Going Vogue: A Thank You Note to the Messengers Employed at 4 Times Square
Dear Conde Nast Bike Messengers:
Every time you drop a package off at my supervisor’s desk, I rush over. I guess what could be inside. Maybe a pristine tube of red lipstick that hasn’t been released yet, or a sweet smelling candle. It’s like Christmas every time one of you comes around.Besides satisfying my own love of make-up and surprises, though, messengers deliver all my boss’s packages on time. Sometimes we need products for stories right away — maybe a Chanel lipstick, or a bottle of perfume. Deadlines are all-important in the magazine business, and if we don’t have the proper product in the correct color to complete a feature or editorial spread, whole pages of the magazine could fall apart.
I am only an intern, but I’m so envious of the access you have to some of most coveted products and clothing in the fashion industry. Girls like me wait years and years to have the kind of access that you have — Lanvin, Chanel, Donna Karan, Vera Wang — straight from the runway. To those who work at fashion and lifestyle magazines, these names mean inspiration and influence. They mean our livelihood. I wonder what they mean to you. Are they just black garment bags and wrinkled shopping bags? Or do they carry the weight and passion of the editors, writers, and artists that make up the staff of the Conde Nast magazines? Somehow I doubt it. Whether or not you care as much as we do, we still have to say thank you.
Without you there to pedal back and forth for us, the staff would be trudging around Manhattan in six inch designer heels and pencil skirts, searching for office buildings — and what would be lost in the process is the reporting on the fashion industry that I, and so many other men and women, are deeply dedicated to. Can you imagine Anna Wintour running down the street in a couture dress with a garment bag thrown over her shoulder, checking her watch every ten minutes to make sure she can get back to the office on time? It’s a ridiculous image, but the truth is, even if you weren’t there, Anna Wintour still wouldn’t be doing that job. I would.
Messengers and interns are polar opposite groups — I’m learning about the magazine industry, while your job is to deliver — but often times we end up serving the same purpose. As different as we are, the interns, (and for that matter, the rest of the staff), are incredibly dependent on the messengers: Instead of running through wind and rain to deliver a package for my supervisor, (I’ve had to do it before; it sucks), I usually get to experience the professional work environment of a magazine first hand. Messengers afford me that opportunity. Thank you.
- An intern at Conde Nast
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