The Fashion Spot

In recent years, television shows and movies about fashion publications and their employees have enjoyed a surge of popularity.  Among the most popular of these are MTV “reality” shows The Hills and The City.

The City primarily revolves around the lives of Whitney Port, a fashion PR assistant and her frenemy Olivia Palermo, an accessories editor at Elle. Whitney previously starred on The Hills, interning at Teen Vogue with friend Lauren “LC” Conrad.

Ten years ago, few people outside of the fashion industry would presume to know what is involved in putting together a publication, or what exactly the job of “fashion intern” entails. Thanks to these shows, any fashion lover can get a glimpse into the mysterious world of magazines.

But just how realistic are these shows?

As interns at Teen Vogue, Lauren and Whitney’s tasks included flying to Paris to cover the Crillon Ball, accompanying a dress from Los Angeles to New York, and scouting locations for the Teen Vogue Young Hollywood party.

Kristen, a former beauty intern at a well-known fitness magazine, has trouble relating to these less than onerous duties.

“I personally found Lauren and Whitney’s “internships” to be hilarious and exaggerated.  The show made it seem like being an intern was very glamorous...I spent a lot of time calling in products and organizing the closet, which is the part the TV shows do not portray.”

Melissa*, an intern at the Canadian edition of an iconic fashion magazine, found that she could identify with some aspects of the The Hills, but found the amount of down time the interns had unrealistic.

“When they show LC running around backstage at a show, trying to find the right foot to fit a pair of shoes, or Whitney decorating a room for a dinner meeting, it’s all very real and factual. But then they flip scripts to them sitting at their desks texting their friends or hitting on guys at photo shoots, and you think to yourself: 'What magazine are THEY working at?'”

Fashion and beauty internships tend to involve much more grunt work than is shown on The Hills.  Tasks range from organizing the closet and calling in products to administrative work to helping on shoots.

While she enjoyed her internship, Kristen says that she “definitely did not get to go to Paris, attend events, or meet anyone famous.”

According to Melissa, the unrealistic portrayal of an intern’s role can leave some would-be interns unprepared.

“People may walk into work on their first day and be totally thrown off guard, not knowing what to expect. I’ve seen firsthand girls come in to the building and walk out just weeks later because they don’t want to de-lint skirts or alphabetize jackets.”

However, she likes the fact that shows like The City show “how rewarding a career in fashion can be ... I don’t think there’s another industry out there where the title of ‘intern' (unpaid and totally without authority) can open so many doors and allow you to gain so much knowledge and experience in so little time.”

Showing the fun of the fashion industry has its drawbacks, however. Kristen thinks that the increased desirability of such internships has contributed to the normalization of unpaid interns in the magazine industry.

“No matter what, you should always be paid for your work.  However, because the magazine business has been glamorized so much, unpaid work is the norm.”

Regardless, both girls admit that they continue to watch shows like The Hills and The City. Melissa thinks “the combo of the real with the fake is what keeps us in love with the shows.  We love the glamour, glitz, and enchantment of what they do – real or not.”

*name has been changed

Images courtesy of the Fashion Spot forums.