The Fashion Buying Career of Vanessa Denza: A Case Study Analysis to Inform Future Buying Skills

Abstract

This article traces the long career of the international fashion buyer and recruitment consultant, Vanessa Denza. It is the first study to document Denza’s profession and incorporates research secured from access to her private work archive, which was located at her home in Berkshire, England. With no formal education in buying, Denza took a series of internships that formed the beginning of her on-the-job training as a fashion buyer and led to an important role as the buyer for a pioneering store aimed at younger people, The 21 Shop at Woollands in Knightsbridge, London, UK. Here, she promoted exciting designers who worked with revolutionary new shapes and colours and introduced radical new ways to sell fashion. Subsequent roles led to her directing a series of global fashion boutiques; the establishment of her international fashion buying office and recruitment consultancy; and an influential role in developing global fashion education. The article pinpoints the key buying skills that Denza considered essential within her career and seeks opinions on them in relation to future skills requirements for fashion buying. The aim is to understand and contextualise this expertise within in an ever-changing, global fashion industry.