Actually making a living in the fashion industry often seems elusive, as many models, photographers, those in PR and many other support fields face many years as unpaid interns, or at stipend level wages. While being an unpaid intern has traditionally been the way of “paying your dues”, the downturn in the economy and subsequent crisis among fashion brands to survive opened the door to a world where eager, fresh-faced college grads in the various fashion-related fields could easily be exploited for free labor.
Well, it looks like the @#$% is about to hit the fan. With the recent class-action lawsuit filed against Hearst Magazine on behalf of over 3,000 unpaid interns, as well as other intern uprisings springing up across the world, it’s not surprising that Occupy Wall Street has taken notice and sees opportunity to raise attention to the issue during New York Fashion Week, which runs February 7 through the 14th.
Intern Labor Rights , a sub group of the Occupy Wall Street movement has been building the drumbeat on behalf of unpaid interns world-wide. The media attention related to worker’s rights has grown significantly and ILR has been the force behind raising awareness.
The increased awareness of the issue was jump-started when Harper’s Bazaar intern, Diana Wang, sued Hearst Magazine a year ago. Like many who dream of working in the New York fashion industry, Wang thought “This was going to be my only ticket to the industry,” she says. “I didn’t have unlimited resources. I was going to make the time worthwhile. I was going to be remembered by people.” But as the New York Times recently declared her The Norma Rae of the Fashion Industry, she’s likely to be remembered for a far different reason.
As New York Fashion Week begins next week, how many people behind the scenes working for free would likely to be an incredibly shocking number. And while there is a huge difference in working for free to have the chance to participate in fashion week, the trend toward publishing a fashion magazine or promoting a fashion brand on the backs of serial unpaid labor is an issue that deserves attention.
We all know that once gas prices go up, they rarely ever go down, even if all the refineries in the world are pumping out gas in record supply… will so the fashion industry go as well? Just because fashion labels crashed and burned during the economic disaster of the last 3 years, their reliance on unpaid labor can’t be left unchecked. As money enters the industry again, so must it enter the pockets of the people who made that possible.
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