Personal connections go a long way in an industry known for opaque hiring practices, nepotism, and a penchant for attending the right events. When Noelle, print editor at 1Granary, moved from London to Brussels to save money a few years ago, she found that many of these connections were concentrated in the fashion capital. “I thought going to fashion week twice a year would help me maintain my network, but that doesn’t necessarily happen in a formal setting,” she says. “You’re more likely to make connections at an after-party than at a fashion show.”
Model Florence Huntington-Whiteley, who previously worked as a brand manager with her sister Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, says that through her work she became hyper-aware of how people speak of others as extensions of higher-status people they’re connected to, and “make them better or worse, inclusive or exclusive” based on those relationships.
Without personal connections and proximity to fashion, it can be hard to build the cultural capital needed to succeed. Content creator Benji Park has built a large following on TikTok for his videos about fashion history, but he’s largely self-taught, which he attributes to a birthright. “Having the ability to be self-taught in your formative teenage years means you’re probably not working, you’re not distracted by other things, and you’re financially stable,” he explains.
Cultural capital isn’t necessarily something that can be bought or taught: Peters recalls a fellow student at the Academy of Fashion Retail being mocked for not knowing how to pronounce Balenciaga. “There’s a snobbish mentality in the industry, of gatekeeping and looking down on people who don’t have the inside information,” he says.
For many, change starts with access to education. Despite fashion schools making efforts to include more students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, there are only a limited number of scholarships available, and many students still miss out on travel and internship grants, says fashion inclusion consultant Arooj Aftab. “Look at McQueen or Galliano – they came from nothing and were accepted into the industry,” Davidson adds. “You can’t get that kind of talent into universities anymore because of tuition fees. So many people are locked out of the fashion industry because they’re not well-connected or financially advantaged.”
Access to hard-to-reach industries
Economic advantage isn’t the only intangible differentiator that shapes people’s experiences working in fashion: research shows that physical disabilities, mental illnesses and neurodevelopmental disorders can limit how well someone can thrive in the industry and how they are perceived by their peers.
