Movies about fashion magazines looking cool

7 Movies and TV Shows That Make Working At A Magazine Look Awesome

5:00 pm, March 10th | by Meredith Lepore

If you watch a movie or a TV show in which a character works for a magazine, it looks pretty darn awesome. Even if you aren’t a senior editor the salary fully supports your awesome lifestyle which includes a SoHo loft and a Prada bag. But in reality, working at a magazine may not be quite as cool as these portrayals.

The web site Fashionista recently did a piece on the horrors of being a fashion intern. Young women’s experiences included washing a urine-soaked dress for a fashion shoot for Vogue, scooping up dog poop, retyping to-do lists and returning yogurt to a store. My personal favorite was the intern who wasn’t allowed to drink out of the same water fountain as the paid employees.

In fact last year Xuedan Wang filed a law suit against Hearst for unpaid wages to her and others who interned at Harper’s Bazaar and other magazines since February of 2006, she claims. The class action suit says Hearst, whose publications include Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping, violated federal and New York state minimum wage, overtime and record keeping laws. It seeks millions in compensation for interns across the country and for a subset of people who worked in New York. Wang was the Head Accessories Intern at Harper’s Bazaar and said she interned at the magazine for four months until December, working 40 to 55 hours a week. When will they be making the film about that?

But for now, let’s take a look at the films and shows that do make looking at a magazine look totally awesome.

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1.Almost Famous

This movie was actually based on Cameron Crowe's real life experience, but how often are 16 year olds plucked from obscurity to write about awesome rock bands and go on the road with them? It's a pretty cool dream.

2.Sex & the City, TV show and Movies

</i>Sex & the City</i>, TV show and Movies

Yes, we saw that Candice Bergen was a difficult editor at Vogue, but Carrie got to go in the fashion closet. Pretty sweet. Oh, and how often are freelance writers asked to pose for an entire spread on designer wedding dresses?

3.The Devil Wears Prada

To be fair, this film did show some of the difficulty that comes with being on the low end of the totem pole at a high end magazine. Andie did have to run demeaning errands and work 24/7, but I might do that for her wardrobe as well.

4.Glee

Yes, according to Glee,Vogue is a wonderful place to work, where interns are treated like queens and it is totally cool to break into the office at night and do a musical number. Don't worry if your boss catches you, because she will just join in your Annie medley.

5.13 Going on 30

Apparently being a magazine editor is the job every girl fantasizes about when she's 13. And why wouldn't she? In this movie all magazine editors do is go to fabulous parties and put cool pictures together. Also, they make a ton of money.

6.How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

Date hot guys, get to act like a psycho and then get paid to write about it? Check. Working at a magazine is so cool!

7.The Carrie Diaries

On the new show The Carrie Diaries a young Carrie Bradshaw meets an editor for Interview Magazine (who is approximately 22) who tells Carrie she is just fabulous because she put some nail polish on a purse. Word of advice — painting your bag will not usually get you an internship at a magazine. But the show makes working at this hip magazine in the 80s look, well, totally rad!