2008: Trendy resource

Views: 2,574 views. Comments: No Comment.
Tags: Arts, BEL, entrepreneurship, fashion, summer-2010

Madeline Veenstra, BEcon, BA

Madeline Veenstra

Fashions may come and go but Madeline Veenstra hopes she may be able to keep the trends alive in the online world.

Ms Veenstra, whose passion for fashion stems from working as a retail sales assistant while completing her degree, has created Wikifashion – a site containing information about style icons, blogs, fashion shows, brands, writers and models.

The site launched in 2008 and now has around 1000 members, with more than 150,000 page views per month.

“I created Wikifashion so that there would be a place on the Internet to collaborate and compile images, information and videos about fashion and I really loved the idea of creating a site that others could edit and contribute to,” Ms Veenstra said.

“The fantastic thing about the site is that it can include anything that the users want it to, provided it has something to do with fashion.

“The site also has pages for specific garments. Users have edited these pages to include images of the garment, colourways, size, price, material and fit.”

Ms Veenstra has big ambitions for Wikifashion, with hopes that it becomes a picture-intense Wikipedia-like resource.

However, the success of the database is dependent on the quality of the content, and Ms Veenstra is calling upon all fashion lovers to contribute to the site.

“We’d like for it to be a depository of clothing images,” she said.

“Over the next few years I hope to make Wikifashion a site for up-to-date fashion information, with a strong community of editors, that’s as simple and easy to use as possible.

“I’d also like to continue building a solid community around the site, so that it can become the best source of fashion information on the web.

“If there is anyone who enjoys fashion and writing or feels that they could contribute to the site in any way, that would be fantastic.”

After graduating in 2008, Ms Veenstra began working as an economist, but is now working full-time on developing Wikifashion.

In the future, she hopes to continue building Wikifashion and possibly dabble in freelance fashion journalism.

By Penny Robinson

• Home
• Graduate Contact
• Alumni Profiles
• Global Education: Divining world trends