“The Devil Wears Prada” is one of my favorite movies for several reasons:

1. Meryl Streep

2. Anne Hathaway

3. Emily Blunt

4. Fashion

The movie presents to you the inner workings of a fashion magazine while also showing you the art that is fashion design. While I knew I wasn’t going to be working at a fashion magazine this summer, I had to wonder if just working at any magazine in general would put me in the same position as Hathaway’s character, Andy, when she was hired for her position at Runway — underneath an overbearing, anal boss who has no fear of pushing people around.

This past week I started my internship in the accessories department of Cosmopolitan and Seventeen magazines (they now have a joint staff for anyone who is confused). The people I met there were nothing like what I had seen in “The Devil Wears Prada.” They were all nice, open and genuine. Sure, there were a few people who gave five jobs to us in about 30 seconds and wanted us to have them done in an hour, but you’re going to find people like that anywhere. They’re top editors at the magazine, so you can’t really go against them.

But, thank god, I found out working for a magazine isn’t like “The Devil Wears Prada” — not everywhere at least. In fact, one of my favorite experiences this week was spotting Joanna Coles, the editor-in-chief of Cosmo, all over the office. I was pretty star-struck.

When I first found out that I was going to be working in the accessories closet, I wasn’t completely sure what my job was going to be. All I knew was that I was going to be somewhat in charge of the shoes and hats and purses that went through the magazine, but not the specifics.

On my first day, the three other interns there and I were thrown into the swing of things. Literally. Trunks were coming back from a high-profile cover photoshoot. I expected maybe one or two trunks, and a job that would take two hours max. Instead, five trunks came back with about 150 pairs of shoes and over 300 pieces of jewelry for us to log back in. The other interns and I sorted all the accessories by designer, charted them back into the closet and packaged those that needed to be returned to designers. It took all day.

The same day, I made a mistake. Since I had no idea how to dress for a magazine internship, I decided to wear booties and a very nice dress. I was on my feet literally the whole entire day. I thought my feet were going to fall off at the end. I quickly realized that the dress code for magazines is much more relaxed than what I had expected — you don’t even need to wear heels or a blazer.

The rest of the week went pretty similarly – logging in accessories when they came in, returning items to designers, sending e-mails to messengers and setting out accessories for the editors to choose from. There were very few moments to just sit and catch my breath.

It may sound like grunt work, and it sort of is, but it was actually fun. I got to see shoes that ranged from ALDO to Jimmy Choo, from plain black to multicolored pumps with butterfly wings attached to the heel. Not to mention half of the jewelry I really want to have in my jewelry box.

That’s where my favorite part comes in: being put on jewelry duty. My boss told me that every semester they have a few interns who specifically only do jewelry and I was selected for it (for now). Before the jewelry actually goes in the closet, you have to make photocopies of it, rather than taking pictures of it. And for rings and cuffs and such, you have to stick your hand in the photocopier. It may sound a bit childish, but there is something so gratifying about putting your hand into a photocopier and seeing it come printed out on a piece of paper.

All in all, I don’t think this week could have gone any better. I love what I’m doing and I love the people I’m working with. I’m really excited to see where this summer takes me.

Published on May 27, 2015 at 2:12 am