Do you have to live in London to have a fashion career?

Does your creative career pay your rent? According to a poll we recently ran on Instagram, that’s only the case for 24% of respondents. After a 4.2% increase in the last year, London rent prices average at an extortionate £2,121, or £971 for a room. So what do you do when you want to build a creative career, but your family lives miles from the city or in another country? In an era of unpaid internships and a crazy cost of living, are creative jobs only for those who can get a foothold without paying housing costs?

Caroline Rush, CEO of the British Fashion Council shared with us that “it certainly makes it easier for those who have London-based families. [But] having said that, there are brilliant fashion businesses throughout the UK, from the likes of Barbour in the Northeast to Holland and Cooper in Cheltenham, Private White in Manchester and Mulberry in Somerset who also provide opportunities for young people.”

“It certainly makes it easier for those who have London-based families. ” - Caroline Rush

Yet the perception is that family in London makes a difference. 58% of respondents to our poll believed that in order to make it in the arts, you need London based parents. And yet nearly 70% of respondents said they don’t have their family near them. Some will be getting help in other ways. Fashion writer Emily Philips believes: “Do you need parents that live in London to start in fashion? No. Do you need to have some advantages? Yes.”

What if you don’t have those advantages? Depending on the creative job you choose, you might be able to cut your costs and start from afar. Halima Jibril, a junior writer at Dazed, says you can start a freelance writing career further afield and work remotely before moving to London. Ultimately though, she says you have to be in London “to progress in your career.” Remote networking is not quite the same.

“I was stranded most of the time because the trains stopped going back [to Essex] at midnight, but to network I had to stay in London to go to these events. And then it’d be done by 2am and I couldn’t afford to Uber back home, so I’d literally just sleep at the bus stop until 6am.” - Odunayo Ojo

Some people make it work by renting in the outer(-outer) suburbs of the city. Before his YouTube success as Fashion Roadman, Odunayo Ojo describes commuting for five hours a day from Essex to his job as a junior marketing executive at Carmel Global. Living outside of London seems a worthy alternative to some, yet living close enough to attend events and meetings is crucial.

“The first time I went to London Fashion Week I was still living in Essex,” Ayo explains. “I was stranded most of the time because the trains stopped going back at midnight, but to network I had to stay in London to go to these events. And then it’d be done by 2am and I couldn’t afford to Uber back home, so I’d literally just sleep at the bus stop until 6am.” Alongside the glamour of fashion week, Ayo says his life was anything but. After waking up at the bus stop he says he’d “rush home, shower, change and then come back to London for the next day of fashion week.” He’s not advocating this to anyone: “I was exhausted all the time and sleep deprived.” But he felt he had to do it: “All of the opportunities are just there, you do need to be there.”

If you can’t squat, if you can’t sleep beneath the desk and if your creative job doesn’t pay the rent, the usual alternative is to do another to pay the way.

In the 1990s, people squatted as a way of living for free in London, which became a criminal offence in 2012. There are some alternatives... When she was community editor at Polyester Zine, Halima Jibril says she slept there. “Polyester had a place in their studio where you could sleep. I would sleep at the [Peckham] Polyester Studio […] I guess a day or two there overnight and then I’d go home.” Fashion stories like that are countless; from Andreas Kronthaler spending his early months at Vivienne Westwood living in their Camden studio to Simon Costin’s days of squatting in Bloomsbury.

If you can’t squat, if you can’t sleep beneath the desk and if your creative job doesn’t pay the rent, the usual alternative is to do another to pay the way. 78% of our voters work two jobs. That’s not easy. Canadian-born Emily Phillips explains the difficulties of affording London’s rent prices and 4.6k visas on a creative salary. As a student, she describes funding unpaid fashion work “as a shot girl in clubs and bars, which pays really well but for me was really demeaning.” She talks of having had to choose between feeding her cat and herself, and often the cat came first. Although Emily’s writing provides an income now, she still has to supplement her earnings: “I’ve never really stopped, I just do it less frequently. It’s really awful, I’ll cry every time I have to go, I hate it so much.” Writing makes her happy; this is the shadow.

The predominant narrative is that younger generations are speaking up about underpaid opportunities, yet that would be ‘creating a problem’ for employers.

People have made it to the other side, though. Lisa Helmanis, an interior designer and ex-editor of The Sunday Times Inside Out, grew up in a working-class family in Northern England. She says she worked night shifts and weekends alongside unpaid experience at fashion magazines. During double shifts, she slept in her car or Green Park. She didn’t complain, advising that “the best thing you can do is be a solution creator, not a problem creator.” The predominant narrative is that younger generations are speaking up about underpaid opportunities, yet that would be ‘creating a problem’ for employers. Most aren’t able to argue: not when their career is on the line. However, this promotes creatives to stay in situations that lower their quality of life.

“London isn’t the only place to study or work in fashion, and regions in the UK shouldn’t be overlooked in terms of talent and opportunity.” - Caroline Rush

People would do anything to be closer to London’s opportunities, but slaving away at two jobs and barely sleeping is a privilege of youth. Is it necessary though? While London can grow careers faster, playing the slow game outside of the city may allow stability. With Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester as the UK’s fastest developing economies, Caroline Rush adds “London isn’t the only place to study or work in fashion, and regions in the UK shouldn’t be overlooked in terms of talent and opportunity.”

It’s in our hands to rethink the value of big cities and the importance of mental and physical balance in our lives.

Having less privilege doesn’t have to equate to suffering over extortionate rent, but for emerging creatives, the indirect route isn’t as clear-cut. Further afield cities such as Berlin, São Paulo and Copenhagen illuminate alternative paths. Yet for those living in the UK, the occasional commute to London’s events will always be necessary. With the rise of digital platforms, younger generations are able to establish themselves in new ways, and as brands move further afield, permanent residence in the city appears less crucial. It’s in our hands to rethink the value of big cities and the importance of mental and physical balance in our lives.

Words: Polly Parker
Image: Natassa Stamouli