Guest Blogger Melissa: My Life as a Fashion Editor…part one

I wanted to be a fashion editor since I was 15 years old, so it goes
without saying that I loved every minute of my career as a fashion
editor in NYC.  It started as an intern as Sassy magazine
(oh my god, that dates me, doesn’t it?)…I created a fashion "zine"
when I was in college, and for those of you who remember Sassy, they
used to feature a "zine of the month".  Well, they featured mine and it
served as my introduction to their fashion editors.  They invited me to
intern when I graduated from college, so I moved up to New York, slept
on a friend’s couch in New Jersey, and worked for free 40 hours a
week.  (And 30 hours a week at the very glamorous Kinko’s Copies!)

I was there for 2 weeks, and got to do some funny stuff, like judge
entries for the annual reader-produced issue and interview b-list
celebrities.  (I won’t name names!)  If you’re too young to know this,
Sassy was famous for it’s interns- in fact Chloe Sevigny and Atoosa Rubenstein
(of Cosmo Girl and Seventeen Editor-in-Chief fame) were both there
right before I was.  (Atoosa and I later became friends when we were
editors at Mademoiselle and Cosmo, respectively.)

After two weeks, an editor told me that Harper’s Bazaar
was looking for fashion interns, and she recommended me.  I interviewed
and they asked me to start the next day.  I was freaking out to put it
mildly- this was September 1992- Liz Tilberis‘ first issue under her direction and it was making major waves in the fashion industry.  The iconic cover:

I interned for a few months and then I was hired as Sasha Iglehart’s
(who was one of the senior fashion market editor) assistant, and I was
in pure heaven.  She was such a mentor to me, and the whole department
became like family.

It was a lot of hard work, of course, but there were a lot of fun
moments too…  The first photo shoot I ever assisted on was a Kate
Moss cover shot by Patrick Demarchelier.  (Kate and then boyfriend Mario Sorrenti were often in the office.)  I remember getting off the elevator on time and seeing Peggy Moffitt
sitting in reception- in full 60’s mod makeup!  Meeting Christy
Turlington in the office- she was in sweats and looked amazing.  Going
to Liz Tilberis’ Christmas party (yes, she was so nice, she even
invited lowly interns!) and sipping cocktails among the fashion
glitterati, her two young boys, and two large golden retrievers, who
ran around the whole night.

More tomorrow…