Time to put your passion for fashion to good use
Budding style writers, take note: this is your opportunity to show what you're made of, as Susannah Frankel explains
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Your support makes all the difference.It's a dirty job, as they say, but someone's got to do it. Someone's got to travel twice-yearly to New York, Milan and Paris and spend their days – and often their nights – watching lovely clothes go by. That's when they're not attending "intimate" dinners with Donatella Versace, sipping champagne in the presence of Tom Ford, or even swanking it up with Valentino on his yacht. Then there's the constant flow of flowers, free handbags, shoes and clothes from grateful PRs accompanied by hand-written notes from the designers themselves...
Feeling bitter yet? Torn between pure hatred and wanting to be me? Of course, the fashion fabulousness of the above and its central part in the life of fashion writers is vastly exaggerated. In reality, you're more likely to find yourself screaming descriptions of clothes to a bewildered copy taker who couldn't care less. Still, there are worse ways to make a living.
The great thing about fashion writing is the vibrancy of the raw material. To say it's a high-colour world is an understatement. Intrinsically glamorous, it is peopled by some of the most excessive and eccentric souls. It is also big business – an immensely powerful industry the force of which can be masked by the high-camp histrionics surrounding it. For the fashion journalist, then, life is wondrously varied. One minute you might be waxing lyrical about the perfect flip-flop, the next battling with statistics released by a mighty fashion conglomerate.
The winner will receive £500, at least one week's work experience at Topshop/Topman and £200 to spend in Topshop/Topman's flagship store. This isn't quite the same as being flown to New York, Milan or Paris, but, hey, you can't have everything.
The Student Fashion Journalism prize is one of 13 in this year's Independent/NUS awards. You have until 31 July to enter. Other awards are for design, arts journalism, feature writing, news reporting, photography, best student newspaper and magazine, and best website; ring 020 7561 6504 for more details
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