Dennis Kenney has served as an inspiration and informant on all of the latest fashion trends for his thousands of loyal followers on social media. He has become a huge influence in the fashion industry and has an incredible resume of experiences to his credit. While he is now an industry expert, he certainly did not grow up being groomed in fashion and how the industry works. In fact, he has relied heavily on his natural instincts when it comes to fashion. He has put hours of sweat equity into his craft and has taken significant risks to get where he is today.
Dennis graduated from Carnegie Mellon with a degree in theatre and would quickly find success in film and acting. The safe, sensible thing would be to go all-in on acting, as he already had a safe position in an industry that is largely volatile and hard to crack into. But he has always gravitated towards his passions instead. And even though he was passionate about acting, he had a desire to go into fashion, and he could not ignore it.
So, he took action. Where most people would freeze and blame their inaction on “bad timing”, Dennis did not give it a second thought. He began posting his outfits to social media every day, and it did not take long for people to recognize his distinct and flashy style. Once he garnered a significant following, brands took notice. With no background or degree in the industry, he was hired as a creative director for a large sample sale store.
From there, he would go on to work with major awards shows including the Academy Awards, Grammys, Tonys, and other iconic events including the Met Gala and numerous movie premieres. He has also worked with the Good Morning America personalities, Trading Spaces on HGTV, and ABC’s World News Now. Kenney has his own boutique on 5th Avenue called Style With Den, and has a clothing line, NONDK.
With minimal background in fashion outside of his raw talent and charisma, Kenney quickly came to realize how crucial networking would be for his career. He thought with his initial success that his talent would be all he would need to be a force in the industry, but once he started going for higher level gigs, he realized he was not the only one with incredible talent. What he also realized was that getting to know people who are already in positions he longed for would get his foot in the door with the people that can land him gigs with the big-time networks. Once he combined his talent, his willingness to go all in, and his ability to make connections, there was no stopping Dennis Kenney on his journey to becoming a hit in the fashion industry.
