Public Relations

What is it?

Working in fashion public relations (PR) is a popular career path for many aspiring fashion professionals. Essentially, a fashion PR is responsible for helping to promote a brand or company in order to sell its products. They might work for a PR agency that has a range of clients, or for an in-house PR team at a brand. Fashion PRs communicate with journalists and influencers to spread awareness of a brand in order to help generate attention through events, media (traditional media like newspapers and magazines and social media) and press days.

The career ladder

Most PRs start their career as an intern for a brand or agency. From here, the career ladder might look like this:

PR assistant - PR manager - Senior PR manager - PR director - PR agency founder or consultant

CAREER HIGHLIGHT

PRs often get to work on exciting activations like fashion week and launch events, working with many people from the industry including journalists, influencers, and celebrities. Getting to work with a brand or company that they’re passionate about is a career highlight for many PRs.

Daily tasks

On a daily basis, a PR might be pitching stories about their client to the media, or creating press releases to announce the launch of a new collection or another exciting initiative. PRs often organise and run events on behalf of their client, which involves securing venues, creating a guest list, and managing the smooth running of the event.

If you work for an agency, you’ll probably work with more than one client, meaning you’ll be juggling many different projects at once. In fashion, PRs also ensure that magazines or celebrities that are wearing their client’s clothing for a shoot or event receive the garments.

What should you study? What skill do you need?

You don’t have to study PR to enter the industry. In fact, a degree in fashion communications, journalism, marketing or business is a great way to develop the skills you need to become a great PR. There is a degree of writing involved in the work of a PR, so PRs have to be very confident communicators.

They have to multi-task and manage different clients at once, so PRs are organised and enjoy working in a dynamic, fast-paced environment. PRs are great at networking and building relationships with different people in the fashion industry, so a passion for working with others is a must in this field.

FUN FACT

PRs collect what they call “press clippings” from magazines and online publications that feature their clients work. Nowadays, most coverage is online, but PRs used to have to “clip” mentions out of the newspapers and magazines to show their client!

Want to learn more?

Many brands and agencies take on interns year-round to assist with the day-to-day tasks at their company, so there are many opportunities to gain experience in PR, even if you’re on summer holidays. These tasks might include organising samples and assisting more senior team members on events. This is a great way to find out if a career in PR could be for you!

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