From my non-negotiable Gail’s breakfast to presenting proposals for Vogue’s September issue, enrolling in the short course 5 Days of Fashion Journalism at Vogue College in London is an experience I will forever cherish.
It is often said you will know when a person is for you, but I also believe this to be true for the doors you walk through, entering the opportunities brought to you. Arriving at Vogue College in London’s Bedford Square for my first day of 5 Days of Fashion Journalism, that very same instantaneous knowing feeling flooded my body. During our first lesson on fashion writing, our course leader, Paul Tierney, stated, “fashion is in everything, it’s in the trees and the buildings that surround us… you just need to look up”, and suddenly I had a clear definition of what fashion means to me.
I am always hesitant to share my interest in the luxury fashion industry, as it may be mistakenly perceived as vain and brainless, especially in the academic walls of St Andrews, where more traditional forms of academic pursuits are more valued. I don’t believe fashion is only found superficially in the clothes we wear, but echoes in the ways we live, dress, and socialise. As a student of psychology, framing fashion from this perspective greatly inspires me. Strikingly, Princess Diana used to say, “When I go home and turn my light out at night, I know I did my best”, which was undoubtedly true, given her affectionately earned title of ‘the People’s Princess.’ I have always wondered if the same satisfaction of leaving the world a better place than you found it could translate to a career in the fashion industry. Could fashion be fulfilling? If we think of fashion as being in the way we live, we can indeed find that the Princess of Wales’ satisfaction in the fashion world.
Luxury brands, from the Ritz to Gucci, are primarily consumed by people with grand influence and power. For each monthly issue, Vogue’s masthead fine-tunes and distributes this influence, holding a mirror to the current society, demonstrating a sort of soft, cultural-influence-based power through the culture of fashion. As students at Vogue College, we engaged with print magazines from the 60s to the 90s, emphasizing the concrete evolution of society through Vogue-tinted glasses. Inspired by the vintage Vogue prints, after class, I visited the college library, which housed every past issue of Vogue. To me, this was a gold mine. If I didn’t have dinner plans with a friend, I most likely would’ve been there until lights out. Taking a trip to the 80s shelf forced me to live vicariously through the nostalgia of my teenage mum flicking through the same pages, with George Michael simultaneously playing on her radio in the walls of her childhood bedroom. I fondly remember envisioning my dream evening spent on an oversized hotel room bed, dressed in a fluffy bathrobe, accompanied by nothing but a giant stack of these old Vogue issues and a sweet green tea.
From lessons on fashion history and trend forecasting, I most valuably learned that Vogue magazine is not only your go-to guide for the best ballet flats of the season. It is a snapshot of the present society you are living in, an archive to remind the future of the past, under the most influential name. After all, I wouldn’t have attended the college if it were not for Vogue’s reputable and longstanding reign in the industry. Vogue College taught me that fashion can be fulfilling, where there is the potential to influence, and there is power to make a positive impact. What do you wish your mum had read in an ’80s Vogue issue?