Written by Andrea Six
Photos by Diana Vega Vega
At the start of the SCAD Style “Fashion, Film and a New Age of Content Marketing” panel, a variety of short videos played—Mindy Kaling Visits the Vogue Closet for a Fitting, Punk Stories, Paint Test No. 1, Kate Upton Shows Off Her Dance Moves and Sophomore.
Why?
“Because video, for fashion, is the way forward,” said Sally Singer, Vogue’s digital creative director and the moderator for the afternoon.
Fashion shoots are not just for photos anymore—they’re for video, too. It’s a big production that a team can get all kinds of digital content out of. In addition to photos, a fashion magazine can also get videos to post online—on their website, their Instagram and all kinds of other places to reach their audience.
“Video feels like the newest way to show fashion,” said Sara Moonves, a fashion editor at Vogue.
At the panel, Moonves sat down with Singer and filmmakers Arnaud Boutin, Cass Bird and Quentin Jones. Together, they discussed the future of fashion through video and talked about how an artist’s growth and interests in different fields contribute to their career path.
Though all of them work in the fashion industry, they agreed it was not just their skills and passion for style that got them the jobs they have today: working for Vogue and contributing to other magazines, including Nylon, New York Times Style Magazine and Glamour.
“You have to be really interested in something else,” said Singer. “Fashion won’t sustain you.”
To have successful careers in these creative fields, there has to be another passion that stylists, creative directors, filmmakers and photographers can pull from. The fashion industry does not just grow from within itself; it thrives because the designers and artists pull inspiration from everything around them.
“It always starts with a picture, a concept, a character and then the fashion comes from that,” said Moonves. “If you’re just thinking about the clothes, then it won’t be as successful.”
When artists, designers and all kinds of other creators pair the passions in their career with their other interests, all kinds of possibilities open up.
“Try a lot of stuff and learn what you like,” said Moonves. “Don’t set your heart on anything.”
She advised students to leave room to grow and learn about the industry. Moonves went to school for journalism and interned at a lot of places, before she got to Vogue. She didn’t realize that she’d end up as a fashion editor.
“There are a lot of jobs out there that you don’t even know about,” said Moonves. “You don’t have to know what job you want right now.”
Everyone on the panel stressed how important it is to keep working no matter the circumstances, especially for students and recent graduates. Whether or not students have the ‘right’ job or are in the ideal place, they need to keep working to develop their skills.
“I always had a lot of jobs,” said Singer. “And every single job I’ve had has been interesting.”
To Singer, they were never just jobs; they were opportunities to learn and grow. She worked as a waitress, wrote reviews and did all kinds of jobs just to get money on the table, but she didn’t think of them as just that. She took those skills and applied them to the things she loved.
“You have to take the things you think are interesting and figure out a way to finance them,” said Singer.
When Bird, the photographer and filmmaker on the panel, didn’t have the ‘dream job’ she was looking for, she ended up taking headshots of people. It was not her favorite job, but she was working.
“I was still photographing subjects I was attracted to,” said Bird. “I just kept at it.”
But it’s more than just the skills that amateur designers and videographers have to develop; eventually, they have to come into their own and find a way to be distinct.
“The most important thing is to develop a style that’s recognizable,” said Jones.
Skills and style come with experience. To get to places like Vogue, there has to be a passion to push through the tough parts. But ultimately the perfect job shouldn’t measure success.
“The way to be successful in the world is to be successful to yourself,” said Singer.