Plum Sykes knows the grind of fashion internships firsthand. As a former personal assistant to Anna Wintour and the rumored inspiration for Emily Blunt’s character in “The Devil Wears Prada,” she’s lived the demanding life of an industry newcomer. But now, as an editor at Vogue running a Substack with over 20,000 followers—some paying £65 for her insights—she’s drawing fire for not paying her own interns a single penny.
Sykes, who resides in the Cotswolds, has enlisted students to help manage her burgeoning business. These young workers handle tasks ranging from sourcing photographers in Paris to crafting social media content, all without compensation. In a stark twist, one intern even gifted her Hermès gloves, retailing between £500 and £1,000, highlighting the power imbalance at play.
“I remember the days of working for expenses only,” commented Pandora Sykes, a former magazine editor with no relation to Plum. “There is no place—NONE—in 2026 for not paying your contributors, in whatever capacity they contribute.”
Plum Sykes comes from privilege: she’s related to a baronet, hails from a family with a sprawling ancestral estate in Yorkshire, and is married to multimillionaire Toby Rowland, son of business magnate Tiny Rowland. Her great-grandfather, Mark Sykes, co-drafted the Sykes-Picot agreement in 1916, which carved up Middle Eastern lands between France and the UK. Despite this background, she admits the interns are unpaid for now but “hopefully that can change.”
Her team includes a neuroscience student who assists with analytics, a creative writing pupil who “worked tirelessly for a year” on social media, a King’s College London attendee brainstorming stories, and a St Andrews scholar editing copy “in a very Plum tone of voice.” Sykes has even described interns in fashion-forward terms, noting one resembled Cindy Crawford in a “pale pink Sporty and Rich cricket sweater” and another had “miles of golden ringlets” and “lovely clothes.”
Under UK employment law, unpaid internships are legal only if they’re a mandated part of a student’s course, for a charity, or involve pure shadowing without productive work. Sykes claims her setup falls into this category, arguing it’s “very casual” with no set hours and voluntary tasks. “There is a big legal difference between work experience and a formal, paid internship, which this is not,” she stated.
But critics push back. “These laws exist for a reason: so that workers know what they’re worth, can negotiate fairly, and are protected from discrimination,” said Sophie Sajnani, who runs a university consulting firm. She pointed to Condé Nast, Sykes’ employer, which paid $5.8 million in a class-action settlement over underpaid interns, some earning just a dollar an hour. The company has since scrapped its internship program, with Sykes lamenting in a post: “Officially there are no internships at Condé Nast. Interns are not allowed any more. Something to do with HR or Health and Safety or some such bureaucracy.”
Carl Cullinane, director of research and policy at the Sutton Trust, emphasized the stakes: “Internships are an increasingly critical route into the best jobs, and it’s shocking that in this day and age, many employers still pay interns below the minimum wage, or worse, nothing at all.” Paul Nowak, TUC general secretary, added, “Unpaid internships, trials and shadowing are far too common. And it’s young people from working-class backgrounds who tend to lose out. If young people remain pressured to work for free, legislative change will be needed to make it crystal clear that unpaid work is illegal.”
Sykes defended her approach, noting the tough media job market. “When I put up my ad, I received multiple applications from people who had already left college,” she said. “They were often already working part-time jobs, and yet still wanted unpaid work experience. Although I knew this was likely their only route to breaking into the media, I had to tell them that I was only considering people who were still students—who could ‘earn’ credits for their degree in return for the work experience I could give them.”
She turned away many applicants, advising them to focus on paid work. But as fashion and media sectors face ongoing scrutiny over unpaid labor, Sykes’ case underscores a persistent crisis: the clash between opportunity and exploitation in one of the world’s most glamorous industries.
