The Teen Vogue Hand Book

Those of you who read this blog regularly will know that I have a fondness for Teen Vogue. The magazine is like the little sister that I never had and who I look at with fondness and slight reminiscence. Well when I heard that Teen Vogue had published a handbook for people who wanted to get into the fashion industry I never really took much notice because as an avid reader and worker in the fashion education industry, I have more or less read every guide out there. I also dismissed the book as a mediocre book produced just to make fast cash out of the aspiring fashionistas out there. The handbook dropped last month to a great deal of media attention on blogs and magazines but after reading the reviews I decided that I needed to check it out to find out what the fuss was about. When my copy arrived from amazon it would an understatement to say that I was surprised by what I saw. In a nutshell The Teen Vogue Hand Book rocks!


The handbook is like a small coffee table and the inside pages have past covers of Teen Vogue laid out in a collage style. The content is packed with useful information on careers in fashion but it is also visually stunning with gorgeous imagery and great design. It is divided into six sections and looks at routes into fashion design, fashion journalism, styling, modelling, beauty and photography. All the sections contain interviews with leaders in their field such as Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney, Amy Astley (Editor of Teen Vogue), Natalie Massenet (Founder of Net-a-Porter), Andrea Lieberman (stylist to Jennifer Lopez and Gwen Stefani), Havana Laffitte (stylist for Teen Vogue), Chanel Iman, Pat McGrath, Jemina Kidd, Bruce Weber and Mario Testino. Each person talks about when they first became interested in fashion, how they got into their field, the ins and out of their job and they also offer advice to up and coming fashionistas. As well as these interviews there are also short profiles on individuals who keep the wheel turning. From interns at Thakoon, market editors, fashion writers and art assistants, at Teen Vogue and photographer, Patrick Demarchelier's assistant, nothing is overlooked. There are numerous quotes and tips scattered within the book which I think really injects a lot of personality into it. I really love the 'tool kits' where we get to see all the items that the fashion pros use on a day to day basis.

With a voucher for a FREE one year subscription to Teen Vogue thrown in with the book very few would dispute that The Teen Vogue Handbook is worth every penny.

You can buy the book from amazon.