Originally published in French in 2018, The Most Beautiful Job in the World by anthropologist Giulia Mensitieri breaks down fashion’s glamorous façade to reveal the lived realities of those working in the industry.

Drawing on 4 years of research and 50 case studies involving stylists, models, designers, make-up artists and more, the book lays bare the working conditions of 'the most beautiful job in the world' and shows that exploitation isn't confined to sweatshops or sexual harassment of models, but exists at the very heart of the powerful symbolic and economic centre of fashion.

After being translated to English and published by Bloomsbury in the UK, The Most Beautiful Job in the World received international media attention from several major platforms. In The Guardian, Stefanie Marsh describes the book as ‘lively from the start’ and commends Mensitieri’s analysis and case studies, which ‘build up a fairly damning picture of her subject matter’. A piece by Amy De Klerk in Harpers Bazaar explores industry responses to the book, including workers who started seeing the bigger picture after reading it and realised they were being mistreated. Forbes applauds the work as ‘a powerful condemnation of an industry in this day of “conscientious capitalism”’. Mensitieri was also a guest on the Statement on Fashion podcast with Philippa Nesbitt and Katherine Wilkes, where they discuss the way in which the fashion industry upholds its system of exploitation while maintaining its image of glamour and prestige.

The Most Beautiful Job in the World exposes the reality of seemingly desirable jobs in the creative sectors of the modelling and fashion industries, showing how instability and precariousness are not an anomaly but systematic in fashion - one of the richest and most powerful industries in contemporary capitalism.

You can pre-order The Most Beautiful Job in the World now for $34.99 ahead of its release on August 4.