By Catie Pusateri
Although decorating houses on The Sims marks the extent of my interior design knowledge, I’m interning at Business of Home this summer, which is a magazine reporting on the interior design industry. Before I started, I was worried about jumping into an industry that I knew virtually nothing about (except, of course, what I learned from painstakingly decorating my Sims’ homes). I have always been interested in fashion journalism and I felt comfortable within the fashion and entertainment sphere, so I was admittedly hesitant about exploring a brand new industry.
However, I quickly found that fashion is intertwined with the interior design world. Designers such as Christian Siriano and the late Virgil Abloh have home lines, and interior design trends mirror today’s fashion trends (hello, maximalism).
For lovers of The Devil Wears Prada, Miranda Priestly’s iconic monologue about the fashion industry’s ubiquitous impact transcends the fashion world as I saw it represented within the interior design realm. Ever the Andy Sachs, I couldn’t help but think: “Why should the average person care about interior designers and the expensive, high-end furniture market?” As one of my editors explained some of the industry’s intricacies to me, I heard Miranda’s voice in the back of my head and it clicked.
Interior designers provide a personalized service to homeowners who can afford their vision (see haute couture and made-to-order designers). Interior designers each have their own flare, signature and style, just as one can tell Versace apart from Vivienne Westwood. Although the average person likely cannot afford the services of a high-end interior designer, they sometimes try to replicate a designer’s work via curated Pinterest boards and HomeGoods purchases. Just as I pin Chanel runways to my fashion inspiration boards and seek out high-fashion knockoffs within an intern’s budget, the interior design industry features the height of interior design which can filter its way down to consumers who religiously watch HGTV (...guilty).
Interior design is a craft, a skill, and even a luxury — just as fashion is more than just “stuff.”
My internship at BOH has opened my eyes to a whole new industry, and has taught me to embrace the beauty in learning something new and starting from the bottom. I’ve experienced highs and lows throughout this internship, such as grinding out time-sensitive fact-checking calls for BOH’s summer print issue and having a high-performing first byline. As an intern, I’m here to make the BOH team’s lives easier, so I’ve taken on transcribing interviews, sorting through analytics, and even picking up The BOH Podcast recap piece.
Before this internship, asking people for help petrified the perfectionist inside of me, but I couldn’t have succeeded without the support and guidance from the BOH team. It’s true what they say: Failing helps you learn faster. So, send that Slack message and ask for help if you need it; They’re not Miranda Priestly (hopefully).