Journalist beauty/fashion & luxury
Job profile
The fashion, beauty, and luxury journalist is above all a writer. From their pen come articles, interviews, columns, and features that present the latest in fashion, the newest trends in cosmetics, or the latest favorite of haute couture houses.
A Passionate Profession
With a genuine enthusiasm for the luxury sphere and sometimes an unusual background (cosmetic science, nutrition, fashion management...), the fashion, beauty, and luxury journalist works within an editorial team. Based on press releases and press kits they receive, information from their network, or personal research, they identify topics to submit to their editor-in-chief.
“If there’s one quality to remember about the fashion, beauty, and luxury journalist, it’s their natural curiosity,” insists Patricia Wagner, former editor-in-chief of Modes&Travaux. “Going beyond raw information, asking the right questions, reaching out to the right people... that’s how they uncover interesting topics, and especially find angles that give depth to their pieces!”
Relational Skills and Artistic Sensitivity
The fashion, beauty, and luxury journalist must rely on a wide network, both within the journalistic sphere and the luxury sector. “They know the press agencies, the press officers, and have other contacts within major fashion houses. It’s a crucial asset!”
With a good general knowledge, great open-mindedness, and sensitivity to varied universes, they stay alert to any information that could be the subject of an article: “We are now in the era of multimedia journalism,” explains Patricia Wagner. “In addition to traditional media (newspapers, magazines...), journalists also write for the web and social media... These platforms have their own urgency! Journalists must take this into account and adapt to these new working conditions.”
Their evident sense of aesthetics and ability to foresee new trends sometimes make them a visionary. They can then reflect an emerging fashion or a new, unknown designer.
The Fashion, Beauty, and Luxury Journalist in Practice
Required level: Bac+5
Required qualities: excellent knowledge of the luxury universe, good interpersonal skills, great writing, lots of curiosity, and great open-mindedness.
Average salary: around €30K for junior profiles – up to €45-50K for senior profiles
