Fall 06 24-35.qxd
Source: www.medill.northwestern.edu
Topic: Fashion for Men
Sort Desciption: fashion advice to sartorially chal-. lenged men and women. But Kelly. had no idea he was destined for the. world of reality TV. He was not ...
Content Inside: 30 A Passion for Fashion Drives a Career by Melanie Zanoza (BSJ04) A s the host of the Learning Channels reality television show What Not to Wear Clinton Kelly (MSJ93) lends his harsh but funny fashion advice to sartorially chal- lenged men and women. But Kelly had no idea he was destined for the world of reality TV. He was not trained in broadcast journalism nor did he study fashion. Instead through positions as magazine editor advice columnist shopping channel host and freelance writer and editor Kelly has taken the skills he learned at Medill and applied them every step along the way ending up finding his fit in an unusual and unexpected place. Graduating with a liberal arts edu- cation from Boston College Kelly left school believing he was in his own words without the skills to enter any sort of workforce. Drawn to magazine journalism with aspira- tions to work in magazines in New York City for the glamour of it all Kelly chose Medill because of the hands-on approach that the program offered. I loved the idea that the magazine program actually created a magazine said Kelly. While at Medill Kelly developed strong editorial skills especially in the introductory courses with which he had a love-hate relationship. At first I didnt want to take them but I learned so much! he said: I was never sure before how to use a semi- colon and now I can use it with reck- less abandon. In addition to mastering punctuation Kelly learned what he describes as the kind of skills that are applicable for any career. I learned more in the first quarter in Medill about English than I did in 12 years of public school and four years of college. What I was most impressed about he said was that I could leave Medill and hit the ground running in the New York City publishing world. Which is exactly what he did start- ing with an assistant editor gig at the now-defunct trade magazine Sport Style. I did everything Kelly said. I did page layout I copyedited I fact- checked I wro ...
