Question: I’ m currently studying fashion design and would like to become a fashion editor. I want to travel to all the fashion shows, sit in the front row and take down notes as well as predict next years fashion…however I don’t particulary want to work for a magazine company, or write the stories for them…do I have the wrong title or does fashion editor entitle many different things… and also what would you recommend studying once I graduate from fashion design?

Dear Julie,
If you don’t want to work for a magazine or write stories then you do not want to become a fashion editor. Being a fashion editor at a fashion magazine, website or newspaper means writing stories, picking out trends and runway looks (almost always from the comfort of your desk – even if you have been to said fashion shows), liaising with design houses and retailers (usually through e-mail), attending PR events (and then writing about them) and making deadlines.

If you want to travel to all the shows, sit front row and predict what will be hot in fashion’s future then you might want to look into buying and merchandising (although you’d have to be buying for a pretty commendable retailer to sit front row). However, buying also involves a lot of sitting at a desk, this time you’re working with spreadsheets and budgets so you must love number crunching!

Becoming a celebrity of some sort either actress, singer or celebrity fashion blogger might get you a front row seat at the shows and will certainly allow you a lot of travel but we hear that that is an even more difficult racket to crack than print media.

Fashion marketing might interest you. You don’t get to sit front row-instead you get to put on the show or at least decide who gets invited and where they sit. We hope that this helps you sort out your fashion career choices!