To anyone who's laboured in the fashion industry, hearing the glamorous job title of 'unpaid intern' will not come with the slightest bit of surprise. Said much put-upon intern isn't just the person collecting samples, steaming the fabrics and licking the floor of the fashion cupboard clean anymore: their roles are so manifold they're the very lynchpin of the operations, making the collections come to life. To make a collection come alive you don't need a team: you need an army.

With so many fashion graduates pouring from schools with an abundance of naivety, extraordinary talent (and glasses of the rose-tinted variety) designers can pretty much take their pick of the willing-but-wet-behind-the-ears. This economic downturn this hasn't only accelerated the fashion-slave industry. Whilst obviously it benefits from this phenomenon (duh, it's totally win-win for the designer)  just take a look at London's recent fashion weeks, the anti gets upped every time. 

So, three cheers for the fact that HM Revenue and Customs have finally caught on to this little slavery-loophole: it seems they finally smell a rat of the exploitative variety. A whopping 102 fashion houses that show at London Fashion Week have received stern letters of warning that they are 'under scrutiny' for treating unpaid interns like paid employees. The assumption being that by next London Fashion Week conditions will have started to change. 

Having undertaken internships (good and bad) in this rather chilly economic climate, I have to say it's gonna take more than a few finger-wagging letters to cut out this practice in fashion. That fashion relies on interns is an understatement. Who do we think does this heavy embellishment? If we want to change the system of internships within fashion, more stringent guidelines should be made for the fashion houses, yes, but also for the interns themselves. If you ain't getting a dime well, then there's some shots you're well within your rights to call, and if done correctly you'll take away something amazing from one of the most exciting industries to be a part of. 

Let's not forget that the face of fashion isn't the chauffeured-to-the-front-row champagne-sippers. Its the girl fetching their Starbucks.

Posted on December 14, 2011 at 11:52:18 by Alice Nyong