Opening night of the Democratic National Convention, and Michelle Obama is scheduled to speak. Pundits are in a tizzy: will she be able to convince middle America that she’s one of them, that she loves her country, her family and her god enough to earn their votes? By the time she’s finished, even the skeptical have been sold. She’s answered every lingering question except one: where did she get that fabulous dress?

Of course, it was already well-publicized that the would-be future First Lady was a fan of Chicago designer Maria Pinto, and that alone, given the extraordinary national obsession with all things Obama, gave a priceless boost to Chicago’s fashion culture. After all, Obama obviously had the means to buy from just about any designer she wanted; the fact that she chose Pinto as her style muse sent a clear signal that you don’t have to hail from New York to get attention. Not since Oleg Cassini helped shape the Jackie Kennedy style had a designer and (potential) First Lady been so closely connected.

“Contrary to popular belief, Chicagoans are highly attuned with the fashion world.”—Sheri Roney, SoKo Fashion

At the beginning of this month, more than a thousand apparel buyers, designers, media types and all-round fashionistas each day gathered for five nights inside a tent in Millennium Park to watch runway fashion shows that comprised the cornerstone of Chicago’s four-year-old version of fashion week, called Fashion Focus Chicago. Set against the backdrop of unprecedented carnage in global financial markets, the events couldn’t avoid a bit of an “end-of-empire” air—and we’re not talking about the empire waist, which seems to be doing just fine.

Dying economy or not, there’s no denying the excitement that large-scale fashion shows bring, with their bright lights, booming beats and models strutting down runways. Spend nearly a week watching show after show and it’s hard not to feel like something’s happening here. But is it? I decided to ask the question. In addition to a lengthy conversation with Melissa Gamble, the director of fashion arts and events for the city (often described as the mayor’s “fashion czar”), I sent a short email survey to nearly 200 local boutique owners and managers, as well as thirty or so local designers, most of them past winners of the “Fresh Faces in Fashion” designation awarded by GenArt, one of the marquee events during Fashion Focus Chicago. The consensus? Progress has been made, but there is still much to be done.

“Kingsley Handbags business is booming. We attribute it to getting the word out via events like Fashion Focus where we were featured in Gen Art, trunk shows, knowing our clients personally, good media coverage and word of mouth on the street. Our clients are passionate about supporting independent designers.”—Lisa Kingsley

Of course, on a retail level, Chicago has always been a fashion center. The longstanding presence of Michigan Avenue and Oak Street, with their mix of national luxury retailers and global retailers, has long established the city as the Midwest’s shopping destination. More recently, the spread of retail culture into the city’s neighborhoods reflects a dramatic increase in the appetite for sophisticated fashion on an everyday basis for many Chicagoans. Take a walk north on Damen from Milwaukee Avenue and you’ll be hard-pressed to contend that fashion is not thriving in Chicago.

While most boutiques don’t have the sales volume to make or break a designer, they can be important allies to designers just starting to establish themselves. In many cases, like Lara Miller with p.45 and Cyndi Chan with Casa De Soul, the boutiques are like incubators, giving the designers substantial access to the sales floor and, accordingly, direct customer feedback. In some cases, the relationship is even more symbiotic. Stephanie Sack, owner of plus-size boutique Vive la Femme, houses the designer Redskew’s studio in the store’s basement.

“I was a ‘Chicago is Red Hot’ participant in 2004 and from that gained the courage to open up my shop. I personally love carrying local designers and feel like it is something tourists ask for. They want to purchase something made in the city they are visiting.”—Laura Kitsos, Gem Jewelry Boutique

Fashion is far from a monoculture; it’s actually a collection of hundreds of niches. While the contemporary couture featured in the pages of Vogue dominates the conversation, many niches thrive. Lingerie, sneakerhead-streetwear, hats and, as Sack points out, “my area of interest, plus sizes, are completely ignored in Chicago, as with everywhere else.” Not for lack of a market we suspect, though we saw just one designer using plus-size models during Fashion Focus. Add in bridal, menswear and the wide range of styles that reflect ethnic and age diversity, and you can understand the challenge in presenting the city’s fashion culture over the course of just five runway shows.

“Chicago has a lot of potential to be known for innovative and talented designers—I think part of that is because of the many schools turning out talented designers. The key is making the city a place that is nurturing to keep those young designers here.” —Annie Novotny, Frei Designs

With a few exceptions, Fashion Focus Chicago tends to serve more as a launching pad for new designers than anything else. Of course, this partly reflects the explicit mission of GenArt’s Fresh Faces show which kicks off the week and dominates the publicity, but that theme carries through the student show and, to a large extent, the Macy’s Designers of Chicago show, which gives half of its exposure to Chicago’s fashion incubator participants. This also reflects the current challenge facing Chicago as a design center: in order to establish the city as more than a place to get started before taking off for New York, the city needs a body of designers who show new collections year after year, and build a following at retail, in the press and with the public.

