Ask Fashion Girl

Dear Missy,

The first criteria is to love shopping! Other qualities that help are patience and an enjoyment for working with lots of different kinds of people. Personal shoppers are usually responsible for selecting clothing items, shoes, and accessories for their clients. Some jobs involve much more, such as shopping for groceries, interior decor, household items, or holidays. Of course, many people think that only celebrities and wealthy socialites employ personal shoppers, but there are many other avenues. Department stores, malls, and other large stores offer personal shopping services for their guests. There are personal shopping agencies that offer a full range of services to busy professionals who just don’t have time to do their Christmas shopping or grocery shopping for the week.

One thing a personal shopper needs is a thorough knowledge of current trends and styles. But even more important is a very thorough working knowledge of the stores in his or her city and what they have to offer, since that will be your "stock in trade," so to speak. A personal shopper will confer with the client about what the client has in mind, then go out and look for that particular item. Speed, of course, is of the essence, since one may be shopping for several clients at one time, so you want to know ahead of time which stores have what. The shopper then assembles the merchandise for the client's approval. Hopefully the client likes what the shopper has found—otherwise, the personal shopper must return the rejected goods to the various stores and start the whole process over again! As you can see, there's a certain amount of mind-reading to the job of personal shopping, and returning items to stores is a big part of the job.

As far as training, FIDM offers several programs that will get you on the right path to a career in personal shopping. Check out Visual Communications and Film & Television Costume Design. These majors can lead you to careers like Fashion Stylist or Freelance Visual Designer, which involve shopping for and enhancing the looks of celebrities, regular people and their environments.

Check out this link to read a day in the life of a personal shopper: http://www.flare.com/feature/career_personalshop.html

Sincerely, Fashion Girl