Ahhhhh… it’s almost been 10 years since I’ve started Fashion Denver and boy how it has evolved and grown and shrunk and grown again! Fashion Denver started out as my way to help local designers get their businesses out there. I used to be a handbag designer (I’m semi-retired) and my business took me to Southern California, London, Paris, New York and more! I realized that it wasn’t exactly the designing that I was passionate about but that drive to get my handbags out there. After moving back from San Diego, I realized that I wanted to focus on taking all of the experiences that I’ve had and using them to build on the fashion scene in Denver.
When I was in California, I did these fabulous fashion markets that featured designers in super cool gallery space. It was such a wonderful event and it allowed me to sell my bags to people that may not have found me otherwise. When I got back to Denver, I wanted to create a similar market like the ones I had sold in, but add other elements like fashion shows, interviews with designers, dj’s and more! So, in 2004, I produced the very first Fashion Denver fashion market. It took place at Andenken Gallery (now located in Amsterdam) and was such a success, that I wanted to have it a few times a year!
The markets were coming along greatly, but I also had to share my passion of small business development. In my handbag business, I did everything! Branding, web development, PR, marketing… and I knew that I had to help others create the tools to succeed. So! That year, I started my 2 companies! B.23 Productions and Fashion Denver!
In 2008, I opened up a boutique so fashion lovers could shop for local fashion at a brick and mortar store and not just at the fashion markets. I started off in a 600 square feet space and eventually moved to a 1,445 square foot space, both in the Golden Triangle. It was late 2011 when I realized that running the boutique just wasn’t where my heart was. I needed to get back to the business development side of things and as you can imagine, owning a shop is hard work! It was keeping me from my consulting, guest speaking, event production and traveling. I made the decision to close up the shop and focus on that which my heart desired.
Over the past 10 years, I’ve been solidly working on business development with entrepreneurs, producing the fashion markets, and producing more and more fashion events and shows such as Fashion Project at Tamarac, fashion show at the Toofy Film Festival, Frock Out II, Goodwill’s ‘Good Exchange for Change” and many more events. It’s been an amazing adventure so far!
Our Fashion Denver office is still in the same spot as the boutique, only know it’s used as my office to consult, pop up Frock Shop Sample sales, my location in which I teach my Do What You Love. Love What You Do workshops, and more!
It’s interesting how things come back to full circle, only to begin again in the same spot, but in a new direction!
And that is how Fashion Denver came to be! I have a team of wonderful interns and together we help to connect local designers, build businesses, and connect our fashion community! It’s been such a pleasure to work with our local community and I look forward to many more years of growth and evolution in our fashion industry!
xoxo
Brandi S. Shigley | Dreamer / Doer