Gloss: The Fashion Magazine
Though I thoroughly enjoy updating Dualité, I also work for an online Canadian fashion magazine called Gloss: The Fashion Magazine. I write for the fashion section about, what else, Montreal fashion. It’s a monthly publication with groups available on Facebook and MySpace, and covers coast to coast on the Canadian-only fashion scene. They cover local designers, beauty products, music and street fashion. Gloss also keeps up their own blog “Glossip” to which I’ve contributed a couple of posts already (my favorite post so far was about the Cashmere toilet paper dresses).
So if you’re tired of reading about the high end lines that nobody can afford like Valentino and company, you might just discover a couple of cool stores in your local Canadian area.
The latest issue covers L’Oréal and Montreal Fashion Week (which I covered), and the next issue will be due out at the end of January.
Have fun checking it out!
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
hey Dahlia
you work for Gloss? thats is actually incredibly impressive!! I also work for a magazine (Fashion) but on the sales and advertising side.
One question for you: how did you get to where you are? what did you study in school? was it journalism seeing your job consists of writing articles? Help a sista out…I am trying to find myself and think I may need to hit up some more schooling!!
seriously…love your blog…one of the few that I actually READ (as opposed to just scrolling through)
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Thanks so much for reading me! I also enjoy reading your blog eventhough I don’t comment often, but I know you put a lot of effort in making those images
As for Gloss, it was actually per chance that I stumbled upon it. It’s a fairly new online fashion mag that started in July. They had an ad on Craigslist looking for fashion writers. I submitted a sample of a post and they hired me!
I only studied a bit of Journalism in a Continuing Education certificate, but haven’t managed to finish it yet, but it certainly helped in writing my articles.
I think it’s great you’re working in advertising and sales for a fashion mag! You’re already connected to the industry so that’s a plus. Gloss is actually my first fashion writing job, previously I wrote a couple of articles for a college newspaper, but it didn’t pan out in the long run since they were more interested in indie/diy fashion than mainstream.
My best suggestion for you if you want to start out in writing for fashion, just look through job sites, particularly Craigslist (many do telecommute aka work from home). You should also try http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com, it’s an excellent site for new bloggers and writers. You’ll find some real paying jobs and helpful tips on landing jobs. It’s not all fashion jobs, but they do pop up occasionally. Just try to send to as many places that interest you as possible, someone is bound to give you a chance. You can also try to wing it at local newspapers by pitching ideas to the fashion or lifestyle editor.
Actually I could go on for ages on what you can do, lol. I’m also pretty new to this field, but I do a lot of research to see what’s going on. Hope that helps you somewhat! Feel free to ask me any time, I’ll be happy to help!
January 4th, 2008 at 9:26 am
hey Dahlia
Thanks so much for th advice…I already checked out that freelance website…Funny how it took me 27 years to realize what I really wanted to do -but in the end I knew it all along (am I even making any sense? lol) This continuing education in journalism that you did: where was it? Can you provide a link as I feel I do need some sort of formal training. I mean, who am I to show up and declare “I can write, please pay me!”.
I am checking out the Craigslist for sure this weekend as well…merci!!!
Any other link or helpful tip would be fantastic!
January 4th, 2008 at 10:35 am
I took my classes at Concordia University, I think I took about 5 writing classes and 1 photography class (you need about 10 classes to get a certificate). I found the Basic Editing class to be the toughest but it’s the one that helps you the most, I really wanna take another editing class cause I honestly feel my writing could be much better, but they don’t offer any other editing classes :/
It depends what kind of fashion writing you want to do though. Do you want to cover news? Stories? Store profiles? Interviews? Blogs? Because all of these have slightly different writing formats, especially news since you have to be concise and tell the big news from the first sentence. Newspapers are a good source of how the structure of a news story goes, but you’ll probably learn more at school on that.
Always start with small local publications first, big shots like Vogue probably won’t give you the time of day if you don’t have any experience in the writing field. I started with Concordia’s The Link and wrote some movie reviews and wrote an article about a lesbian clothing store. Then dabbled in writing fashion posts in my personal blogs and kept looking through the job sites. It might take a while til you get something (took me 3-4 months), but don’t give up hope! I’m also looking to pitch and write freelance for newspapers and whatever else I might find, I don’t even know myself.
January 4th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Hi Dahlia
Well, I already printed out the registration form and will pass by the Concordia office to register for my first 2 classes which are both on Thursday. This is exactly what I need! Thank you thank you thank you!!!
I am not yet sure what I want to focus on but I think it would be stories and interviews…but I need to delve into it further! I know I am in dire need of some sort of formal training and hopefully these courses will give me a clearer view.
I cannot thank you enough! By the way, Basic editing (oddly enough) is one of the first classes I need to take. Ill let you know how it goes.
By the way, do you know if courses are at Loyola or downtown?
not to sounds like a geekface, but thanks again!!
January 4th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Cool! Good luck on that
I should be taking classes again soon, but I probably won’t get back to it til the fall.
The classes are supposed to be given downtown, most of my classes were at the Faubourg building and the one next to the Pharmaprix (provigo?iga?) across the street on Ste-Catherine, sorry I forgot the name of it.
You’ll like the program, I found that people from all walks of life come to school to learn how to write, and it’s amazing the energy that goes on in those classes. Definitely not morose like regular undergraduate classes!
Have fun and good luck
Let me know if you’re ever writing for a publication and I’ll check it out!