Brenden, here at Global Entrepreneurship Week HQ, likes to remind me that this isn’t a fashion blog. I, being a little smarter than he gives me credit for, know this (have you seen articles about leggings or Fashion Week? Not yet). Yet, while I spend all day reading blogs about entrepreneurship, interacting with aspiring entrepreneurs, looking at videos on YouTube about innovation, I keep stumbling upon fashion articles, fashionistas and fashion shows.

I had the luck of being invited to a Ukrainian fashion show in DC on Tuesday held at the Ukrainian embassy to meet with others interested in the Fashion industry and to drum up support for Global Entrepreneurship Week. The fashion show heralded the arrival of unique and innovative Ukrainian fashion. Shockingly this is one of the major emerging market sectors in the post-Soviet era; the fashion was itself innovative with pieces the moved beautiful and spoke to the designer’s existence in a society still in upheaval- one show featured dog muzzels as accessories. Innovation and entrepreneurship wore woven on display in front of me.

Similarly, the Wall Street Journal wrote an article on fashion models today noting that the real change in fashion is that “bodies are being formed to fit clothes, rather than clothes designed to fit bodies”. This change in approach has resulted in the ‘rexi-chic style touted from Milan to Paris to Rio. If this is not an innovation in fashion, it is at least an innovation in the way society sees ourselves and our ideals. One hundred years ago would we have changed our bodies to fit the clothes?

Revolutions in the way that fabrics are made, draped and hung have drastically changed not only what we were but how we wear it. The dresses 50 years ago weighed drastically more than today and not just because of the amount of fabric involved. Instead, they were crafted from old modes of construction using ancient technology.

Fashion is a huge industry and consistently a part of my every day life. I use a myriad of technology to access, discover and assess trends, pieces styles.

In recent days I have heard people suggest that the film industry may be the next venue for out of work IT guys; another person mentioned that green-tech was a burgeoning market. Brenden, irregardless of his claims of naivety, suggested that maybe fashion is the next entrepreneurial venue where garage shops will make millions and set the precedent for the future. Will IT guys find their homes at Channel, Valentino and Balenciaga? Maybe. Will there continue to be a growing need for innovative entrepreneurs? Yes. People will affect the construction of fabric, the types of fabric used, how fabric movies, the way models look, the messages, etc.

There is money in fashion and we should not diminish its potential for entrepreneurial endeavors.

On that note, I promise, Brenden, no more fashion posts for at least two weeks.

Tags: Balenciaga, Chanel, entrepreneur, entrepreneurial, Fashion, Fashion Week, fashionista, Global Entrepreneurship Week, YouTube

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