Use of interns by Plum Sykes, an ex-assistant of Anna Wintour whose family owns a Yorkshire estate, reignites debate about creative industries
She is said to have been the inspiration for a character in The Devil Wears Prada and was a personal assistant of Anna Wintour, so Plum Sykes knows a thing or two about the arduous and often unglamorous life of being a fashion industry intern.
But that recognition does not, it appears, extend to paying her own interns a fair wage. Or, indeed, any wage at all.
Sykes, an editor at Vogue, has launched her own Substack, where she has more than 20,000 followers – some of whom pay £65 for her musings. To help her run her new business, the writer, who lives in the Cotswolds, has students helping her for free. She has faced criticism for not paying them anything at all for their work.
The blog features personal missives in posts such as one that ranks her favourite house guests based on how much they have spent on a gift when turning up at her home.
