Left Dazed, No Longer Confused

Rediscovering Myself After Fashion Burnout

Words by Dominic Cadogan

The day wasn’t special – it was just a regular Thursday in early 2021, hardly different to any other. Somewhat unexpectedly (even to myself), I quit my job as assistant editor at Dazed Beauty, simultaneously ending a four-year stint at the publication and an arduous journey infiltrating the fashion industry that began almost a decade earlier. 

Though I wasn’t off to greener pastures like the cushy Condé job I envisioned myself leaving the publication for, that evening as I slumped into bed, I couldn’t stop smiling. Feeling lighter by the minute as the worries of the world were lifted off my shoulders. The months prior had been among the most gruelling of my career. What started out as a promising year quickly descended into the chaos of 2020 – with a global racial reckoning in the midst of it all as the rotten cherry on top of a shit sundae.