Cover photo by Alyssa Wagner
Alyssa Wagner is a fashion industry professional who founded Fashion Theory Magazine. I recently interviewed her on my radio show, Pita Chip Chat, which airs every Wednesday of Fall Quarter 2025 at 11 a.m. on uclaradio.com. To listen to the interview in full, check out @andmore.archive on Instagram, where all show updates and previous recordings are posted.
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This interview was conducted by Ava Bozic on October 21, 2025. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Ava Bozic: Alyssa Wagner is the creator of the Substack Fashion Theory, which has amassed over 17,000 readers since she started this magazine in May. She recently launched fashiontheoryco.com, which serves as a global fashion database, and she continuously posts updates on Instagram @fashion theory.co. She says these platforms were “Made for the girl she was four years ago, a girl with zero experience and 100% interest in fashion.” Alyssa, thank you so much for joining me. I’m so excited to talk to you about your magazine.
How did you get into fashion in general? The magazine covers such a breadth of topics; it’s very impressive to me [that] you would know all these things and can actually write about them. Can you tell me a bit about how it started, or if you always knew you wanted to go into fashion?
Alyssa Wagner: I actually did not know that I wanted to be in fashion. It kind of started around college. I was in your shoes just a couple of years ago; I graduated in 2023. I really wanted to work in fashion, I just didn’t know how to start. I started a blog, very similar to how I’m writing about fashion now, and that portfolio landed me a position with my university’s student-run magazine. So kind of how you have your podcast. I was writing for my school’s magazine, and someone from a luxury fashion company saw that, and I was able to start my first internship [in] corporate [fashion].
I was modeling as well in college, and I think that’s how I started meeting photographers, stylists, a lot of creative people, and realized these are my people, [they] are who I get along with the most. But it was really hard to get started. I was in Minnesota, too, so not a huge fashion base by any means.
Ava: It sounds like you took advantage of what you could at least.
Alyssa: Yeah, I think any work helps, because down the line, I’d have friends or mentors that I made in different cities reach out years later with opportunities. So I think down the line it will always work out. [laughs]
I eased my way out of marketing and went into merchandising with some sports companies. I was doing sports apparel production, and that’s where I got really excited about fashion and realized I don’t want to do marketing, I want to build clothing collections.
Ava: I love that. How long did you do that?
Alyssa: So 2021 was my first internship [in] marketing. Then I graduated, and that’s when I started doing merchandising and production. That’s when it got a little bit more exciting for me. I saw behind the scenes [of] how clothes [are] actually made. That’s what I was curious about all along.
Ava: I think [that’s what is] interesting with the fashion industry, it’s very daunting, because [there are] so many levels to it. Beyond that, I have an inkling that I want to work in the fashion industry, and then I’m like, “Okay, what does that even mean?” [laughs] There are so many different routes that could mean [and] so many different jobs within that field.
I think on [your] website — you just recently launched, right?
Alyssa: Yeah, last Friday.
Ava: It looks really awesome. Did you do it yourself?
Alyssa: Yeah, I taught myself to code. I think it took three weeks.
Ava: Oh my, that’s not easy. [both laugh]
Alyssa: I’m surprised it’s alive and doing its thing! [laughs]
Ava: I saw it [is] a fashion database, which makes sense, since it’s covering so many different topics. How do you stay up to date on all these things? What are you doing to facilitate your knowledge continuously?
Alyssa: I love that question. I’ll usually make content for the day of and post it. I try to be ahead, but that doesn’t always work out with my schedule. But just to find inspiration, a lot of it is from my own work experience. I’ll talk about certain things and just go through with it, or I read a lot of like Vogue Business, Business of Fashion. I think online searching, “What’s happening in fashion this week?” I’ll literally just read a bunch of articles and then write my own. I always try to summarize it, because I feel like fashion is such a busy industry, and it changes every day, there’s breaking news every day, so I definitely can’t touch on everything, but I always just try to summarize it in like two paragraphs: What do people want to know? What are the key details of it?
I’m really surprised it’s taking off the way that it is, because I built it as a professional portfolio for myself to see if I could attract jobs, and it did, but it also built a community. It’s bigger than me.
Ava: You started in May, right?
Alyssa: Yeah, you’re spot on. It was May.
Ava: So it’s been like 6-7 months? And it’s 1000s of readers?
Alyssa: Today I looked, I think it’s 18.5 [thousand], and it’s almost been 1,000 every day for the last couple weeks. I just– I can’t wrap my brain around that, because it’s just me sitting at my laptop writing for people. [laughs]
Ava: It must be fulfilling too, because you’re keeping up with things you’d already be keeping up with. But you’re actually absorbing them a lot better, because you’re having to make something out of it.
Alyssa: Yes, I mean, it’s worthwhile for me, because any professional has to stay up to date. A lot of things too, if you work in corporate fashion, they’re not going to slow down and teach you. It’s just not the landscape of the industry. You kind of have to do it yourself.
Ava: It seems like it takes a certain amount of grit and resilience. Maybe the payoff isn’t initially there.
