The students who produce The Chic Daily want their magazine to emulate professional fashion industry publications while establishing a presence at some of the major fashion shows and trade events across the country.
The magazine, which is operated by The Fashion Journalism Club at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, took a big step towards that goal in October when they sent eight members to cover LA Fashion Week.
“I genuinely hope that this transformative experience can inspire more individuals to join The Chic and delve into the world of fashion journalism,” said Alexia Hill, president of The Chic Daily.
The Chic Daily is a digital and physical print magazine produced by students who report on the latest fashion, beauty, and lifestyle news and trends.
The group always aspired to cover LA Fashion Week, but ran into obstacles in previous years before finally breaking through. One of their members worked at a Los Angeles hotel, which allowed them to secure a discount and make the trip financially feasible.
Additionally, the new management of LA Fashion Week was more open to collaborating with smaller media outlets, recognizing the importance of extensive media coverage for the event, she said.
While in attendance, the students provided social media coverage, live reels, stories focusing on different designers and event overviews within two days.
Their primary focus was finding out who the designers were in advance, which was sometimes a challenge since not all shows promoted their lineups ahead of time.
“We were fortunate to have access to this information before attending. We invested time researching and planning our social media content strategy, determining what content we wanted to produce while there,” she said. “For instance, we attended a film screening for a designer, and by chance, we had the opportunity to meet her one-on-one. This inspired some of our team members, so they decided to write about it.”
The event also provided opportunities for networking, promoting their magazine and building connections.
“We had several connections expressing interest in potential internships or job opportunities,” she said. “We aimed to be timely and professional, and it paid off when we noticed that the same publications we admire were also covering the event.”
Although they didn’t have the opportunity to interview any of the designers, they did meet Sami Miro, who owns the Sami Miro Vintage collection.
“She was great, and her presence at the first show we attended was quite surreal,” Hill said.
Participating in this event provided valuable lessons and experiences for students such as allocating their time effectively for different tasks and content production.
“The Chic has never been to a show of this caliber before, so the main challenge was balancing how much content we could produce and how much work we could handle during our two-day trip,” she said.
Hill’s ultimate goal is to turn The Chic’s LA fashion trip into an annual tradition and, if possible, expand their horizons to include other significant events, like the official New York fashion shows.
“It’s a dream I’m deeply committed to, and I believe it has the potential to make a significant impact,” she said.