You may read some amazing alumni spotlight stories of grads who have landed dream jobs after they finish studying—but a lot of our students secure incredible roles while they’re still studying!

Meet Chloe, a Holmes Institute Fashion Business student, who in the first year of her studies scored an internship at production company Cinema Thom. This then evolved into a permanent job for Chloe, who found herself working across the production company as well as their label, Remy.

We sat down with Chloe to discuss how she got her job, how her studies are going, and what some of the highlights have been!

What was it like when you got your offer to study in the BFB?

I was actually in New York when I had my interview. I was like, ‘I’m in New York, I’m conquering it!’ I mean, I was on a holiday with my Mum, but I was still conquering it! I saw the course as something really cool, where I’d have to work hard to have a good career within this industry. You can’t just sit back and watch people do it for you, you have to do it. So that’s where I was at when I made the call to move to Melbourne to study.

What was it like moving from Sydney to Melbourne for uni?

It was definitely tough leaving, but to be honest, I go home so much. My friends are still my best friends, so when I said goodbye it wasn’t really a big thing, because I knew I’d still have them in my life forever.

Tell us about your roles at Cinema Thom and Remy?

Remy and Cinema Thom are both owned by my boss—I’m basically her right-hand woman! 

Remy is a beautiful, beach-inspired lifestyle brand. My role there really varies. One day I’m an assistant, then I’m a stylist… I also do all the social media. I’m a bit of an allrounder!

Cinema Thom is one of Australia’s most well-known production companies for fashion films and photography. That’s been an amazing experience—I’ve had the most epic opportunities through that and I’m so thankful. My role there is Digital Coordinator/Community and Branding Manager. I help out when we have test shoots and when clients need styling, I jump in and do that.

What are some of the opportunities working there has led you to?

Such a broad variety! We’ve done some amazing shoots for Remy, we’ve gone to a Polo Farm, to Portsea… we’ve done so many things!

For Cinema Thom, I’ve gone back up to Sydney for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week for Vogue Australia. I’ve worked with By Johnny too. I’ve also done a tonne of test shoots, which is a real highlight, really showing our creative talents all put into one. 

Last year was definitely a highlight going to three fashion weeks. MBFWA was a real highlight; we worked with Vogue Australia to do video content for all their socials, so that was a big week! One of the highlight shows was Mattau, an epic resort wear brand. It was in Baker Street Studio and they had Phoebe Tonkin there… I was just in awe! They had this inspiration board behind the runway and it was so cool to see the story of the brand. 

It’s just an amazing experience to see how a fashion week and fashion show comes together. Going off that, seeing how it applies to what I’m learning and my units, whether that’s styling or something heavier in content, it’s just so interesting to see.

So you got to style your own shoot, how was that?

So we wanted to do an editorial test shoot and my boss was like ‘I know you’ve been wanting to work with these brands, let’s just give it our best shot…’, so I emailed them and hoped for the best. I was pretty skeptical to be honest, I was like ‘they aren’t going to say yes, my favourite brand in Byron Bay aren’t going to say yes!’. Then they did!

That meant a lot to me because then I was like I have all of these beautiful clothes...what am I going to do with them? I had lots of inspiration behind them all but then had to think, now that they said yes I actually have to do it! It was a really good experience for me to build up my portfolio, we used Yoli and Otis, Brie Leon jewellery, White Story (a Melbourne based brand) and it was just beautiful. 

Have you been able to travel for your work?

Yeah! Earlier this year we went to Byron Bay to shoot a campaign for a new brand, Mother SPF, which is amazing reef-safe sunscreen. We produced this epic beach shoot and shot it all in Byron Bay at the pass which is a super busy beach. Our model was wearing such stunning swimwear, she was tanned, she was gorgeous! We loaned beach chairs and then decided to get cool surfboards.We found Emery surfboards and they loaned us some brand new beautiful boards for the shoot! 

I love Byron and would love to move there one day. There’s this whole fashion community there and it’s basically my Instagram feed! There are all of these amazing brands there that I look up to in one place which is really amazing.

 

That sounds like such an amazing experience! Aside from your work at Thom & Remy, have you taken on any other opportunities through Agency T.M.?

Yes I have! Recently I worked at SIR The Label’s warehouse sale which was super cool because I got to meet the owners. I’m also interning at First Principles Denim focusing on Social Media Management - they do really cool custom denim! 

What’s been your greatest memory studying at The Masters so far?

I think VAMFF when I got to go to the Gorman runway show. I did an Instagram takeover, which was funny! I was so nervous but it was still really cool. It was a really amazing show - it was outdoors instead of in a typical expedition building. I already had a strong interest in going to that show anyway so it was really amazing to see!

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