've also stated before I have experience in this industry (by having taken a so called glamour job at Ralph Lauren) and imo not much (if anything) has changed.

 

[stella-mayfair]

Regardless of what is said here about that job, to me it sounds like a lot of fun (til some point). I mean, 'why ponder life's complexities when the leather on the passenger seat runs smooth'? As long as you know how to distance yourself from the fakeness, everything can be done.

If I'd know how to land such a 'glamour job', I totally would!

i don't think these "glam-jobbers" have any fun at all. submissive mate hunting while lurking decoratively in the corners of a boring expensive store... they don't seem to live but only wait. wait for their superiors to approve of their fashion choices, wait for the ONE to come rescue them, wait for becoming a mother... i prefer to do things myself, not wait until someone decides to do something to me...

 

[rangerrick14]

I wonder if vogue or harpers is like that where your clothes have to be aproved; and I also wonder if it is the same for men in those jobs, most blue blood boys don't get out of college for those jobs where do most of the men who intern and assist come from and how do they get in?

 

[Street_a_Licious]

i don't think these "glam-jobbers" have any fun at all. submissive mate hunting while lurking decoratively in the corners of a boring expensive store... they don't seem to live but only wait. wait for their superiors to approve of their fashion choices, wait for the ONE to come rescue them, wait for becoming a mother... i prefer to do things myself, not wait until someone decides to do something to me...

Maybe I'm brainwashed by Bergdorf Blondes

 

[Ma_Petite_Chou]

I begin my internship at Christie's this fall. It's been a dream of mine for a longtime, not because i'm mate hunting (I have a bf of 7 yrs), but because I truly love what I study, which is art history.

 

[stella-mayfair]

Maybe I'm brainwashed by Bergdorf Blondes

I'll come help you get your roots touched up bessette-kennedy-style

 

[klaxod pels]

Its actually kind if sad really these women have no passion and drive for the ecentricity that is fashion; their as boring (all be it luxurious) as their ralph lauren purple label cashmere cardigans.

Exactly. They're all cookie-cutters of the same form, looking to replicate their boring aesthetic over and over again because they have no strong, unique ambitions.

Does any corner of the fashion universe recognize novelty and passion in people, 10 years after this article?

 

[ysljunkie]

First off this article totally ruined my night! I keep reading think it was going to get better and no! It just had to point out the cold hard truth that Yes the Fashion industry in NYC has Rich Social Ladies who just happen to run everything important all the while looking there 'glamour job" holders are on the look out for husbands...This isnt news to me at all. I really think that rich asisde your going to have to have connections and one thing that i did not see mentioned in this whole thread actual TALENT AT WHAT YOU DO! I mean if you get a interview show your best and still dont get hired than its just not the company or field for you. I like rangerrick14 am very worried about my future in this industry as some kid (male) with no really major funds and schooling to speak of but I just put it this way Im not stupid I KNOW all to well what goes on in NYC and I still want to be a part of it I'll do my best to get there and if this type of pro-rich,social thing gets in my way to the point where I cant do it I'll just gracefully bow out of the NYC fashion game to watch on the sidelines because if NYC is so bad to thepoint where a person with drive and talent cant make it than I'd rather enjoy my Vogue at home thank you very much

 

[KhaoticKharma]

$8/hour.... in NYC?!? You have to be born rich to be able to even... oh hell, you can't do anything with that.

These upper class broads just turn me off.

 

[Cicciolina]

Isn't the US minimum wage a touch under US$6/hour? But hopefully sales assistants and such will get commission on top.

It is very frustrating but I still think if you have talent and work hard you'll get somewhere, with or without connections

 

[SirSunday]

^the minimum wage for a non-union laborer if $5.85 US as of July 24, 2007. No wonder the country has a high population of working poor.

to follow on ysljunkie's comments, in the real world it is difficult to succeed without having a combination of the following: intelligence, patience, talent, social networking, and sometimes, yes money. if you work hard enough in school, develop a solid reputation, and network, you'll have a shot. but if you know someone in an industry, or have family connections, you'd have a better chance at getting the same opportunity. i'm not trying to diminish the talent aspect, but in my brief experience in the real world, it is not what you know, it's who you know. the difference between you and any other person trying to make it, is who you are.