“Yes, You Can Make It In Fashion” is a HuffPost Style series that profiles men and women across every area of the fashion industry and explores how they rose to the top, how they thrive and practical advice they have for young people trying to break into their world.
Unless you’ve been living under a (very unfashionable) rock, you’re probably familiar with Joe Zee. He’s the Hong Kong-born Canadian who has taken the style world by storm, first as creative director at Elle, and now as the editor-in-chief of Yahoo Fashion. He’s also starred on reality television shows, worked as a stylist to dozens of Hollywood heavyweights and even designed his own collection for QVC.
This style maven just got another honor that he can add to his ever-growing résumé — host of the second annual Canadian Arts & Fashion Awards (CAFA) — essentially Canada’s version of the CFDAs.
Since Mr. Zee seems to be the guy who can do everything (and do it all so very well), we decided to pick his brain on what he has learned over his two-plus decades in the industry. We chatted with him about everything from the difference between print and digital editors to the least glamorous part of his job. Here’s what we learned:
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On Condé Nast suspending interns:
Listen I understand the labor laws and all that stuff — I get it, it’s just personally, it’s a shame because when I was an intern, I learned so much. I made a lot of connections as an intern — a lot of people I still talk to, not only the people I interned with but the people who were around me. I think it was a great way for people to meet other people, but at the same time, it probably at some point got abused or something… but I feel bad because I think Condé Nast is probably one of the best places for people to intern at and it’s sad that that program went away.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
