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"facebook dialogPinterest\n\n_ DEAR DEREK,\n\n I'd like to start by saying I am a huge fan of style.com and I love the 'Blasblog.' Here is my question: How did you get to where you are today? What does an aspiring editor have to do to break into the business? I am 15 and live in rural Ireland, so I'm not exactly surrounded by fashion. What can I be doing now to prepare myself for a career in fashion?\n\n Many thanks,\n\nEleanor _\n\n DEAR ELEANOR IN IRELAND,\n\n I grew up in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri, which wasn't exactly a fashion hub itself! But nowadays, geography is no excuse not to be well versed with what's happening in fashion. You young people have it easy: I used to have to save up to buy fashion magazines, or ask my parents to drop me off at the drug store where I could spread out on the floor and read everything on the newsstand. (Though, this probably saved them a bundle on baby sitters!)\n\n The internet is a valuable tool for keeping up to date on fashion trends and fashion's big players. You should check sites like this one, and Style.com, whenever you can, especially during fashion week when designers present their collections for the following season. Read up on your favorite designers and know what trends are in right now, and what trends aren't. Also, if a writer or designer refers to a period (like the Belle Epoche) or a film ('They Shoot Horses Don't They,' a movie about Depression era dance marathons, was the inspiration behind my favorite Alexander McQueen show a few years ago), Google the terms you don't know, and read the books and rent the films.\n\n This isn't new advice: but when you're old enough, you should look into internships. When I moved to New York I learned just as much as I did out of the classroom and interning at magazines as I did from my teachers. And no, before you ask, every low-level job in fashion journalism does not resemble The Devil Wears Prada.\n\nAnother valuable resource is the TeenVogue Handguide, which sums up many of the careers in the fashion industry that you might not have been aware of. (Growing up in St. Louis, I had no idea how many people it took to make a fashion shoot: I didn't know about stylists, lightning technicians and all the other important people behind these images we love.)\n\n However, here is my biggest tip to someone still in school: don't slack on your other studies because you're convinced you want to work in fashion. Don't spend all day Googling words like 'tulle' and 'kitten heel' because I said to! It might not look like it from where you're sitting, but getting good grades and going to college are important, as is a basic education. I've seen resumes with typos and I've worked with people that can't add up taxi receipts, neither of which are very impressive. A good editor is a smart one!\n\n Yours, Derek"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-do-i-break-into-the-fashion-business>