Expose[s] a culture of exploitation across the industry.

Vogue Business

It’s no secret that the fashion world is only beautiful from a distance. [This book] provides substance and critical context to the truism. The findings are rivetingly awful … Mensitieri’s academic approach and deeper analysis stop the book from simply being a scathing tell-all or a cheap dig at terrible people who have no self-awareness. The point she makes in her wider analysis can just as easily be applied to most of the jobs across all the arts, media and culture sectors.

Bidisha, British broadcaster, critic and journalist

Studded with lucid and chilling vignettes that will stick in your memory, Mensitieri’s book is a remarkable analysis of how creative capitalism persuades people to work for nothing in the glamor industry, and why their poverty is anything but passionate.

Andrew Ross, New York University, USA

A riveting and revelatory expose, <i>The Most Beautiful Job</i> takes us behind-the-scenes of fashion’s phantasmagoria to highlight the precarious, oft-exploited workforce propelling the fashion industry. Mensitieri is a deft researcher, masterful storyteller, and astute critic of contemporary capitalism. Her account is a must-read for anyone interested in the harsh realities of the creative economy.

Brooke Erin Duffy, Cornell University, USA

Marshalling interviews, observations, and history, Mensitieri’s portrayal of the underbelly of Parisian fashion labor delivers a devastating critique of the brutal exploitation behind some of the world’s biggest fashion houses; this is a bold critique of creative jobs under late capitalism.

Ashley Mears, Boston University, USA