Alyssa: It depends. I’ve also had mentors [who] have worked in the industry for 10 years. Sometimes, if I find myself looking for my next fashion job or whatever it may be, I’ll reach out to them. They’ve told me that they’ve gotten fired from places and they’ve been working for however long; it’s just always a battle, no matter how long you’ve been in it. So always try to give yourself grace. I tell myself that all the time because, even though I have this platform, it doesn’t mean I have all the answers or know exactly what to do.
Ava: Yeah, that makes sense. That’s even a part of some of the things you’ve written about, about being discouraged.
I think it is interesting how much [your magazine has] blown up on Substack specifically, because it shows how much people like more independent journalism. Do you have any thoughts about the direction of print media? I feel like everything has changed already, with things being pushed online. Do you have any thoughts about what the future of that space might look like?
Alyssa: I find it interesting. I always test and post things to see what people are saying. I think one of the most viral notes [posts on Substack] that I had was a bunch of 1900s Vogue magazine covers. I was just writing about Vogue and wanted to see what people would think about these covers. You don’t really see art on magazine covers anymore, and that just blew up, and every day I see a new comment like, “Why aren’t we doing this instead of AI?” It did give me an idea to do my own print. I want to do something artistic like that, because [the industry] is kind of going towards more tech and AI. I think print still has chance. I think.
Ava: I agree! I think it’s more authentic, people like having something physical. I have my personal opinions about Vogue magazine, which, obviously, is iconic, and I love it. I have a bunch up here [points to stack of magazines on a shelf]. But I feel like people who are more interested in fashion and being up to date, [Vogue] doesn’t necessarily do that for you. It’s not educational as much as it’s advertisement, which I know it has to be, to an extent.
I am wondering what will happen with the new [Head of Editorial Content for American Vogue] Chloe Malle. I know she’s going to release prints more infrequently, which I’m looking forward to!
Alyssa: Me too! I used to get the Vogue cover sent to my house. I don’t anymore. I used to have the same thing, like that huge stack [refers to my stack of magazines]! I would always cut out of the magazines anything I found fascinating and then make a little mood board on the wall. I did that for years. That’s why I’m like, print magazine definitely has a place because people will find inspo in it. But you said how Vogue isn’t really an educational platform, I agree.
Ava: It’s more about the cover star. Which is cool but– [laughs]
Alyssa: I think so, too. It’s cool, but it’s like the only fashion magazine that people look at.
Ava: Exactly.
Alyssa: One person, too, that did inspire my own [magazine] — because I’m using a lot of Pinterest pictures, it’s not like I have the budget to do a bunch of productions — is All Things Fashion Tech. I think you should check them out. She started, I think, just a couple months before me, and I was reading her stuff, and it’s all about fashion technology, and it’s a lot of educational stuff, too. She’ll post job boards and things. I had a professor [who] used to do that for us, like “Internships that you can apply to this week,” and I wanted to include that job board in Fashion Theory, because I want to help people find opportunities, too.
Ava: Yeah, it’s hard to know what’s real, so it’s refreshing to see it aesthetically laid out. It’s like, “There are options, still.” [laughs]
Alyssa: There are options! It’s not just New York or LA. I’m trying to find other places, too. [laughs]
Ava: You’re based in Chicago?
Alyssa: I’m based in Chicago now, but before that, I was [in] New York City, before that was Atlanta, and then I went to school in Minneapolis. So I’m a little bit crazy. [laughs]
Ava: But there still seem to be opportunities in these places.
Alyssa: Yeah, I’ve always found it. I think a lot of it was just putting myself out there. Before I moved to Atlanta, I didn’t know anybody, so I found this woman who had a fashion brand agency, and she would build fashion brands from scratch. I was just blown away by that, as someone coming out of college. I emailed her, just told her everything that I experienced up to that point, asked if she had any work or clients that I could do work for, and that’s how I got my first two freelance jobs. I was working with multiple brands at a time because of reaching out to this lady who saw herself in me a little bit. So, it doesn’t hurt to reach out. The worst that could happen is you don’t hear back.
I mean, even something like this, I was nervous all day, and it’s like, I just have to go for it.
Ava: Yeah, definitely! I know you’ve done multiple different things within fashion, but did you always have a desire to write?
Alyssa: Actually, yeah. That was my first passion, and I went to school for journalism for a year, so it does add up. But I did take like two years off of writing, and then built Fashion Theory and realized, “Oh, wait, I love doing this.” [laughs]
Ava: Yeah, I feel like it’s definitely an overwhelming thing to approach when you have the final idea in mind, [considering the many] little things you have to do just to get to that final website. When did you first have the idea for a blog?
Alyssa: I did start one [in] 2021. It wasn’t even all about fashion; it was when I was just starting to realize I liked fashion. But for Fashion Theory, it’s funny, it wasn’t called Fashion Theory, I don’t even want to say the name, I think it was really weird. [both laugh]
I thought I was going to build a fashion brand agency, similar to my mentor that I was inspired by, and it turned into a magazine. I’m so glad it ended up going that route, because I think it’s a lot harder to go full business with it. I would have to really put myself out there to get clients and things. I’m still only 25 years old, it’s still young in my career to do something like that.
