IQONS is a new on-line fashion community with the aim of replicating the impact on fashion that MySpace had on music. The free on-line community enables communication and promotion of everyone from inspirational recognisable designers, stylists and photographers to fashion fans and consumers.

Co-Founder, Rafael Jimenez stated at the launch, “The on-line global communication took off last year, with MySpace becoming an inspiration for highlighting music talent and we thought, how could we apply that to fashion?”

The site officially launched to a global audience in London this week, coinciding with London Fashion Week. The site already had an experimental launch over the past two months, hosting events in Paris and New York and proved an immediate hit, attracting thousands of like-minded fashion fans.

Who is behind IQONS?

Rafael Jimenez – Co-Founder
Born in Venezuela, and based in Paris, Rafael worked at Comme des Garcons for eight years where he occupied different roles in sales and marketing leading to the birth of the Guerilla Store. These stores would open for one year in unusual locations and be run by partners with no previous experience in retail. This concept rose in response to the slick, “marbled-floor” environment habitually used in fashion. Rafael then moved on to a personal project, Plan 8 Ltd, a company aiming to create innovative marketing and commercial strategies for fashion designers and brands. In 2004, he met Suran Goonatilake and started collaborating on two key projects that Suran founded; The Centre for Fashion Enterprise and Bodymetrics.

Suran Goonatilake – Co-Founder
Suran is the Chairman and co-founder of Bodymetrics, a company pioneering the use of body-scanning and virtual reality technologies in fashion. At Selfridges, in Oxford Street, and in Harrods, Knightsbridge, customers can get their body-scanned and order perfect-fitting designer jeans and women’s luxury suits. He was previously a co-founder of the Centre for Fashion Enterprise (CFE), a ground-breaking initiative based in London that finances and nurtures high-growth fashion designers. The CFE pioneered a new model of building luxury fashion companies and drew upon lessons Suran learnt in technology start-ups and practises from the film and music industries. In June of 2005, Suran was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen’s birthday honours list for his services to Entrepreneurship.

Diane Pernet – Co-Mentor Iqon
Diane Pernet has pioneered the use of the Web as a medium for fashion communication through her highly influential Blog, www.ashadedviewonfashion.com. With a background as a fashion critic and a video journalist, Diane has opened the doors for new fashion talent and ideas globally. Her Blog is mandatory reading for anyone in fashion whether they are a new designer starting their career in Paris or an established magazine editor tracking street fashion in Seoul. Having started the on-line fashion-media revolution through her Blog, now Diane is partnering with IQONS to continue her exciting journey.