Lotte Jeffs joined as our deputy editor this week. Here, she dramatically reveals the secrets to becoming a real ELLE insider...
Starting any new job is daunting, I know. But seriously, walking through the doors of THE WORLD’S BIGGEST SELLING FASHION MAGAZINE for the first time on Monday morning is… now I’m not going to say ‘scary’ because obviously I am a proud, confident #femaleboss with the sass of Empire’s Cookie Lyon...
... and the wardrobe of House of Cards’ Claire Underwood
… but it was, let’s just say – a moment.
Here’s what I learned:
1. Run. All the time
Or do yoga or barrecore or trampolining or triathalons. Just don’t even think about coming into work not wearing lycra and without a fashionable patina of sweat upon your forehead. Obviously you will then disappear into the ladies' bathrooms for 10 minutes and re-emerge looking like an amazing glamazon.
2. Do not go unsupervised into the fashion cupboard
This is a magical place full of rails and rails of the season’s coolest clothes. If you don’t have the word ‘fashion’ or ‘editor-in-chief’ in your job title, do not touch the clothes. Do not even look at that Prada jacket and for god sake DON’T try anything on. It is also not a cupboard: it is as big as my flat.
3. Learn how to look stylishly nonchalant in street style photographs
Do I want to have my picture taken in the middle of Carnaby Street on my second day in the office? Of course I do! Because there is nothing more relaxing than having a photographer tell you to ‘smile with your eyes’ or 'tense your left femur' while a rubbish truck attempts to reverse into you and a pack of Japanese schoolchildren point and giggle.
4. Love hot desking. LOVE IT
Who needs a regular desk? Not me! It’s not like I even wanted that framed photo of Ruby Rose, cactus plant or collection of bespoke Scandinavian paperweights anyway. I don’t need that clutter in my life – I am a tether-free ELLE woman now who can do brilliant work from anywhere, at any time, and will not sit in the same seat twice in one week. I just need to work out where all these wires go.
5. Be 360
ELLE is the first magazine to adopt a 360-degree office model. This does not mean spinning around on your swivel chair while working. It means… well... I Googled it.
