Navigating a fertility journey when you work in fashion
Long hours, low pay and precarious conditions only intensify a complicated process.
By Marjolijn Oostermeijer
Fashion loves to glamorise pregnancy and parenthood. We’ve seen baby bumps on the runway, magazine covers, and even in a Louis Vuitton campaign, courtesy of Rihanna. But when speaking with people in the industry, the consensus is that fashion careers and parenthood often don’t mix well. Following these conversations, we began to think about those who haven’t yet had a child yet, but are trying to have one.
“I love my job,” says Nicole Huisman, a freelance creative in fashion and interior. “But the contrast with the medical world, which became our world, couldn’t have been starker.” For years, Nicole balanced her creative career with fertility treatment, often unbeknownst to her clients. “Certain hormones had a huge impact on my physical and emotional state,” she says. “I had to be realistic about what was and wasn’t doable, which was quite the search. There were projects I really wanted to take on, but they became too much. I was open about it online; however, on set, I tried to remain extra professional and tried to ensure the client wouldn’t notice.”
Parental leave in fashion is often wobbly, and many parents cite a lack of support or sympathy on the work floor. Some preemptively sacrificed family life for the sake of work. Some quit their jobs. How is this for aspiring parents who struggle with fertility or pregnancy loss? Who has no right to formal maternity leave and can’t (yet) share a baby announcement? And who, often silently, navigate the physical, emotional and logistical demands of starting a family, alongside the demands of their fashion career?
“I didn’t really understand what IVF involved, how many visits to the clinic you need to do. It’s all-encompassing,” Alicia Lombardini says. When starting fertility treatment, she was in her 40s and a well-respected stylist with an admirable portfolio, her career pulling the strings of family planning. “I was living life pretty much on a plane. [Starting a family earlier] didn’t seem logical, reasonable or even fathomable,” she says. “And I wanted to be this career woman who wasn’t held back.” Meanwhile, IVF cycles demand numerous appointments, injections and more, which is hard to fit into a chaotic fashion schedule. “You have to go to monitoring twice a week. If I had to be on set at 8:00 AM, I’d make arrangements with the doctor’s office to get in at 6:30 for the monitoring,” says Alicia, adding that she arranged for scans across the country to accommodate her work’s travel schedule.