Black History Month Living Legends Series: How to Break into Fashion with Journalist Teri Agins.

I am continuing the Black History Month Living Legends series with someone I highly admire: fashion journalist Teri Agins.
The Kansas City native made her mark on the industry at the Wall Street Journal, where her juicy, investigative articles explored the collision of fashion and finance. Her savvy sense and searing curiosity resulted in two books, The End of Fashion, and Hijacking the Runway, and garnered her many awards, including the prestigious CFDA Eugenia Sheppard Award for Excellence in Fashion Journalism.



With Tom Ford

Teri began her fashion industry journey in the 9th grade, writing a weekly fashion column for her school newspaper called, “Teri’s Tips for Fashion Flair.” She said, “I was 14 years old. I worked on the school newspaper and I knew I wanted to be a reporter. Not necessarily fashion journalism, but I knew I wanted to be a reporter. I liked the idea of going out and interviewing people. I just thought it’d be something fun to do.”
She eventually went on to Wellesley College, where she majored in English and Political Science, and completed a graduate degree at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. She said, “When I was there, they had a special program where the Men’s Fashion Association…would fly a top student from the University of Missouri to New York to attend a 3-4 day convention–and they asked me to do it! As soon as I got there, I got to interview Pierre Cardin and Renauld White when he was a model.” Upon graduation, Agins moved to Chicago and worked for Fairchild Fashion Media’s Daily News Record, their men’s fashion trade publication.



Agins with Robin Givhan and Anna Wintour

Her next stop was Brazil, where she lived for 5 years with her husband, stringing for the New York Times and Time Magazine. She returned to the States in 1984 and began her stint at the Wall Street Journal, covering the Airline industry. In 1989, managing editor Norm Pearlstine wanted to develop the Journal’s Fashion section, and tapped Teri to spearhead it. She said, “They knew I liked clothes, I was always walking around in leather pants and fur coats. I was always twisting around in this and that.” But instead of waxing on about trends or reviewing the runways, Agins focused on hard hitting investigative pieces, providing the scoop on everything from Calvin Klein’s junk bond debt to the Leslie Fay accounting scandal, and Marc Jacobs’s contract negotiations with LVMH.

With Andre Leon Talley
If you want to be a journalist, Agins has loads of advice! She says, “The fashion journalism [world] is so much different from the time I did it. There were a lot of newspapers around, and the training ground where people would be able to get a lot of experience, [no longer exists]. A lot of it is now on the web. [I’d recommend going] to one of the blogs or websites that has a track record, where they’re doing more than reporting salacious gossip. The gossip thing gets you nowhere.”

She continues, “I would just caution any young reporter that everything just shouldn’t be opinion. Learn about reporting and report on two sides of the story. You still have to give different sides of the story from different vantage points. “

Also, she says to get out there and network! She explains, “Go to everything. When I started on this beat, I didn’t know anyone. People assumed that because I worked for the Journal, invites were coming my way, but people didn’t think of the Journal as a publication that would even write about this stuff. I was just like any other lowly reporter at any other B or C newspaper. Every time PR people would send me invitations to go to different events, I went. I’ve been to some C, D, and E events.”



With Francisco Costa
Once there, work the room. Agins advises, “You need to learn how to go to a cocktail party. You should always go by yourself, you should always go early, you should always go and find who is the main PR person. I always look for some lowly girl with a clipboard, I go to her and ask her who are the people I need to know. You get there early enough and stake out the place.”

She warns, “Don’t just hand out business cards, I don’t want your card. People don’t want your card. Don’t give them your card until you make a connection. Have something to talk about. Read the trade and know what’s currently going on and what is topical in the industry. That’s an ice breaker and gives you something to talk about. If you know someone is going to be there in advance, Google them, and see what’s going on in their life. Flattery will get you everywhere. People love to talk about themselves. People will like you if they sense that you are interested in them.” After you talk for a few minutes, then give them a business card. Then they’ll remember who you are.

Another word of advice: don’t be fashionably late! She says, “When you’re on time, you’re late. Anna Wintour is the first person at every event you go to, always. Have you ever noticed that? Get there early, stake out the joint, see who’s there. A lot of time celebs who don’t want to be caught with all the mobs, they get there early and do a drive by. If you get there early, you get to talk to them. You get there fashionably late, it’s hard to come in and be oriented.”

As far as advice specifically for people of color, she offers, “It is not a level playing field. The fashion industry is very cliquey. A lot of time, people pass on jobs to their friends and people who they know. You’ve got to be connected. This is where the networking comes in. If you go to all those events, you will start to make friends across the industry: PR girls, people in the modeling industry, people who work in retail. Some of my best sources are people who work behind the retail counter. As a person of color, you have to be better. You have to be broad gauged.”

In conclusion she says, “You do need to look the part. I’m not saying you need to be a raging fashionista. People say, ‘Oh, I’m a reporter, I’m just there.’ But if the event is fancy, you need to look fancy. All that will help your comfort level. If you have to be a fashionista, that’s an ice breaker. People gravitate to people who they think are cool and fashion forward. [Ultimately], you just want to project that you’re confident and you know what you’re doing.”
Sound advice from an industry veteran!

If you’re interested in learning more, be sure to pick up Teri’s book, Hijacking the Runway, and her tome, The End of Fashion, on Amazon.com. Also, check out her weekly Ask Teri column in the Wall Street Journal.

Follow her on Instagram and Twitter @TeriAgins.
Thoughts on this Breaking into Fashion interview?