It’s a bizarre task to try and imagine Cecil Beaton filling out an online profile, let alone Coco or Courrèges.  But is it that difficult if the fashion figure were more contemporary – say a designer like JC de Castelbajac or Cassette Playa? 

Not if you’ve come face-to-face with Iqons.com, the recently-unveiled, impeccably-designed social networking site (of which the latter two aforementioned clotheshorses are both members).  Still in ‘soft-launch’ phase, Iqons states its intentions as twofold:  ‘To have the same impact on [fashion as] MySpace had on music,’ and to ‘set fashion free of geographical and social limits.’ Membership is free and allows aspiring designers, photographers, stylists and more to showcase both their personality and their work, as well as to 'connect to the highest echelons of fashion.' Big fashion names - aka Iqons - review and comment on showcased work from members, aka “Iqonians.”

Thus, in the tradition of MySpace and Friendster, Iqons hopes to break down borders of commerce and country, and bring fashionistas from all walks of life together. (Not to mention, participants may benefit both personally as well as professionally: profiles often offer career-oriented credentials as well as dating status and sexual orientation.)  Worldwide members range from fashion and art students, designers, stylists, journalists and photographers to the occasional indie band.  And, in keeping with the true temperament of the fashion industry, members are allotted their own 15 minutes of fame, quite literally (every hour the homepage highlights a different profile).

The brains behind the biz are those of co-founders Rafael Jimenez and Suran Goonatilake, as well as co-mentor Diane Pernet -- all successful entrepreneurs in their own rights: Venezuelan-born, Parisian-bred Jimenez worked with Comme des Garcons for eight years before launching his own fashion marketing strategy firm, Plan 8 Ltd. Goonatilake owned and founded Bodymetrics, a company that used body-scanning and virtual-reality technologies to introduce shoppers at Selfridges and Harrods to the true meaning of a perfectly-fitting piece of clothing. And former fashion critic and video journalist Pernet is the face behind fashion blog ashadedviewonfashion.com. 

While Iqons is undoubtedly niche-y, it’s more accessible than social-networking sites like the six-month-old modelshotel.com, an online community for models that requires representation from a ‘top 50’ modeling agency to join. 

Just as technological advancements have dissolved traditional views of community, the search for new forms of connection arise. So we take solace in the source responsible for our separation - technology. And as the phenomenon of online community continues to evolve, so does the definition of fashion: "Is fashion over? It will just be different. And who knows if the next brand will be built in cyberspace?" wrote Suzy Menkes in the International Herald Tribune last October (a proposal cited in Iqons own "About” section). And, as Coco Chanel once said: "Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening."

-- Alisa Gould-Simon

Go There:

Iqons, iqons.com
Stay posted for various upcoming Iqons projects like a collaboration with online retailer Yoox.com (details not yet released).