Hello again from London!
I hope everyone has been having an amazing semester back in Boston and I am looking forward to joining you all in just over a month! For the past seven weeks, I have been completing the internship portion of my abroad programme and I am happy to report it has been a successful experience! I chose to intern with a small fashion PR firm in central London who work with a variety of clients. I’ve always been interested in fashion PR but I’ve never known if it was exactly what I wanted to do so I decided, why not give it a try in one of the fashion capitals of the world?!
The internship was definitely a learning experience and the best way to get immersed in the culture and work life of London. Here are the four most valuable (and fun!) things I learned at my internship:
- Difference in the style of journalism. Each day, I scanned through the local daily papers like The Guardian, The Daily Mail, and The Daily Telegraph for fashion coverage and mentions of our clients. Here, everything is so much more sensational and almost reminds me of the National Enquirer. The Sun even features a nude photo on page three everyday! No daily paper in America would get away with that!
- Running PR events. During my time, I helped the team with three client events including our major fall press day. A press day is basically when you invite all local journalists to your showroom to see you client’s new collections. It’s a really important day for the agency and I learned a ton preparing for and helping at the event.
- Sending out press samples. This aspect of my internship may have been favorite. A couple times a day, journalists sent us stories they were working on so we could send them clothes from our clients that could be featured in their publication. It was my job to pick out the clothes and accessories and send them to the journalist. This helped me learn what types of items look best when photographed and the difference between still life shots and model shots. It tapped into my shopaholic tendencies a bit and I loved it!
- The lingo. For the first week of my internship, I was so confused when I would come into work and people would ask if I was alright. Did I look sick? Tired? Sad? I couldn’t figure it out. Nope, that is just a normal greeting like “what’s up.” Other confusing terms? A jumper is a sweater. A gillet is a vest. Rocket is arugula. A biscuit is a cookie. Chips are French fries and crisps are chips. The bin is the trashcan. And don’t forget to say cheers before leaving for the day!
Now that the internship is over, I just have my last class and final! I can’t believe I only have two weeks left in this amazing city and I will be sad to leave but it will be good to be home with my family for Christmas.
Happy Holidays COM Family!