The continual emergence of young, eager would-be entrepreneurs in Guyana has been one of the most significant features of a local business landscape that is continually reinventing itself in response to what is now emerging as a purposeful advancement in the oil-driven broader transformation of the country’s entrepreneurial profile. Most assuredly, there is evidence that women have enjoined the entrepreneurial ‘hustle,’ seemingly unprepared, any longer, to surrender any form of ‘business hustle’ altogether, to their male counterparts. Accidentally, or otherwise, the relative surge of business mania, a ‘hustle’ as it is referred to, would appear to have coincided with a shakeup in the local fashion culture coupled with a simultaneous appetite for entertainment.
It is out of these development, it seems, that has emerged new strands of business opportunities located in a market which, among females, has created an increasing demand for ‘tasteful’ things. If business ’hustles’ in Guyana has, on the whole, traditionally been considered to be a ‘men’s thing,’ that too has been ‘kicked to the curb.’ In pursuit of parading their acumen for ‘business hustle’, women have invaded all of the various nooks and crannies of business, in some instances, altogether outdoing men in the realm of entrepreneurial creativity. The surge in the local market for women’s fashion is hinged to dispositions of ‘show off’ and daring that have become elements of a wider tendency among Guyanese women to make their presence felt. The phenomenon goes beyond simply dressing to impress. It has, as well, to do with displaying a kind of ‘power’ that would make men catch their breath in awe rather than leer and ‘cat call.’
Close to the top of the pile in the contemporary Guyana gender fashion ‘shakeup’ is an enormous and continually growing appetite of women for pushing the boundaries, defying the boundaries of daring. What adorns women, these days, sends messages that communicate a mix of allure and unbridled daring. It is evolving in a mix of constancy, coupled with frequents darts into diversion, some of which remain and some of which disappear. Aesthetic Fashion, a modest outlet just opened in the Courtyard Mall at 76-77 Robb Street (just opposite the Stabroek News) is as much a manifestation of the female fashion surge that is still in the process of ‘invading’ Guyana as it is a less than subtle messenger of change. Over time, young and not-so-young Guyanese women, have been, through careful monitoring of fashion tastes and trends, globally, with considerable support from the internet and in many instances, leaving salaried jobs behind. Here, there are distinct indications that women continue to take themselves increasingly seriously as bona fide entrepreneurs who can match men, in most, if not all of the various ‘hustles’ that now constitute legitimate business.
Saskea Denny is a ‘small’ but seemingly energetic young woman who has taken the plunge into marketing women’s fashion, having left an earlier marketing job behind. Like many of her predecessors in the fashion marketing sector, she is both responding to an intense personal passion as well as what she believes is a sense of what the market wants. Over time, Saskea had watched animatedly from the sidelines as fashion-conscious Guyanese women unleashed clothes and things on a market that has, for some time, been chomping at the bit. The phenomenon had sent sundry sensitive ‘hustlers’ on ‘the hunt,’ their instincts and the undeniable evidence put before them providing compelling evidence that women’s fashion was where the money was.
Saskea has gone down the road of women’s fashion only after checking out the frenzy and seemingly finding her own space in the ‘rush.’ For now, at least, it is a modest display and trading space, part of The Courtyard Mall that can be accessed from the pavement on Robb Street, opposite the Stabroek News. Inside, there is still a sparseness that sends unmistakable signals of newness. A display case parading a handful of tiny handbags catches the eye. Saskea too, catches the eye, darting around for endorsement and hoping that the takeoff might come through the generous foot traffic which the trading space affords her. Her conversion to seriously contemplating the entrepreneurial prospects in fashion, she says, came through a visual encounter with a white corset fitted to a mannequin in a shop window. She went in, only to discover that the store’s owners were seeking to make clothing and accessories available for ‘small’ women possessed of a preference for an ‘eye-catching’ look. It was this, she told the Stabroek Business, that caused her to immerse herself in deeper contemplation regarding the entrepreneurial options which the fashion industry holds.
