Things that go hand in hand? Vogue Club members and exceptional style. Club attendees proved as much at our recent Meet The Founder event with leading fashion entrepreneur Carmen Busquets.
Picture this: An intimate evening at Whitcomb’s at The Londoner, and a riveting conversation between British Vogue’s acting associate European fashion features director Laura Hawkins and Carmen. Now, populate the room with a jovial (and very well-dressed) crowd, and you have a snapshot of the typical Vogue Club Meet The Founder reception.
Club members took avid notes as Carmen shared her wisdom on starting out as a fashion entrepreneur. Carmen first came onto our radar as a cofounder of, an early investor in, Net-a-Porter, and she detailed her journey to becoming a fashion and luxury-business mogul. Throughout her storied career, Carmen has developed cutting-edge business ideas for both boutiques and e-commerce spaces—and her investment portfolio spans everything from tech-driven venture capital funds to online business-to-business platforms. Carmen is also a cofounder investor of THE FLOORR, the first business-to-business personal shopping engine for style experts.
Carmen advised that by owning the things that make you, you— including points of insecurity—you can make your individuality an advantage, and come up with new perspectives for groundbreaking business ideas… Plus: Carmen noted if you want to succeed in fashion going forward, your idea needs to be sustainable—that’s no longer optional.
Speaking to the true power of uplifting other women (especially in the male-dominated investing world), Carmen urged the crowd that it’s the support you lend your peers that will help you succeed down the line. Greed? Forget about it. For Carmen, two rules are golden: “Start small, think big,” and “Never talk about another woman behind her back.”
After Carmen’s motivational talk, Club members gathered for an exclusive one-to-one chat—with many leaving feeling inspired to kickstart their own fashion business.
See some of the best snaps of the night below…