The Challenges Of An Internshiption In The Fashion Industry

The fashion industry is a utopia, of silk and suede and, shoes and belts. It is a place where flowers smell of Chanel and Givenchy; and trees bear diamonds and rubies, where extravagant living is a reality; and thin women walk down the many streets with hot cups of espressos every fraction of a second. And this industry is not just the fourth largest in the world, but also the most loved! Millions have found livelihood here. Millions try everyday to find their place. And the options for them are many- designer, model, photographer, choreographer, stylist- the list is endless! But is it as simple as it looks? With the cut-throat competition in current times, it's very difficult to carve out your own niche in this industry. To land up in a job of your interest is both difficult and stressful. After months of spamming mails and giving out resumes, when one does land up with a job, they might think that they are not cut-out for it. What then? Start with the whole cycle of spamming and searching again? No. An internship is a better option. But is an unpaid internship the right way to go about it? That's the real question.

An internship is an answer to all the dilemmas faced by young adults trying to choose the right path. It can put one at the top of the game. It allows young aspirants to get a flavor of their dream jobs. And not just that, it's an idea that benefits the company and the intern mutually. But with a desperation to reach the zenith growing in fashion students, they are volunteering to work free of cost to get exposed to the industry. This action has resulted in companies making offers for unpaid internships only. It’s a blunt truth that everything comes with a price today and the price of getting a test run into your d...

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...making business, sadly not benefitting the interns as much as they should.

According to me, ones work and efforts, no matter how less or more, must be acknowledged. And in this case, with monetary returns for their labor. Interns must make sure that their time and effort, too, have value and that value is more than the remote idea of a “networking opportunity” or one step further up a mythical career ladder. Because that's what it is- a myth. Nothing in life comes for free. In an age where one might soon get charged for oxygen, how can they expect to live off their own pockets and work for free? And for how long? Work is not, as the internship setting would suggest, an exchange of gifts. Work is an exchange of time for money. And I strongly believe that we need to understand the importance of an intern and his job, in order to respect it enough to pay him his dues.