As you’re probably aware, this year is the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, which means 60 years of reigning glory! That actually is pretty impressive if you think about it: she’s seen [Winston] Churchill and [Margaret] Thatcher to name some of the more iconic British prime ministers. From the American perspective, 60 years is all the presidents from Truman and Ike [Dwight Eisenhower] to our current Obama. The royals are having something of a spike in popularity at the moment. Of course, everyone was already in love with Kate and Will, but with such festivity everywhere, (we’re talking 1,000 boats on the Thames river for the flotilla pageant!), it seems that everything British is brilliant!
The Queen’s party, however, was not the only throw-down in town (forgive me, I do write that slightly satirically), which brings me to my most glamorous moment at Esquire. The work and experience are of course the important things and the most integral, but a little bit of glitz is all right every now and then! This is Londontown in 2012! The whole place is celebrating the Queen/the Olympics/the European Championships – and men’s fashion collections!
In an incredibly fortunate turn, I am here for the week of London Collections: Men. This is a series that sits outside the men’s fashion calendar but grew out of men’s day at London Fashion Week. The collections are primarily British designers, and Esquire being one of the foremost men’s fashion magazines is an important and essential presence.
In an incredibly fortunate turn, I am here for the week of London Collections: Men. This is a series that sits outside the men’s fashion calendar but grew out of men’s day at London Fashion Week. The collections are primarily British designers, and Esquire being one of the foremost men’s fashion magazines is an important and essential presence.
So, naturally, they threw a party.
The party was in collaboration with Jimmy Choo and Mr Porter, (the men’s edition of net-a-porter.com for all of you fashion enthusiasts. The previous editor of Esquire, Jeremy Langmead, is now in charge Mr Porter). And it was fashionable indeed. The CEO of Hearst came for night off, and Jimmy Choo’s creative directors kicked back. One of Esquire’s recent cover stars, Jon Hamm, was in attendance, as was Florence Welch, actor Benedict Cumberbatch, designer Matthew Williamson, style icon Alexa Chung (who DJed!) and many other beautiful and talented characters who are big in the British scene. The drinks were flowing, the music was dropping, and the hotel was beautiful.
All of this sounds very glamorous and exciting – and it was, especially for a novice like myself – but there was a huge amount of organization and logistics that came beforehand. The entertainment editor was essentially consumed by the event in the week leading up to it, and he did an incredible job! I was brought on board to address invites and deliver the goody bags and issues that we would give out at the end of the night. I was thrilled to be part of the action, but I certainly had my “Oh crap!” intern moment. On the day of the party, I needed to transport the goody bags, perfume samples and magazines from the offices to the hotel when no couriers were available, a fire and back-to-back traffic obstructed Trafalgar Square, and the driver of the passenger van I arranged instead suffered chronic diarrhea. But it all worked out.
That, I think, is the essence of what you learn in an internship. It’s fun, creative and exciting, but your work really matters and the people you are working with really care. It’s about making the jump from classroom to office, even if you think you’ll be totally prepared because you’re a Carolina journalism student, right? It’s about embracing the tasks that you weren’t and cannot be prepared for. I know I’ve learned to edit at UNC; I had no idea I was so terrible at answering a phone until I had to suffer a week of tentative, bashful mess-ups while all the important people around me could overhear. Obviously, I got the hang of it (kind of), but the more important thing was that I learned to accept that I was still learning. It doesn’t matter how good a writer or an editor you are. There is so much to learn, and I know that I will spend my first internships and jobs mostly learning, and seeing how far I can extend the skills I have brought from UNC.
I will say one more thing that I don’t think gets talked about enough at UNC or in CAFME. At Carolina, yes, you are working at a very high, respectable standard. It is competitive, and we are better and more ambitious because of that. But do not make the mistake of acting solely on ambition. Do not intern anywhere or somewhere because "that’s what everyone else is doing," or because it’s a big, recognizable title. Yes, big titles open doors, and they really do operate on a different plane. But go after what you’re really passionate about. I’m really interested in literary and long-form journalism. You might be wondering why I went to a “men’s” magazine and not something more conventional. I went there because Esquire publishes some of the best contemporary writers around and because I don’t actually really read Cosmo and ELLE or Lucky and Glamour. I read the journalists and writers who tend to feature in Esquire, Vanity Fair, GQ, T magazine, The Atlantic. I can honestly say this internship taught me so much and opened up so much that I didn’t know about the area I’m interested in, and that is the point of work experience. You might be good enough to get into a number of high-profile titles, but even if your resume can get you in the door, down the road, to really be an effective and impassioned contributor, you need to really care and really know your stuff.
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