Getting Ahead: A Passion for Fashion

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A TYPICAL WORK SCENE on MTV's "The Hills" plays out like this: Designer-clad and perfectly coiffed Lauren Conrad and Whitney Port chat about boys while sorting idly through racks of clothes. A supervisor will ask them to perform a simple task. They freeze, eyes wide, and exclaim "OMG." Rapid-fire texting commences. The girls pout attractively.

"That's bull," says Lauren Webb about the reality show's representation of entry-level fashion careers. "I know that the industry is not glamorous — it's not parties every night."

Webb, a 24-year-old analyst for the Department of Defense, thinks that once she leaves for a fashion position in New York, her day will be more like this: Arriving at the office before most people have had their coffee. Attending meetings with designers and photographers. Updating a list of contacts for Fashion Week, and maybe, if she has time, writing a blog entry about a collection she loves — no "OMG's" or vacant stares allowed.

With the popularity of fashion-based shows and movies such as "The Devil Wears Prada," "Ugly Betty," and "Project Runway," competition in the industry is steep. The clothes may be beautiful, but the job search will not be pretty.

"All these fashion-oriented shows like 'Project Runway' give a wrong impression about how the industry works," says Sally Melanie Lourenco, a former editor of Italian Vogue who teaches online courses on starting out in fashion careers of all types. "You ask, 'Why do you want to work here?' and they answer, 'Because I love clothes.' It goes so much deeper than loving clothes."

Lourenco's course gives fashion novices a foot in the door and teaches them how to apply for entry-level fashion jobs, like editorial or fashion assistant positions at magazines and with designers. Though she says there's no single position that is an easy in, temping for designers and working as a runner during fashion week will allow you to make contacts and get noticed in an overcrowded and competitive field.

Webb certainly loves clothes, but she also loves entrepreneurship. That's why, before moving from D.C. to New York to work full-time for a designer or a fashion magazine, she took Lourenco's classes and worked part-time gigs, packing friends and clients' suitcases for business trips and assisting with shoots for DC Style Magazine. The experience has convinced her of Lourenco's oft-repeated maxim: Be sure you really want this.

"You have to look at yourself and say, 'What do I have to offer?' Not so much 'What do I want to get?'" says Lourenco. "There's a lot of people who come to the industry and think of what they want to get, like clothes and meeting celebrities, but those people don't go too far. They don't contribute anything lasting, they're just hangers-on. It's really about the inspiration or creativity or working with amazing photographers, saying, 'This is what fashion is about.'"

Caveats aside, Lourenco (who has worked at Prada, Marie Claire, Vogue and Nylon) makes an encouraging leader for her students, who are urged to blog daily and ask questions at weekly office hours and online chats.

Still, all the advice in the world won't help you survive on a budget that will hardly buy groceries, let alone Jimmy Choos. Lourenco says that an entry-level fashionista will be lucky to make more than $30,000 a year in one of the most expensive cities in the world. Though New York may be the center of the fashion universe, those who aren't ready to pack up and move into a shoebox-size apartment can cultivate a fashion career of a different sort in Washington.

Take Rachel Rosenthal — a former Hill staffer and lawyer who was unfulfilled in the political world. She decided to put her impeccable taste to use, founding Rosey's, a personal shopping and organizing business.

"I realized I liked helping people, so I started with my family and friends first, organizing their closets," says Rosenthal. "People asked if things looked good on them, but they didn't have time to get clothes for themselves, so I started personal shopping from there."

Her job — since nearly every fashion career can be compared to a TV show — is analogous to "What Not to Wear," except instead of sending hapless, style-starved people to hit the shops on their own, Rosenthal does the grunt work, bringing back piles of handpicked clothing to be tried on in the customer's own home.

Shopping all day sounds fun, but there's more to it than just visiting boutiques for a client each day, says Rosenthal.

"There were a lot of financial concerns, going from a job where I had a steady paycheck to this," she says. "I put together a business plan — my husband is a lawyer, and he helped — and I didn't quit my other job before I had clients. It was a very big leap of faith."

That's similar to how Lori Parkerson described the process of deciding to open her boutique, Redeem (1734 14th St. NW, 202- 332-7447). Working at XM Satellite Radio, Parkerson, 34, had always thought about working in fashion, but it took her awhile to work up the nerve.

"I probably started looking to do a business plan maybe 10 years ago, and I would revisit it every couple of years," says Parkerson. "It was never something I thought would actually happen."

For months, she had been scoping out real estate on 14th Street for a store, and as the neighborhood grew more upscale, Parkerson didn't want to get left behind. She enlisted her business-major brother to draft a plan once they had procured a storefront near U Street. For the interior, she picked up a hammer and went to work. "Hiring a contractor is expensive," she says. "It's really our blood, sweat and tears." Parkerson and her family did all of the store except the electrical wiring. Redeem opened in October 2006, and she's been content with her career change ever since.

"They say if you can stay in business for the first year, you've made it, but now I think it's two years of being in business, so I'm waiting for October. Waiting for it to be operational, in this tough economic climate [has been hard], but everything else is a complete pleasure and joy," says Parkerson, who most enjoys meeting with unsung designers and selling their clothing.

Parkerson's final piece of advice is one that Lourenco and Rosenthal also echoed: Don't get in your own way of your aspirations.

"Fashion is almost a psychological block — some people don't want to put too much thought into it, because they're afraid they'll be rejected," says Lourenco.

"Don't talk yourself out of it. You don't need a business or a fashion degree," says Parkerson. Her sentiment rings true in her store's motto: "It's never too late to change."

APPLIED APPAREL
We collected tips to help you get your Prada-heeled foot in the door.

» Set up informational interviews with top editors or stylists, and ask them questions about their jobs. If they like you, they will find a place for you.

» Do your research first — "You can't just go in there and say, 'My favorite designer is Marc Jacobs' and expect to hit it off," says Lourenco. Read the magazine; know everyone’s name in the PR firm.

» Get over your intimidation — top fashion designers and editors can smell your fear. It's a business, and they're normal humans who are making a living.

» Dressing for a fashion job doesn't mean labels head to toe. Shop trunk sales for lesser-known designers. Your aim should be to make people ask, "Oh, where did you get that?"

Written by Maura Judkis for Express
Photos by Abby Greenawalt for Express, Marge Ely/Express