It can be hard to find college internships for fashion students. Beneficial college internships are hard to come by. What I’ve learned, however, is that you need to start at the bottom and work your way up.

The lights dimmed to a soft glow, soft music swept across the audience, and the first model glided down the runway.

I stood on a landing twenty rows back. Dressed in a sea-green gown and nude heels, I heaved my 10 pound camera to my eye.

Click.

24 months ago I stood on the dirt path taking photos of a cycling team. How did I get here? I got my foot in the door.

How do you get your foot in the door? How do you get experience that leads somewhere useful?We’ve all heard professors say “Get work that gives you experience!” Well that’s a little vague, isn’t it? It think it’s easier to think of it like this:

Your career is full of stepping stones. Try to be intentional to ensure that every position you take, skill you learn, or experience you have is another stone along that path. With time, you will see your experience build upon itself, and, if you’re bold enough to keep knocking on doors, your past experiences will lead to knew ones.

This mindset is prevalent in every area of my life. However, it is extremely obvious in my experience of going from an unexperienced photographer to being my University’s fashion show media coordinator in two years.

Let me share this story with you, what I learned, and a few tokens of advice.

Photography is a necessary skill as a marketing student. My freshman year of college I interned as the media coordinator for my university’s Cycling Club. The only qualification seemed to be willingness to work hard, so I applied. I didn’t realize that, in addition to running the team’s media, “media coordinator” meant meant organizing, photographing, and promoting all cycling events. I still laugh when I think of little, freshman Emma driving her silver Subaru through the mountains of Virginia trying to 1) find the cycling team and 2) pull off the road to take photos.

Later that year, I was recruited as the photographer for my University’s Fashion Show after I showed up to a model practice with my camera for extra practice. (Was that allowed? Absolutely not, but if you have a camera and confidence no one asks questions.)

Thankfully, these experiences built upon each other and enabled me to be apart of the Fashion Show’s Leadership Team as co-media coordinator.

I arrived to my University in January 2022 after studying abroad in the fall. Because I was gone during the application process for the Fashion Show Leadership Team, no position was open for media coordinator. However, due to my slowly growing reputation as a photographer, my connections in the department, and the Leadership Team’s need for help, I was asked to join.

From January until show day, April 2nd, I attended model practices, designer check-ins, and sewing labs to collect content for the Instagram and Facebook. It was an incredible process to watch.

The show had a unique theme. This year, the theme was “Blueprint Couture.” Each designer choose a building that inspired their piece. Architecture, colors, structural details, and materials were only a few of the areas designers drew inspiration.

Designers: Vivianne Underwood (left) and Zak Albers (right)

However the process wasn’t perfect.

Problems

  1. The fashion show was a year long process, and because I joined halfway through the year, I lost four months of content and time.
  2. The garments were 50-60% completed, meaning my photography was extremely limited as to not reveal any designs before the show.

So what did I do?

Solutions

The team already had a media coordinator, however, due to various reasons, she was unable to dedicate the time necessary to build a strong media presence for the Fashion Show. I made a plan that worked with her schedule and our unique skill-sets. I focused on photography and creating a congruent brand throughout our social media. She focused on uploading photos to our social media and communicating with the designers.

Designers: Zak Albers (left) and Halley Crocus (right)

Achievements

Despite losing valuable time, I’m proud of what we achieved.

  1. We increased the social media engagement by approximately 240%.
  2. I delivered a gallery of 330 photos to the designs, models, and University. The gallery included photos from the show, practices, sewing labs, awards, and behind the scenes of the event.

Designer: Charity Bryan

Designer Elle Bean (left) and design (right) by Ingrid Lindevaldsen

Designer: Teal Bailey

Designer: Vivianne Underwood

Designers: Kristine Johnson (left) and Zak Albers (right)

Designer: Brittany Romano

Designers: Emma Morgan (left) and Brooke Fail (right)

Designers: Louise Matera (left) and Danielle Schauer (right)

Leadership Team: (left to right) Madeline Shepherd, Grace Alioth, Kenna Hicks, Professor Howard (Faculty Head), Bri Hoover, Sidney Boynton, and me!

My Advice to College Students

  1. Get involved in your department. Clubs. Events. Anything. Introduce yourself to every professor so you are known. (That’s how my professor knew to contact me for the media position.)
  2. Learn hard skills: photography, Photoshop, Illustrator, to name a few. Specifically in creative professions, these are irreplaceable.
  3. Say yes. Who would have known a sports internship would lead to being on the Fashion Leadership Team? (Thank goodness it did! Sports are cool but fashion is cooler 😉 )