While a job in fashion PR certainly stands out as glamorous, the domain also requires a lot of different skills. You will need to be exceptionally organised to keep track of daily press events and very persuasive to convince a renowned journalist to cover your event.

If the above-mentioned duties seem interesting to you, a public relations career in the fashion world is the ideal path to pursue.

As a fashion publicist, you might also get the chance to work with top professionals in the fashion world, including designers, magazine editors, models or photographers. This dynamic and lucrative job role involves developing creative solutions to exciting challenges within the fashion world such as finding last-minute bookings for events and sourcing the right press channels to promote up and coming brands.  

What do fashion publicists do?

The main job of fashion publicists is to generate awareness for their brands. This can be anything from online media coverage, press coverage for red carpet events or high profile fashion shows. They develop lasting relationships with fashion celebrities, including editors and stylists and leverage them to secure good media coverage.

As a fashion PR manager, you are required to craft a public message that can positively shape public opinion of your brand. A few responsibilities of the job include writing content for product launches as well as organising fashion press meets and shows.

You might also coordinate with stylists to run a successful fashion show, monitor press outlets and ensure that the press positively covers your company events.

Although fashion PR is an exciting and rewarding career path, it can be a relatively competitive domain to break into. Here are a few useful tips that can help you put your foot in the door of the fashion PR industry.

  1. Polish your resume as per the fashion house in consideration

Your resume is your chance to represent your personality and skills in front of prospective employers. It should therefore be a work-in-progress at all times, ready to be tweaked in accordance with the fashion house you might be applying to.

This is particularly important as every fashion company or magazine is known for its individualistic styles and brand images.

It’s therefore important to carefully assess the key skills or attributes that are mentioned in every PR job posting you’re applying to. Ensure that you are well-versed in those areas and your ability reflects in your resume.

  1. Don’t stop adding to your qualifications

There is nothing out of the syllabus if you are in the fashion industry. Any kind of knowledge from business management to classical art history can be potentially useful for your career.

A career in fashion PR requires a never-stop-learning attitude and the good news is that you can enter the field with any educational background, from liberal arts to commerce.

You will also be able to progress further by studying a creative writing degree or fashion postgraduate courses or by gaining a business writing qualification.

  1. Keep your eyes open for bigger opportunities

Even if you find yourself doing seemingly unimportant work or menial tasks in your first role, it gives you important exposure and will put you in the right direction. Entry-level responsibilities such as taking phone calls and writing pitches for small events can also help you pick up relevant industry skills for more prominent and more important roles.

Growing an extensive network of useful contacts in different media or press outlets can also help you increase your odds of landing an excellent job in PR. Networking is a valuable skill in the fashion industry, irrespective of your position. Knowing people who know people can help you connect with important names much faster than you’d imagine.

Above all this, you must remember that Rome wasn’t built in one day. Therefore, you should have realistic expectations for your first job. Remember to stay patient and persistent till a good opportunity comes your way.

Do you want to upgrade your communication and PR skills? Are you in search of the right degree to help you do that? An MA Fashion Business and Management programme from LCCA could be the ideal course to pursue.

With relevant modules such as Digital Communications and Fashion PR, you can learn how to analyse and evaluate the most effective digital communication methods. You can also learn how to plan different types of communication channels and messages for advertising, PR and marketing.

The UCA-accredited MA Fashion Business and Management course delivers a highly practical-oriented education with seminars, industry visits, tutorials and workshops. These can help you become thrive in the fashion PR industry right after graduation.