I have encountered many fashion dilemmas in my 20 years. Are
sequin wellies a good idea (yes) how many novelty jumpers is too many novelty
jumpers, and what do you wear in the snow when all you own are dresses and
skirts? But on Friday I was faced with a fashion first: how to accessorise a t-shirt emblazoned
with the words ‘PAY YOUR INTERNS’ that I would be wearing to London Fashion
Week.
On Friday morning as fashionistas slipped on their stilettos
for the start of fashion week, I pulled on my t-shirt and headed to the
University of the Arts London’s Students Union. I was meeting up with the team
there that had been working for days packing ‘PAY YOUR INTERNS’ tote bags with
information for interns.
“I’d say it’s probably the first time that London Fashion
Week goody bags have contained information about National Minimum Wage
Legislation…” said Fairooz, Culture and Diversity Officer at SUARTS, as we grabbed
armfuls of bags and ran for the bus to Somerset House.
As we stepped off the bus and approached the London Fashion
Week flags flapping in the breeze, I began to feel incredibly conscious of the
slogan printed across my chest. ‘Unpaid internships’ and ‘fashion’ are phrases
that seem to roll off the tongue together in the same breath. Yet to question
the system, and to raise the question right in the face of the industry like
this at London Fashion Week… Well…
My ears rang with the clicking of heels and the silence of
stares.
“This is a bit scary, isn’t it?” I said to Fairooz as we
approached the entrance.
There was little time for fear though as we gathered with
Intern Aware and the rest of the protestors and headed together through the
stone archways. We assembled in the courtyard and watched as the faces turned.
Then a moment later: “are you giving out those bags?” and, “Pay
your interns. Yes. I completely agree,” and we were off.
Throughout the morning we handed out tote bags and talked to
hundreds of people about the campaign. Most people were overwhelmingly
supportive. I felt a rush of excitement watching the bags disappear with people
into the crowd, our message carried on their arms.
When I first came to London Fashion Week it was as an eager
unpaid intern. It is safe to say I am somewhat jaded now, and that coming back
this time felt very different.
Despite my initial fear on turning up at London Fashion Week
dressed like I was, I am not really scared. As protestors we may have been
outnumbered by bloggers, editors and buyers who were far more fashionable than
us, but I know that the messages on our baggy white t-shirts were right. And I
know that we were representing thousands of people who feel the same way,
people who dream of working in industries like fashion but just don’t have the
means to work for months at a time without a wage. People who are no less
determined or talented than those who get the breaks, but who just can’t afford
the price of a future in fashion.
There may be a way to go but I am hopeful that one day we
won’t need to wear these t-shirts because interns will get a wage, not just
because it’s the law, or because it makes long term business sense for
companies to have the widest possible pool of talent to choose from, but
because it is right.
Suddenly some stilettos and stares seem a lot less
frightening when you realise you are right, and you are not alone.