In the future I would like to pursue a career as a magazine editor preferably in the fashion industry. However I have no idea what major to pursue. Ideally, I would like to double major. I am the president and founder of my school’s Fashion Club, and I am very comfortable with fashion designing. I am also the editor-in-chief for my school’s yearbook committee, where I would graphically designed all the layout and overall aesthetics for the spreads and cover. I am certified in most of the Adobe Creative Suite Programs. I am extremely comfortable in all fields, whether its Advertising, Fashion Design, or Graphic Design. However I have no idea of which major to pursue for my career goal. Which Majors or Double Major, would better prepare and help me to become a Magazine Editor?
[url=<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>Want To Be A Fashion Editor? Here's What You Should Know | HuffPost Life]Here[url</a>] is an interview with Eva Chen, the editor-in-chief of Lucky magazine.
One of the best ways to think about this is to look at successful examples and see what they studied.
Anna Wintour doesn’t have a college degree - her father found her her first internship at a fashion firm. Grace Mirabella, Wintour’s predecessor at Vogue, majored in economics. Chen, in the above article, was pre-med in college (although it’s not clear what her major was). Nina Garcia (Elle) got a BA from Boston U in who knows what; then went back later and got a bachelor’s in fashion merchandising from FIT. Laura Brown (InStyle) majored in arts and communication. Anne Fulenwider (Marie Claire) majored in English literature. ([url=<a href=“https://fashionista.com/2016/05/anne-fulenwider-marie-claire%5DHere%5B/url”>https://fashionista.com/2016/05/anne-fulenwider-marie-claire]Here[/url] is an article about her as well.) Elaine Welteroth (Teen Vogue) majored in mass communications/media studies with a minor in journalism. David Hershkovits (PAPER) majored in literature; Mickey Boardman (PAPER) majored in Spanish.
So your exact major doesn’t seem to matter so much, but the general sphere of influence looks to be language, communications, and media. These were all generally people who studied some major that helped them figure out storytelling and communicating with others, which seems generally useful when you’re putting together a magazine! The fashion editors seem to have general experience with fashion as well, either through studying it (Wintour studied it briefly, and Garcia went back to it) or through work.
But that’s where the real similarities lie. Both publishing and fashion seem to be very connections-driven worlds, where internships, networking, and being in the right place at the right time matter. Almost all of these men and women started out working as interns or editorial assistants at some magazine or fashion house and progressively moved up over the course of their career. So that’s the really important part - regardless of what you major in, stay involved in publishing extracurriculars in college, and try your best to get an internship at a media outlet that will help you get an in into the publishing and/or fashion worlds.
You could always have a major in Journalism or English (if you want to be working at a magazine). If you would like to particularly be in fashion, you might want to double major or minor in Fashion Design or merchandising.
Graphic design grad here. The exact major doesn’t matter. Find a program that allows you to sample from all of the above. If you have drawing ability, try some illustration as well. And web design. Make yourself as versatile as possible. Magazines will eventually go the way of newspapers. You’ll need to have plenty of tools at your command.