London: a creative hub or an exclusive club?

Examining the financial and social barriers to success in the UK fashion industry.

Does your creative career pay your rent? Probably not. A poll we recently ran on Instagram found that only 24% of respondents were paying their rent with creative work. That’s low but maybe not surprising. After a 4.2% increase in the last year, London rent prices now average at an extortionate £2,121, or £971 for a room. So what do you do when you want to build a creative career, but you can’t live with your family who are miles from the city or in another country? In a seemingly never-ending era of unpaid internships and a cost of living crisis, are creative jobs only for those who can get a foothold without paying housing costs?

Caroline Rush, CEO of the British Fashion Council says working in fashion is unquestionably less complicated if you can stay in your childhood bedroom while you’re starting out. “It certainly makes it easier for those who have London-based families,” she says. “[But] having said that, there are brilliant fashion businesses throughout the UK, from the likes of Barbour in the Northeast to Holland and Cooper in Cheltenham, Private White in Manchester and Mulberry in Somerset who also provide opportunities for young people.”

Yet the perception is that if you’re in London, having family in the city makes a difference. 58% of respondents to our poll believed that in order to make it in the arts, you need London-based parents. And yet nearly 70% of respondents said they don’t have family near them. Some will be getting help in other ways. “Do you need parents who live in London to start in fashion? No,” says fashion writer Emily Phillips. “Do you need to have some advantages? Yes.”

What if you don’t have those advantages?