Do You Really Need A Degree To Work In Fashion?

Whisper it, but some of our most beloved fashion icons never went to uni. Coco Chanel left school at 18. Jean Paul Gaultier got his break by sending his sketches to famous couture stylists before working for Pierre Cardin. Nicolas Ghesquière got his start by interning at Agnes B., and back in the 90s, British Vogue’s Edward Enninful decided freshers week wasn’t for him, and became i-D’s teenage Fashion Director instead. But that was then and this is now. Whether attending university is a distant memory or your current daily dilemma, most of us remember the pressure and the expectation to finish school and progress to uni. Add in the complication of whether you should study a ‘safe’ academic degree, like Law or English, or follow your passion and pursue a degree in fashion or art in the hope that it’ll help you enter the fashion industry more smoothly, and the whole issue becomes even more stressful and confusing. And that’s not to mention the huge financial cost of three or more years of studying. So, is it worth it? Read more at i-D.