Confessions of a REAL fashion intern: Lisa Palmer says job is nothing like Devil Wears Prada following crackdown on industry using free labour

• Lisa Palmer, 18, from Essex, appeared on Channel 4 show The Intern
• She won six month placement at my-wardrobe.com
• She said fashion industry is 'better than I thought'
• Crackdown began in 2011 on companies breaching minimum wage laws
  

By Lucy Waterlow

PUBLISHED: 13:02 EST, 12 April 2013 | UPDATED: 13:34 EST, 12 April 2013

On TV show The Intern last night, viewers watched as teenager Lisa Palmer from Essex secured a coveted job at fashion website my-wardrobe.com.

But those who have previously watched The Devil Wears Prada, the film starring Meryl Streep as the tyrannical editor of a fashion magazine, may wonder why anyone would want to sign up to such a role?

The fashion industry is notorious for its cut throat nature and The Devil Wears Prada was based on the book by Lauren Weisberger who was inspired by her own demeaning experiences when working at Vogue.

Coveted role: Lisa Palmer won a job at my-wardrobe.com via TV show The Intern

The film's intern, played by Anne Hathaway, is run ragged to meet the demands of her boss from getting her the next installment of Harry Potter before it has been published to looking after her pet dog and remembering how everyone in the office takes their coffee.

But after securing her role as an intern at my-wardrobe.com, Lisa, 18, said she is delighted to report the job is nothing like she expected.

'The fashion industry is better than I thought. I did think it would be a bit more stressful and harder. I did imagine it would be like The Devil Wears Prada but everyone is so nice and I was so wrong,' she said.

Fact 'nicer' than fiction: Lisa said the fashion industry is nothing like The Devil Wears Prada, where Anne Hathaway is an intern to tyrannical boss Meryl Streep

Dogsbody: Some interns will have horror stories like those that inspired the film but the industry has cracked down on making interns go beyond the call of duty

Speaking of the film, she added: 'That's what I was comparing it to and I watched it before I started and thought 'I hope it's not like that'.'

My-wardrobe.com feature in one episode of Hilary Devey's Channel 4 show, The Intern, in which young people compete for internships in hard-to-break-into industries, including fashion and publishing.

David Worby CEO of my-wardrobe.com, said: 'We have always supported internships at my-wardrobe and it’s an ideal opportunity to discover and nurture young talent.'

Lisa had to prove her worth against two other candidates by impressing my-wardrobe founder Sarah Curran with her attitude and ability. The candidates were put into various awkward situations on photo shoots and meetings to see how they would cope, deal with 'egos' in the industry and avert a potential crisis.

Sarah told Hilary she encounters a lot of young people desperate to get their foot in the door of fashion so she's developed a keen eye on what makes a good intern.

Tough start: Lisa had to impress my-wardrobe founder Sarah Curran, pictured left with Hilary Devey, against two other candidates

She said: 'I expect a lot from my team and if I see potential I will give that person a role but if I don't, then I’ll be honest and I won't.'

Nicola Copping, editor in chief at the website added that interns that 'stand out' are 'passionate but possess a certain amount of humility so they are prepared to get their hands dirty no matter what, whether that's making tea or helping to organise a photo shoot. You really want someone who is willing to do anything and not complain about it.'

Thanks to her can-do attitude, Lisa won the role and will now work for six months at my-wardrobe's London HQ.

After leaving college, Lisa had various temp jobs including at clothes shops and on make-up counters so was delighted to secure the job via the Channel 4 show with former Dragons' Den star Hilary.

Learnt so much: The teenager said her internship has been invaluable

'I didn’t have as much experience as the others. I wasn’t working with them all week so I just assumed they were doing a lot better,' Lisa said. 'Hilary said I had made a big change from when I started to when I finished.'

Lisa hopes the placement will lead to a permanent job either at my-wardrobe.com - where many of the staff started out as interns - or elsewhere in the industry.

Support: Businesswoman Hilary Devey is on a mission is help young people break into difficult work industries

However, while internships can provide valuable experience to those starting out in a new industry and give them their first step on the career ladder, they are often criticised for using and abusing the ambitions of young people for free labour.

The situations Andie is placed in in The Devil Wears Prada may be fictional but many interns will testify that they've often had to go beyond the call of duty or been treated like a general dogsbody, often for zero remuneration.

As a result in 2011, HM Revenue and Customs said they intended to crackdown on those using interns to breach minimum wage laws.

Since then, many fashion companies appear to have tightened up their rules when it comes to hiring and using interns.

Fashionista.com reported last year that Conde Nast, publishers of Vogue, had made a number of changes to their intern programme. These included not allowing interns to work unpaid for more than one semester, not allowing interns to work after 7pm and not forcing them to run personal errands for members of staff.

Meanwhile my-wardrobe.com state on their website that their internships range 'from one month to three months in duration, and are on a paid basis for any which run longer than one month'.

They add that their internships provide 'a platform from which valuable industry experience is gained, specifically designed to support the initial stages of a career in the highly competitive fashion sector'.

Sarah Curran told the MailOnline: 'My-wardrobe has always placed a great deal of importance and focus on supporting young talent and nurturing careers within the business.

'Our internships are fully paid for one to three months with a structured induction and review process and the opportunity to experience different departments and aspects of the business.

'There has been long-running perception that the fashion industry takes advantage of the opportunity for free or low-cost labour. Businesses need to realise that they need to present a chance for young talent to learn from the experience and to reward their time investment during that internship.

'Businesses that offer fully-paid and structured internships can gain so much more by preparing interns for a more permanent role.'

Lisa has nothing but praise for her experience as an intern. 'I've gone from knowing nothing about fashion to learning everything about fashion, knowing every designer, every brand,' she said.

Following her baptism of fire on the TV show, she added her current job is 'so much more organised and relaxed than I expected. I'm quite happy working here and I've learnt so much. I've worked in different roles and done different things so I've got a feel for everything.'

She added that her English and Maths has improved thanks to the opportunity being an intern provided.

 

Interns compete for job opportunity at my-wardrobe.com

The Intern continues on Channel 4 on Thursday evenings at 9pm