Last month we announced our exciting new fashion mentorship opportunity, ELLE: Generation Next. And now, applications are open.
If you’re a budding writer, photographer, stylist, or communication designer looking to work in fashion media, this could be the opportunity for you.
In a post-pandemic, post-Brexit world — and a year defined by a cost of living crisis, it has never been more challenging for young creatives trying to make it in the fashion industry. And three years on from the rush of discourse around diversity and inclusion that took place in 2020, the pace of change in the industry continues to be slow. As a recent Diversity and Inclusion report conducted by The British Fashion Council (BFC) put it: 'There are many structural barriers still to climb. ...An over-reliance on talent sourcing from a small number of aspirational brands and schools has created homogenous teams, which have little diversity of thought or variety in socioeconomic backgrounds. Fashion still requires a fundamental cultural reset, and for leaders to embrace new types of candidates who may not fit the typical fashion mould,' the report continued.
Here at ELLE UK, we want to use our platform to help correct this through our mentorship programme, ELLE: Generation Next, which will offer a group of undergraduates, graduates, and aspiring fashion creatives who are between the ages of 18 and 24 the opportunity to be mentored by the ELLE UK team for one year, with a view to increasing pathways into the notoriously tough-to-break-into world of fashion media.
A panel of ELLE UK judges will select a cohort of mentees, spanning the disciplines of fashion and culture writing; fashion, reportage and portrait photography; fashion styling; and communication design.
The successful candidates will receive meaningful mentoring from the team and the opportunity to be published in ELLE UK and/or ELLE.COM/UK throughout the year. And finally, the mentees will have the chance to see their work celebrated at the ELLE Style Awards 2024.
This project will actively seek talent from throughout the UK to fill eight mentee places in total: two aspiring writers (one fashion, one culture) two aspiring photographers (one fashion, one reportage/portraiture), two fashion stylists and two communication designers (aspiring art directors, designers, illustrators, etc.)
Eligibility Criteria:
Individuals aged 18 to 24 and looking for a career in fashion.
How To Apply:
If you meet the above eligibility criteria and think you have what it takes, please email the below, by 11:59pm on December 15, 2023, to: ELLE.mentoring@hearst.co.uk.
Please include answers to the following questions:
- What excites you most about the future of British fashion? Please tell us through a video, image (or series of images), or written text at 200 words.
- Show us the work you’re most proud of! Please select a recent article, image or body of work that gives us an idea of your creative practice.
- What do you hope to gain from this opportunity? Tell us in 100-200 words what this mentorship programme would mean to you if you were accepted.
Terms And Conditions:
Open to UK residents aged 18-24 at the time of application.
The judging panel will be comprised of senior members of the ELLE UK team, and ELLE UK’s contributing editors.
We will be looking for candidates showing the most curious, ambitious and creative outputs, with a drive to achieve their career goals.
The successful will receive monthly mentoring sessions of approximately one hour per month for a one-year period commencing on Monday January 8 2024.
Sessions will take place via video and/or in ELLE UK’s London office.
Reasonable UK travel expenses will be covered subject always to prior written approval from Hearst at Hearst’s ultimate discretion. No cash alternative.
Mentees will not be paid for taking part in the mentor scheme. Any work published in ELLE UK will be paid standard ELLE editorial rates and subject to standard ELLE commissioning terms. No guarantee of publication.
Successful mentees may be required to sign up to terms and conditions relating to this mentorship scheme and/or any additional activities they may carry out with ELLE UK, including (for example, freelance tasks) relating to intellectual property in any work that is produced.
Mentees may be featured in ELLE UK, on video and will be asked to partake in wider publicity for the programme.
We will use the information you supply to process your entry and in accordance with our privacy notice.
For our privacy notice visit hearst.co.uk/privacy-notice.
Hearst Magazines reserves the right to (i) cancel and/or withdraw this initiative and/or (ii) amend these Terms, at any time, without notice.
Our search will be nationwide and looking for the changemakers and artistic minds of tomorrow. So if you're in University or recently graduated, this could be the opportunity you're looking for.
