The Devil Wears Primark - My Internship at Vogue France

That’s a lie. More often than not, I actually wore Uniqlo. That aside, let’s delve into my time interning as a translator for Vogue France.

Sep 23, 2023

black and white box on white textile — Photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash

In the summer of 2023, I had the pleasure of spending my summer working as the sole translator intern for Vogue France in English, a specially curated English section of the Vogue France digital magazine website.

My first day

I arrived at the Condé Nast offices in Paris for my first day on 28 March 2023 in a carefully compiled outfit consisting of my very best high street fashion. Being rather fashionably-challenged myself, I had actually asked a guy I was chatting with on Tinder at the time to pick it out (alas, we were not fated to be the next gay power couple in the world of fashion). I soon realised that—at least in terms of the demands on one’s wardrobe—working at Vogue is nothing like The Devil Wears Prada. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was wearing jeans and T-shirts. Suffice to say, I stood out like a sore thumb in my dress trousers and blazer. But hey, at least I could enjoy the ~~feeling~~ delusion that I was better-dressed than the editors of Vogue!

Now, I can already hear the question on everyone’s lips. Wasn’t there a handsome, Stanley-Tucci-esque fashionista there to drag me into the wardrobe and bedeck me in the latest fashion from the runways? Well…

Of course not.

Unfortunately, life isn’t a Hollywood movie starring Anne Hathaway, and sometimes you have to pluck up and be your own Stanley Tucci, albeit without the Prada boots (they wouldn’t suit me anyway).

Over time, I began to hone my eye for fashion via osmosis as I worked on translating Vogue France’s articles into English and observed my colleagues’ vestimentary habits. Eventually, I was less of a sore thumb, but never quite a real fashionista. We all have our limits.

Luckily, I did a better job of honing my translation skills, whicb brings me to the actual curriculum vitae bit of this post…

The werk work

Each day, I would begin by researching the day’s top trending topics and topics with potential to trend (celebrity birthdays, scheduled events, etc.). I would then curate a selection of French articles, including the latest news and evergreen content in line with the day’s topics. This research fuelled my choice of articles to translate that day.

In order to ensure a careful balance of speed and quality, my translation process consisted of an initial, almost literal translation followed by several rounds of meticulous editing to improve style and ensure an accurate translation.

In between translating articles, I would manage Vogue France’s international Facebook page, which mostly consisted of preparing posts to share relevant evergreen articles, moderating comments, and scheduling native image posts.

Articles I wrote

The Devil Wears Prada©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection