THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WORKING FOR A MAGAZINE

We've all bought a final print issue of our favourite fashion magazine. The magazine always looks so perfect sat there on the shelf but have you ever wondered about the work behind the final issue? There are a few things that I'd like to share with you that I never knew before working for a fashion magazine as an intern.

Magazine teams are small

You'd be surprised how much gets done when you have a small but efficient team. At InStyle Magazine they have a small team for fashion and a small team for beauty. Each team works on the same magazine but are linked through the editors. Both are separate from each other are do not share the same tasks or clients.

The magazine has teams of around 20-25 people to run the entire section. When I joined, I thought that their team would be a far bigger as InStyle is a monthly magazine with thousands of clients. The reason they keep the teams small is to control the amount of people on each task at a time. Emails and post can easily get lost or damaged when being handled by different people. By having a small tight-knit team you eliminate the risk of this happening as you are able to maintain communication with everyone throughout the day.

Fashion Editors keep hold of other's work for inspiration

One of my main roles as an intern is to maintain a healthy relationship between the magazine and their clients. This relationship isn't just between Designers and Photographers but also other Editors from different magazines. Mood boards and inspiration folders are frequently created in order to keep up with what other magazines are doing as well as maintaining the quality of the magazine they work for. For example, if an Editor from InStyle decided that they admired the layout of something in ELLE then they would store a photocopy of the pages in an inspiration folder for further future reference.

Magazines usually don't have their own building

Before I arrived at InStyle I was imagining what the building would look like. I was completely unaware that fashion magazines hardly ever have their own building. InStyle only have 1/4 of a floor which came as a shock to me due to the quality of the environment they work in and the quality of the magazine.

Magazines rely on interns A LOT

Almost the whole delivery system and client response team is made up of interns. Never think that you're invaluable as an intern as you are the foundation of the background work. You're role is one of the most important as you're expected to do all of the jobs that no one else can or wants to do. Without interns the magazine would have to spend more time, research/marketing help and money on supporting their clients daily. Every single email that comes through to InStyle's fashion cupboard must be replied to which is why interns are relied on so greatly. If it was down to the Editors and Fashion Directors to respond to all of them then the clients may not have as much trust in the magazine.

Staff make just as many mistakes as interns

Sometimes you cannot help natural instincts. Editors, Stylists, Fashion Directors, EVERYONE makes mistakes... it's part of life. The pressure of the job can get to you if you're not fully focused. This can then cause you to slip up on the simplest of things. Just remember that it's never as bad as you think. Clients and PR's are usually very understanding if mistakes are made if you're just honest with them. BE HONEST. That's important. As soon as an Editor makes a mistake (big or small)they immediately email or make a call to correct it.

Things are usually done VERY last minute

I was working in the fashion cupboard last week for the majority of the time and I was constantly being asked to ship and sent a bike out with items from the HQ to a photo-shoot. Sometimes the items that are being shot on the model for a photo-shoot will come the night before and be packed and sent that night. Interns are often asked to stay behind and pack the suitcases for photo-shoots when the items arrive from PR's.

If the magazine choose to shoot on location which can be outside or inside a studio, they usually leave it very late to book. They're often too distracted by deliveries and styling ideas to concentrate on location details. It sounds silly but that's usually the last thing on their minds! Locations for a photo-shoot can be booked on the day before sometimes.