For this episode of
This workshop will focus on fashion journalism
and how to write the perfect piece for online or a magazine.
Osman and I will guide you through some advice,
and then we’ll set a task where you can submit your work.
One of the entries will be published on
Hi, Osman, how are you?
I’m very well, how are you?
I’m great. I’m in Vancouver at the moment,
in this hotel lobby.
Tell us a bit about how you got started in fashion journalism.
I got started when I was quite young.
I started working for a fashion auctioneer.
And that was really brilliant because
I was surrounded by all of these historical clothes,
right from the 16th century up to the 2000s.
And I really learned about fashion history through that.
And then I went to Central Saint Martins
and I studied Fashion History and Theory.
Amazing.
Did you think in the beginning that you wanted to be a writer?
So, yeah, I was really interested in fashion history,
and I guess I didn't know what I wanted to do,
but I knew that I enjoyed reading.
And that kind of led me to fashion writing, I suppose.
And I interned at a lot of magazines and newspapers,
so it just seemed like a natural progression.
How important do you think schooling is to become a fashion journalist?
I think it depends.
I don’t think that you need to study fashion journalism
to become a fashion journalist.
I know lots of people and have worked with lots of people that
studied everything from law, to English, to medicine,
and had complete career changes.
I also have worked with lots of people who
didn’t go to university at all.
So I would advise anyone to research what’s out there.
And if there’s something that you feel you want to learn about more,
go for it.
But equally, if not,
it’s totally possible to become a fashion journalist
without going down that route.
You said you interned at a few places.
How did you get those internships?
How did you go about meeting those people?
Probably showing my age,
but at the time I sent out lots of letters...
as in actual physical letters, you know,
with my CV just asking for work experience,
which was unpaid at the time.
So it was hard, but I ended up securing a couple.
And it really varied because, you know, working on a magazine,
there are so many different jobs.
I didn’t know at that time that I was going to become a writer.
You know, there are stylists, there are art directors,
there are writers, there are all kinds of people.
And it was really helpful experience for me
in learning how a magazine works
and exactly what kind of jobs there are out there.
How did you jump from interning into making fashion your career?
When I was interning,
I would get given snippets of things to write,
and I’m talking, like, a sentence,
and it would go in the magazine,
it could be a caption or whatever.
And I seemed to have a knack for it.
I started thinking about writing as a career and...
I think I just asked the people that I was working with if I could...
if I could do a bit more of that or if I could ask them for advice.
It was a learning curve because
I didn’t ever have any training in writing per se.
You know, I didn’t study journalism,
I didn’t come from a family or background
where that was kind of part of our world.
So, it was kind of making it up as I went along
and just being really, really aware of every piece of feedback
that I would get given.
Or seeing how other people do it—
reading a lot of writing out there
and trying to decode it.
Being a fashion writer, the meaning of that has changed,
I think even since I’ve started.
And that’s been really interesting.
How do you think it’s changed?
Fashion writing was exactly that;
it was just writing about the clothes.
But the thing is, the fashion industry is now this global industry
where you have so many different issues facing it.
It’s not just about clothes anymore;
you’re writing about where fashion intersects with
all of these different things, whether it’s politics, economics,
ethics, the environment.
And that’s really important to bear in mind
when you’re thinking about coming into this industry.
It isn’t just about shows or going to Paris or shopping.
It comes with a lot more responsibility
than I think people may think.
So for
What are we looking for exactly?
We are looking for a story.
The idea is that this is a story that could live within the
So, it’s 800 words on either a fashion or beauty trend,
or a fashion moment.
And... I suppose what we’re looking for is something that
hasn’t been written about before— that’s always really important.
And something that feels right for right now,
whether it’s kind of a strange red carpet moment,
whether it’s a historical subculture
that feels very prescient for right now,
whether it’s something happening
somewhere in the world that feels like
an interesting story to do with clothes, fashion, style, beauty,
basically how people are expressing themselves through those mediums.
Where should people start looking for that kind of a story?
You know, perhaps it’s cropping up on social media,
but I always think that it’s nice
when there’s a personal element involved.
Look around you. Look to what your friends are doing.
Look at what you’re seeing on the street.
Look at what you're seeing.
Perhaps you’ve noticed things crop up
if you’ve been paying attention to fashion shows.
There’s a wealth of resources out there.
Also, I think the job of a fashion writer is
to connect the dots between what’s going on in the world right now
and what's happening in fashion.
So TV, film, music, politics, all of these things inform
a fashion moment or a fashion trend.
It’s what makes it feel relevant for right now.
I think one piece of advice that I have for people as well is
to avoid writing about something
in a way that they think it should be written about,
or in a way that they think is
the correct way to write about something.
Part of being a writer is finding your voice.
You talk about using your voice as a writer
and also considering the
What is the
Well, the
I would say, more informal than other publications
in that it really is about individuality.
And I think that...
the great thing about
And often I think that it's much harder to write something that
you’re really passionate about and that you love a lot
than something that you really dislike.
And, you know, there's so much bad news every day.
There’s so much negativity on social media, unfortunately,
that what we want to see are stories that inspire you,
stories that you feel you have a connection to,
or something that makes you really happy or excited.
It’s always... a good place to start is from a place of love,
which sounds really corny, but...
but, yeah, that’s what
So once you’ve found your story, how do you go about writing it?
I find that most fashion writers are naturally very visual people
because that’s why we’re drawn to this industry.
A good place to start is collecting and gathering images,
whether that’s from the people around you,
whether it's images that you've taken,
whether it’s just screenshots of things that you’ve seen
on social media or on the Internet.
Start collecting those things and connect the dots
and think about what your thread is.
You know, perhaps you have a thesis about
why this is happening at this particular moment,
and start to formulate what the story is.
Do you have any other key pieces of advice that you want to give
for writing a good fashion story?
I guess a great way to start is by asking yourself,
are there designers that you particularly admire?
Is there a style or subculture that you identify with?
Is there an aesthetic that you feel particularly drawn to?
And just deep dive into that, you know, just start researching,
start looking, start reading up on it.
Perhaps there are particular style icons that you have,
or heroes of yours,
and really educate yourself about them.
And through doing that,
you'll probably end up learning more and discovering more.
And that’s really what it’s about.
That was amazing, Osman. Thank you so much for your time.
Oh no, thank you. Thanks for having me.
That was super helpful.
Osman talked about
knowing your aesthetic and studying it.
We’re looking for a piece of writing no longer than 800 words
about a particular fashion or style moment.
To send us your work, click the link in the description below.
We can’t wait to see what you come up with.
See you at