I’m glad that I waited, and it came out when it did. It just seems like it was always meant to be a magazine. Not really for profit or anything, it’s just more like passion. If people find it, they find it and connect with it, hopefully!
Ava: People have definitely found it!
Alyssa: I still can’t believe it! [laughs]
Ava: It must be so awesome to see that– not that it wouldn’t pay off regardless, but you can see that there is an audience that wants to actually learn more about different designers. It’s also good that you appeal to so many different aspects of what someone is looking for.
Alyssa: I wrote out a plan for this week, and I feel like that was the first time in a long time that I actually had a plan of what I was gonna do. People comment on it, and I listen. I love when people reach out. I even had an email today, someone was like, “You should write about this.” If you want to write an article, sure, I’ll publish it for you! I’m open to people joining, it’s really just me.
Ava: How do you even hold yourself to deadlines?
Alyssa: Gonna be honest, I think there were two months I was working full time, and it was like nine to seven. It was a really brutal schedule. I just wasn’t able to find any energy, especially because it was corporate fashion too.
So I did have a period of two months where I wasn’t really active, and for some reason, that’s when it blew up. That was when I hit 10,000, when I wasn’t writing. I’m like, “Wait?!”
Ava: You’re like, “Hold on! That was the hack? To stop?!” [both laugh]
Alyssa: Now I’m back and taking it a little bit more serious, because more and more people are reaching out about it. I started building the website, building a print and a world out of it. People seem to see it in such a high light, which is amazing, it’s to inspire people.
Ava: Would you have any advice for anyone trying to do something, like start their own blog or magazine? For me, at least, I get very stagnant. I’m like, “You know what? I’m not gonna do anything because it’s too much.” [laughs]
Alyssa: I get it, I get creative burnout all the time. Like I said, I had two months where it was just not happening. But I think if you want to start something, you absolutely should. I mean, I was doing it for maybe a month or two when nobody was engaging with it. I actually felt more comfortable then.
I think you should absolutely start something, because sometimes when you’re in those positions of like, “I’m not working in fashion right now,” it’s your only thing that you can hold onto at a certain point, or use as your portfolio to get the next opportunity.
I think you should do it. [laughs] I say do it!
Ava: Through school, we got a discounted pass to go to the Teen Vogue Conference recently in LA. The Teen Vogue editors were there, and we got to very briefly talk to them. It was interesting because they made it all seem a little bit less daunting. Everyone wants advice, like, “How do I get to your position?” It’s not like they had some meticulous plan. They were like, “You have to focus on your own niche and make things to show for.” It was refreshing because they were just real people who were like, “Yeah, I went to school in the middle of nowhere, I wrote about all this stuff, and now I’m here.” [laughs] You just got to do it.
Alyssa: I hate to say it, but it really is all about who you know in fashion. I grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, not a fashion capital. It’s showing up, like they said, having something to show, [it] doesn’t have to be a blog, it could be a social media page, your art, or designs. You have to show them who you are. It’s just putting yourself out there and telling them exactly what you want, and it can be totally terrifying. I was really shy. I think fashion actually got me out of my shell, if anything.
Ava: I do think you have to be very confident in what you have to offer. I think [fashion is] a space where a lot of people, who grew up around it, can very easily get involved. I would imagine that I’d feel very discouraged, being like, [sigh] “These people [can] so easily go to these events,” but it’s a matter of being like, “This is what I can offer, and I have to be confident about that.”
Alyssa: Exactly, and a lot of fashion creatives are struggling. When I was in New York, I think a lot of the creatives I met were all working multiple jobs. Fashion is an amazing industry; I don’t want to ever say anything bad about it, but it’s really hard to get into. Then you get there [and] you’re fighting for it. It’s a constant battle. You really have to love it and be passionate about it.
Ava: What do you think draws you personally to [fashion]? Since it is not necessarily the most forgiving industry, what do you think it is for you that is fulfilling about it?
Alyssa: I think because it’s creative, I always knew I wanted a creative career. It’s creative, but it’s challenging, and I’m really fascinated by how the industry moves. It’s so fast-paced that I think you can’t really get bored with it. There’s always something new to discover.
I think I’m even fascinated by what’s wrong with it, like how it’s the worst industry for pollution, and there’re so many things that need to be changed.
Ava: It’s just so massive. And then obviously, who doesn’t like beautiful clothes? Right?
Alyssa: Exactly. I mean, it’s glittery and shiny. I think going to fashion shows is everything. I think that’s still my favorite part.
Ava: That is a dream of mine.
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Alyssa is such an inspiration to take the initiative in your own life and create the world you want to be a part of. Her magazine, Fashion Theory, is growing every day, and she is looking to expand with the help of writers, social media assistants, and other creative roles. If you’re interested in reading her magazine or getting involved, reach out to her @fashiontheory.co and follow her Substack, Fashion Theory, for the latest in fashion news. To keep up with fashion chats like this one, check out Pita Chip Chat, every Wednesday at 11 a.m. on uclaradio.com, and follow @andmore.archive for updates about episodes and new exciting guests like Alyssa.
