On that note, and as promised, the Moschino Mystery will be continued. It came to light that it was not only one ridiculously expensive catwalk piece that sprouted legs and ran off, but THREE! A Moschino skirt, Miu Miu blouse and Marios Schwab dress. At this point eyes were shiftily peering from one to the other, forget suspecting anyone else- what if they suspect you? No time for accusations though- the plot thickens. The girls from Marie Claire, Woman & Home and Look all came by claiming they'd also had a spate of thefts. It was decided that the best thing to do was call the Fuzz and have them all watch the security tapes. By this point my mind was desperately trying to remember if I'd done anything hideously embarrassing within the camera's view that I would, in all seriousness, have to warn the assistants about before they watched the security tapes back.. Forget the clothes! What if someone had watched me put on the 42KK neon pink bra we were sent as part of Breast Cancer Awareness [good cause, bad bra] and load it up with staplers, hole punchers and rolls of sellotape..? Actually that's the tip of the iceberg, the amount of arse they were going to see on that tape made me feel marginally better as none of it's mine! It could be worse anyway, at least I knew I actually haven't taken anything. Of course we can't point fingers without being sure, and since I left before this sticky situation was resolved I can't really comment, but suffice to say that one intern in particular must have been feeling the heat of the situation since they mysteriously failed to show up at work one day, and then the next until it was like they'd never existed!
Now, you would think that this series of thievery would have some pretty serious repercussions for all the assistants, right? Perhaps docking of wages, as in a bar if you smashed a bottle of wine, but no. Most likely because they're pay packet each month isn't enough to cover even half the cost of that one Marios Schwab dress.. This is not to be snobby, as an impoverished student even the most meagre of amounts seems like riches! But considering the job they were doing, running their own shoots and dealing with senior editor's demands as well, the small amount they are paid per month seems less than fair- and certainly not enough to live on comfortably. I won't reveal how much it is, don't want to be blacklisted just yet, but I can bet that whatever your guess is, it is at least 20% lower! However, don't go feeling too sorry for them [or me] just yet because what they lack in pay they make up for in freebies. The gigantic bra doesn't paint a very attractive picture but they are really given some amazing things from PRs as presents or in exchange for being featured in the magazine. And it's not just them who reaped the rewards, the interns felt the benefits of our hard work in the form of old season clothes, jewellery and press freebies- not to mention the incredible beauty samples that can't be returned. Once again, I've got to keep some tricks of the trade to myself but for those of you who I see [that's all 5 of you..] I'll give you a sneaky peak of the goodies. An extremely difficult and fast paced job but not one without its peaks; the people there are extremely generous and not just in the superficial sense of presents, but with their time also. The senior fashion assistant was more than happy to step outside with me and give me guidance, advice and the inside track on positions and what to do next. During my time at InStyle there were no photoshoots beyond the first week, and rather than do what most magazines do, and in spite of the fact that there were four interns, they took our dates and phone numbers on departure to get in contact for the next photoshoot. This I found to be the most valuable and thoughtful aspect of working there- they appreciated that you had spent a month crammed into a windowless room, so hot that girls were having nosebleeds on a regular basis!, and want to try and do right by you. There are no guarantees, nothing new there then, that a photoshoot will materialise as they try to avoid backlogs of interns clamouring for photoshoots but at least they are trying.
More on the trials and tribulation of Glamour later on in the week. For now, I'm doing a celeb move and taking control of the security tape situation.. Enjoy!
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| I went on to show this picture to a stranger in a bar after work.. |
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| I am actually better endowed than this picture suggests |
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