This is not a problem confined to fashion design, of course. Those of us in the arts know dozens and dozens of creatives in theater, art and music who did great work here but then left town for more exposure. Chicago can’t be New York, at least any time soon, and if a designer feels destined to be the next Marc Jacobs, he or she’ll inevitably decamp for one of the global fashion capitals. Those folks notwithstanding, the challenge is to create career-long opportunities for designers here. Of course, there have long been designers who have made careers here, typically with a focus on custom work at the higher end of the pricing spectrum. That’s a limited market, however, and the future certainly lies in a stronger market for ready-to-wear.

“While I still have a home in Lincoln Park, I found it necessary to also have a home in New York City to expand my reach and get closer to the epicenter of fashion. I currently spend the majority of my time in NYC and Italy and believe that to plan on the national and global stage you need have that access. Chicago has done a very nice job of creating activity and interest around fashion. I think lots of opportunities still exist to strengthen the core of fashion and create serious and meaningful advances for designers to use as launching pads.”—Women’s footwear designer and former GenArt Fresh Face Elizabeth Brady

When the mayor launched his fashion initiative, he hired Melissa Gamble into the Department of Cultural Affairs. Her role to date has been more like that of her peers dedicated to theater or culinary events, as opposed to commerce. However, she recognizes the need for more than anecdotal data in advancing the cause of apparel in Chicago, and says it’s being gathered, but to date no data is available to measure the magnitude of apparel business in Chicago, from the standpoint of design and manufacturing nor retail, either in sales volume or jobs.

While the business data is not readily available, one of the strongest elements of the city’s activity to date has been in developing support mechanisms for business development. Fashion designers typically have the constitutional makeup of artists, which is why so many of the more successful brand-name designers develop close partnerships with business mentors, like Marc Jacobs and Robert Duffy. Without a Duffy, a designer has to be both artist and entrepreneur, a rather daunting challenge. The city and private enterprise are helping in this area, through the Chicago Fashion Incubator program, the Stitches Fashion Program and through educational seminars incorporated into Fashion Focus Chicago, some produced by the Chicago Fashion Foundation.

“I am thrilled that designers are discovering the amazing opportunities that Chicago has to offer as a fashion center. Its reputation is growing internationally, and the city itself is really putting an effort to provide designers with the ability to have as successful of a career here as in other major fashion cities.” —Laura Hubka, milliner

If ever there was a moment for Chicago to stake its claim as a fashion center and cultural capital, this is it. The worldwide interest in Millennium Park, the campaign to bring the Olympics here and, of course, the native-son phenomenon that is Barack Obama, all combined with our cultural and culinary prowess, have created a growing global curiosity about all things Chicago. Now is our moment. And as they say on “Project Runway,” “In fashion, you’re either in or you’re out.” We’re in.

[Images above from the Maria Pinto segment of the Allure of Couture at Fashion Focus Chicago 2008]

See also “Fixing Fashion Focus Chicago” and “The New Look“

By Brian Hieggelke

Fashion Focus Chicago is not broken, but everyone involved agrees, from designers to retailers to the woman in charge of it all, Chicago’s director of fashion arts and events, Melissa Gamble, that much can be done to take it to the next level. Here’s our list, based on interviews with all of the above, along with our own observations.

Make it spring
Fashion weeks held in the fall traditionally show spring designs; spring fashion weeks show fall. Fashion Focus Chicago mixes it up, to the confusion of the viewer and, likely, reducing its value for the buyers who are so vital to the development of the week into an essential force in the fashion world.

Make the shows thematically cohesive
Great fashion is always as much art as it is function, but sometimes the scales tip definitively in the direction of art projects. This is especially true in Chicago, where the School of the Art Institute wields considerable influence. By having art fashion mixed in with spring lines mixed in with fall lines mixed in with evening wear/bridal, some of the shows, while visually stimulating, left little practical for the viewer trying to evaluate trends or designers.

Double the number of shows, at least
The city constructs a fabulous tent in Millennium Park, complete with runway, seating, lights and sound, but it gets used for a mere five shows over seven days, each at 7:30pm. And some of those shows, like the Sister Cities show and the student show, while certainly entertaining, have little practical value for the working professional, whether the buyer or the press. Additional shows should be scheduled at 5pm or so, targeted at industry professionals, then let the “fun” shows that appeal to the general public take place at 7:30pm.

Don’t conflict with one of the “big four” fashion weeks
As Robin Richman, who owns one of the city’s most prominent boutiques, points out, “I did not attend because for some DUMB reason they always have it during Paris fashion week. That means: not just buyers from Chicago/ New York but mostly I feel for those designers who work so hard and even Barneys, Macys/department stores are all in Paris.” We can’t compete, and if our city’s top fashion emissaries, like Richman or Ikram, are not in town, then we can’t even begin to establish the “must-attend” character of our week. Timing is a challenge, of course, because the reigning NY-London-Milan-Paris run not only devours all of September and the beginning of October, but fatigue inevitably sets in for the professionals we want to reach. The end of August would beat the fatigue, but a later date would also likely work, especially if the show definitively shifts its focus to spring.

