In the 2004 Honours List, Vanessa Denza was appointed a Member of the British Empire (MBE) for her outstanding contribution to the British Fashion Industry for the past 30 years..

Vanessa has worked within the fashion arena for over thirty years. In the 1960's she helped to launch the careers of many British designers, including Mary Quant, Ossie Clarke and Jean Muir, and in 1971 Vanessa set up her own international Buying Office and Consultancy.

In 1988, she founded denza International Limited, a specialist recruitment consultancy for the Fashion Industry worldwide. Her strong links with clients in the UK, Europe, North America and the Far East, and encouragement of British design and product development talent, ensure that many of the international fashion brands and retailers are driven by British creative professionals.

In 1989 she co-founded Graduate Fashion Week with Jeff Banks and John Walford: a charity which brings together the cream of British fashion design talent and attracts world attention to Britain as a major force of creativity, attracting some 33,000 visitors to the event each year from the international fashion industry and media.

Although, Vanessa no longer works directly with GFW, she maintains her links with the Fashion Colleges throughout the UK, Europe and the Far East, where she has taught, examined and helped to develop new courses. Vanessa continues to advise colleges both at BA and MA, as well as industry professionals.

In 2003, Vanessa founded denza Licensing Limited, a global consultancy which represents a select number of designers across all areas of design including Menswear, Womenswear, Textiles, Accessories and Homeware. denza Licensing focuses on building and maintaining a professional business relationship between the designer and retailers and manufacturers, on either a royalty or licensing basis.