Personal connections count for rather a lot in an industry with notoriously opaque hiring practices, a penchant for nepotism, and a heavy emphasis on being seen at the correct events. When Noël, print editor at 1Granary, moved home to Brussels from London a number of years ago to lower your expenses, she realised how a lot of these connections were concentrated in fashion’s capital cities. “I hoped that going to fashion week twice a 12 months can be enough to take care of my network, nevertheless it’s not necessarily in those official spaces that it happens,” she says. “You’re more more likely to make connections at an afterparty than a fashion show.”

Model Florence Huntington-Whiteley, whose older sister is Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, previously worked as a brand manager. She says the role made her hyper-aware of how people speak about others as extensions of the more established people they’re connected to, “placing them higher or worse, and including them or excluding them” based on those relationships.

Without personal connections or proximity to fashion, it may well be difficult to construct the cultural capital needed to succeed. Content creator Benji Park has gained a big TikTok following for his videos about fashion history, but he’s largely self-taught, which he says is an inherent privilege. “If you’ve gotten the power to self-teach in your formative teenage years, it probably means you’re not working, and also you’re not distracted by other things, so you’ve gotten economic safety,” he explains.

Cultural capital isn’t at all times something that may be bought or taught. Peters recalls the mockery a fellow student on the Fashion Retail Academy received because they didn’t know pronounce Balenciaga. “There’s a snobbery within the industry that we uphold, this method of gatekeeping information and searching down on individuals who don’t know insider information,” he says.

For a lot of, change starts with access to education. Despite efforts from fashion schools to onboard more students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, the limited variety of scholarships available can only go thus far, and lots of students still miss out on grants for travel opportunities and internships, says fashion inclusion consultant Arooj Aftab. “Take a look at McQueen or Galliano, who got here from nothing but were embraced by the industry,” adds Davidson. “You wouldn’t get massive talent like that into universities anymore due to the schooling fees. So many individuals are locked out of the style industry because they don’t have connections or financial privilege.”

Accessing an inaccessible industry

Financial privilege isn’t the one unseen differentiator shaping people’s experience of working in fashion. Physical disabilities, mental illnesses and neurodivergence can limit how individuals are in a position to show up within the industry and the best way they’re perceived by their peers, the survey shows.