What a fashion student spends in a week
We asked students in Florence, Copenhagen and Geneva to list every transaction they made for seven days.
Money is one of the least openly discussed parts of fashion education. Fees are listed, materials are loosely accounted for, and everything else – rent, food, healthcare, transport – is left to students to manage in the background. Yet these everyday costs shape what’s possible just as much as studio time or access to equipment. In these diaries, three fashion students in Copenhagen, Florence, and Geneva track a single week of spending in detail. What emerges is the steady accumulation of small, necessary costs: groceries, printing, tram tickets, art supplies, medication. Read side by side, the entries highlight how different national systems operate – from state support to private funding – and how often students rely on family help, savings, or paid work to make it through. These are not exceptional weeks, but ordinary ones, recorded plainly at the end of 2025.
(All local currencies have been converted to GBP)
Florence, Italy
Financial profile: I’m 20 years old and an American fashion student currently studying abroad in Florence. I attend Marist University. Rent was included in my study abroad fee, so I don’t know the exact cost. I live with three other girls.
I worked as much as possible during my internship last summer to save money, and my parents help fill in the gaps, since studying abroad is incredibly expensive. My monthly subscriptions include £30 for Adobe, £1 for Google Photos storage, £5 for Spotify, £9 for AppleCare+, and £2 for iCloud+. I’m very grateful for my family’s support and never have to worry about affording necessities, although the fashion side of me occasionally panics about finding something perfect on Vinted or Depop and not being able to justify it.
Day 1
£27
Groceries for the week. I try to eat fairly healthily and cook at home most of the time, so this included fruit, vegetables, deli meat, snacks, and general essentials. Produce tends to go bad quickly in Florence since preservatives aren’t really used, which means I usually end up grocery shopping multiple times a week.
£15
International grocery store for American and Asian food. I needed to restock condiments like soy sauce and teriyaki, and I’ve been feeling a bit homesick lately so I picked up a box of Kraft mac and cheese.
£9
Cigarettes.
£15
Lunch after class. I got a salad and smoothie from Rosalia, one of my favourite spots in Florence.
Day 2
£5
Morning coffee with a friend. I was really craving an iced latte, which is surprisingly hard to find in Florence, so we went to La Milkeria. It’s definitely touristy and American, but their iced gingerbread latte is genuinely amazing.
£8
Groceries again. I ran out of milk already and they finally had good berries in stock.
£103
A new pair of shoes. I’ve been eyeing the Nike Air Rift Pearl Whites for a while. They’re basically sporty tabis, and I realised I wouldn’t be able to get them easily in the US when I go home, so I treated myself. They’re very cute.