Plum Sykes, known for her role as a personal assistant to Anna Wintour and as a potential inspiration for a character in The Devil Wears Prada, has a deep understanding of the challenging and often unglamorous nature of internships within the fashion industry. However, this experience does not seem to translate into fair compensation for her own interns, who reportedly work without pay.
As an editor at Vogue, Sykes has recently initiated her own Substack, amassing over 20,000 subscribers, some of whom pay £65 for her insights. To assist her with this venture, she has enlisted the help of students, yet she is facing backlash for not compensating them for their contributions.
The content on her blog includes personal anecdotes, such as a ranking of her favorite guests based on their gift expenditures when visiting her home. Despite her interns’ unpaid status, one of them gifted her expensive Hermès gloves, which sell for between £500 and £1,000, highlighting the disparity in compensation.
Pandora Sykes, a former editor, voiced her concerns regarding unpaid internships in a comment on a blog post, stating, “There is no place – NONE – in 2026 for not paying your contributors, in whatever capacity they contribute.” Plum Sykes, who has ties to a baronet and an extensive family estate in Yorkshire, acknowledged that she currently does not pay her student workers but expressed hope for change in the future.
With a notable lineage, including a great-grandfather who played a significant role in drafting the Sykes-Picot agreement in 1916, Sykes is married to Toby Rowland, the son of prominent businessman Tiny Rowland. The character believed to be modeled after her in The Devil Wears Prada was based on a book authored by another of Wintour’s former assistants.
Sykes outlined the various roles her interns fulfill, from sourcing photographers to managing social media. She described them with admiration, noting one intern’s resemblance to Cindy Crawford and another’s beautiful golden curls.
According to employment law, unpaid internships are permitted only if they are a requirement for students’ courses, involve charity work, or consist solely of shadowing without performing any productive tasks. Sykes maintains that her interns fit into these categories. However, if they engage in any productive work, they are legally entitled to receive at least the national minimum wage. Previous administrations have urged industries like fashion and media to cease the practice of unpaid internships, warning that such actions may be unlawful.
Condé Nast, Sykes’ employer, has previously faced legal action, resulting in a $5.8 million settlement over a class-action lawsuit that alleged the company underpaid its interns, with some earning as little as one dollar per hour. In a recent post, Sykes lamented the discontinuation of unpaid internships at Condé Nast, attributing the decision to bureaucratic policies around HR and safety.
Sophie Sajnani, who runs a consulting firm for university students, emphasized the importance of laws protecting workers’ rights to fair compensation, noting that Condé Nast had to confront these issues when it ended its internship program. She warned that the trend of unpaid internships is resurfacing, now through individual arrangements rather than institutional frameworks.
Responding to criticism, Sykes defended her approach, stating that her interns are simply gaining experience through casual, voluntary work that may complement their education. She highlighted the distinction between work experience and formal internships, asserting that her arrangement does not fit the latter category.
Carl Cullinane, director of research and policy at the Sutton Trust, expressed concern that unpaid internships remain a common barrier to entry into desirable careers, particularly for young individuals from lower-income backgrounds. TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak echoed this sentiment, stating that legislative changes are necessary to clarify that unpaid work is illegal.
Sykes noted that many applicants for her internships had already graduated and were seeking unpaid experience despite their existing part-time jobs, reflecting the competitive nature of the media job market. She had to turn away numerous candidates who were not current students, emphasizing the need for work experience to align with their academic pursuits.
