Medill junior and former editor-in-chief of Northwestern’s fashion publication Stitch Magazine Austin Kim has been interested in fashion since middle school, when he began reselling Supreme and other streetwear brands.
Throughout high school, he read a lot of fashion criticism, which led him to apply to Medill.
Though there is no fashion design major on campus, NU students interested in fashion pursue a range of opportunities in the field over the summer. Some students engage in fashion opportunities on campus, through Stitch or UNITY Charity Fashion Show.
“I thought fashion journalism was my pathway,” Kim said. “But since coming here and writing more, but also double majoring in economics … I’ve pivoted and realized that there’s other careers in fashion that allow me to use more of my (analytical) capabilities, which is how I ended up on the more corporate side with buying.”
As a buying intern for luxury brand Coach this summer, Kim will help track fashion trends through data and determine what to buy for next season.
Medill junior Jade Garcia started out writing for Stitch but soon gravitated towards working on UNITY’s event production team.
“(UNITY) is a little bit more about breaking down the barriers of the fashion industry, and teaching people at Northwestern that (fashion) can be a career path, even though it’s not always the most obvious,” she said. “Especially because here, we don’t really have a lot of opportunities to learn formally about that route.”
This summer, Garcia is bringing the skills developed at UNITY to a start-up called MusicAid, which provides free music services to local communities.
After graduation, she hopes to work in fashion.
“I definitely hope to stick in the event production, creative directing realm,” Garcia said. “I love planning the fashion shows. And I think that I would like to take on a more creative role as well, and kind of have a say in the clothes that models are wearing.”
Medill sophomore Milan Hawk also pursues her interest in fashion through extracurriculars at NU, currently working as a print managing editor for Stitch.
Her minor in art history is another way for her to explore fashion through an artistic lens.
“I think fashion is art, and so it’s just a way to express myself,” Hawk said. “I think they’re very interconnected.”
This summer, she is balancing two part-time internships — one for talent agency Walter Schupfer Management and one for fashion magazine CR Fashion Book.
Carly Witteman (Medill ’24), a former editor-in-chief of Stitch who now works as a digital editor and executive assistant at CR Fashion Book, helped connect Hawk to the role.
“(I’m excited) for just finally being able to work in an industry that I’ve always wanted to break into, which I feel like is a tough industry to get into,” she said. “And to really see if this is exactly what I want to do, which, for now, I think it is, but you never know until you start.”
Despite the difficulty of breaking into the fashion industry, all three students emphasized the importance of pursuing their passions.
Kim said that he found the internship hunt to be more structured on the corporate side of fashion compared to the creative side.
“I know when I was looking at careers in fashion journalism or any sort of more creative job,” Kim said, “I had no idea what to grab onto or I would just cold email some people and Zoom with them, but not really get an edge in terms of getting a job.”
Garcia agreed, emphasizing the value of persistence.
“I think sometimes it’s intimidating, especially if you feel like maybe you don’t fit a certain style that you see in the media,” she said. “I think the first step is definitely getting over all of that doubt that you won’t fit in among those people. … If you’re passionate about it, then you know the community will help guide you to what you want to do.”
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