My Career In The Fashion Industry: An Insider's Guide on How to Become a Buyer

In My Career in the Fashion Industry, Penelope Nam-Stephen provides a short, comprehensive, illustrated summary of three important career trajectories in the fashion industry: buyers, merchandisers, and planners. As a college student with interest but no prior experience in the fashion industry, this book was fantastic for getting a sense of what it would be like to work in. Penelope provides an honest, optimistic, and practical guide that is grounded in her extensive experience as a fashion executive and consultant.

I purchased this book to give as a gift to a young woman who is trying to decide what steps she should take to become a fashion buyer. I can't give this to her. It took about 20 minutes to read it from cover to cover. There's a timeline of the jobs that the author has held, with no details as to how she obtained those positions. There are no descriptions of what she did in those positions or why she left them. The tips for interviewing are pretty much: dress nice, be on time, have a good-looking resume, and smile...things that apply to any job interview. There were no tips specific to interviewing with someone in the fashion industry. The most significant tip on networking was, "get a linkedin account." Her tips for interacting with colleagues were to not make friends and to not trust anyone. This may be true...but better to put that into a story with an example or two than to just put it in a grocery list of similarly vague "tips.". Any information given specifically about the fashion industry were vague statements that you can find in any puff-piece internet article about the fashion industry. I was hoping for insider's tips that only someone with so much experience in the fashion industry could offer. I have written business manuals for my own industry, so my perspective is that of a writer, a business owner and an instructor. I know that a negative review is not what a writer wants to hear, but as someone who helps people to achieve their purpose, I hope that the author reads this and considers rewriting the book. This author has a wealth of information to share...but she has not done that in this book. I would like to see her take this skeleton of a book and make it about five times longer, with an anecdote from her personal experience to explain each of her points, and MUCH more information that is specific to the fashion industry. The author writes clearly and concisely, but just needs to provide more actual content.

This is a very straight to the point handbook. I think the author tries her best to give you a clear picture about the fashion industry-and what it's needed to get there. I will continue to read this book whenever I need a refresher.

I loved reading this book! As a recent college graduate with a Major in Fashion Merchandising, trying to pursue an Assistant Buyer position this was the perfect book to read before starting my career. I admire how Penelope used examples from her own career experiences and shared certain tips and insights on what to say and what not to do. I also like that this book was straight to the point and highlighted the most important tips every Assistant Buyer should be aware of in the Fashion Industry. I really hope she will write more books similar to this one for someone who wants to pursue a career in Fashion and that wants to learn as well as be successful!

I want to disagree with the comment below me. I loved that it was short, clear and to the point. It told me everything I needed to know. Maybe I am able to relate to this because I have been in the fashion industry for a little while now. I wish I had this book when I was still starting out and terrified when I walked into my first interview. This a great way for someone to know quickly and easily what he or she needs to start out. -Victoria

This product arrived and is literally like someone printed it at home. Its like a booklet but online is shown as if its a nice book etc. Would not recommend purchasing