Improve the publicity machine
Several retailers cited the need for more marketing for the week, on all fronts, from engaging the general fashion-buying public, whether it be through a “huge screen on Michigan Avenue so people could watch the shows,” as Yoko Uozumi from Gamma Player suggests, or simply posters in store windows up and down Oak Street, as Barbara Nell from The Daisy Shop suggests. Although the city’s Brooke Vane did an outstanding job of harnessing the resources available to her, press efforts could also be improved in several ways. What constitutes a press corps in Chicago is made up of far too many “advertorial” publications who print on pretty paper but have little editorial credibility. While it may be a while before Vogue’s Anna Wintour takes a seat in the front row, the proliferation of daily news cycles driving many influential fashion blogs—some attached to the major print publications, like style.com, means a large appetite for fashion news. That appetite could be sated by posting press photos each night, organized by designer, along with a daily news bulletin. The Maria Pinto fashion show that was included in this year’s Allure of Couture was a potentially major media press hook that went wasted, given the level of interest in Michelle Obama’s style.

Put designers first
Right now, producers drive the shows: Gen Art, which uses the event as a fund-raiser; World Fashion Chicago, which promotes the city’s Sister Cities program; Dress Code, produced by the city’s four college-level fashion programs; Macy’s, which pushes designers it’s willing to sell or incubate; and, with the Allure of Couture, two very established players on the city’s fashion scene, Barbara Samuels and Nick Cave. But to make the shows newsworthy as more than a search for new talent, we need to see designers returning to the runway year after year, so that the buyers, press and public can begin to develop real relationships with the designers. The big impediment to this is cost. According to Gamble, the producer’s cost of a runway show at Millennium Park right now runs to $70-100,000 per show. (The common elements are pro rated between each show, and each picks up its own cost for event producers, models, music, etc.) While that’s cheap compared to what New York designers are paying in Bryant Park, which Gamble estimates as at least $250,000, and sometimes as high as a million dollars, the eyes of the fashion world are on those shows, which perhaps justifies their costs. Chicago ain’t there yet. Thanks to in-kind sponsorships from Lancome and Mario Tricocci this year, the shows didn’t have to bear the cost of hair and makeup, but even a bare-bones show, with lots of donated products and services, would cost a designer between $20,000 and $40,000 to execute, Gamble estimates. Of course, many New York fashion shows take place outside of Bryant Park and that’s certainly an option in Chicago, but it seems like a shame for the tent at Millennium Park to go so under-used. If “bureaucratic” expenses can’t be avoided, the city should seek out nearby alternative venues, like the Cultural Center, and actively schedule and promote designer-specific shows. Gamble agrees with this imperative and is seeking proposals from designers to do just that. She points out that, this year, designer Alice Berry presented Fashion Focus Chicago’s first solo designer show (pictured), albeit not on the runway but in a performance-oriented forum at the Cultural Center.

Run a small trade show during Fashion Focus
Most boutique owners we know travel to trade shows like Magic and Pool in Las Vegas to do their buying, but why not create an easy buying forum for them during Fashion Focus, but offering only Chicago designers? It might be a considerable challenge to get the major New York buyers to add Chicago’s show to their fall routine, but boutique owners from all over the Midwest might find a fall trip to Chicago, combining the fashion shows and a buying opportunity for some terrific, underexposed fashion lines irresistible. And it would provide a way to add continuity between the shows at night and activity by day, since many emerging Chicago designers do not have proper ateliers yet to receive buyers and the press.

Start a spring show
Even if it means scaling fall back a bit, we need a spring Fashion Focus to highlight fall lines.

Get the rights to the name Chicago Fashion Week
Although an independent promoter owns the rights to the chicagofashionweek.com domain and claims a trademark, that group has been a blight on the city’s efforts. This year, they gained a sponsorship from Master Card, then canceled most of their events at the last minute, leaving participating designers in a bad spot. But everyone calls Fashion Focus fashion week, and it’s time to clear up the confusion. And we have every confidence that the mayor with all his power can make it happen. After all, his father once famously told the Chicago Bears they’d have to stop using the city’s name if they moved to the suburbs and they stayed put.

Every year, dozens and dozens of designers show at Fashion Focus Chicago, many for the first time. Here are a few, beyond Maria Pinto of course, who seemed especially buzzworthy this year.

Shorty Clothing
Shorty bookended the week, opening with GenArt’s Fresh Faces in Fashion and closing out by winning Macy’s Distinction in Design competition.

5p1t
5p1t’s on a roll of its own, starting with recognition by Fashion Group International as a Chicago Rising Star, followed by an appearance in the venerable “Chicago is Red Hot” show and capped by an appearance at Fashion Focus in Macy’s Designers of Chicago show.

Abigail Glaum-Lathbury
Glaum-Lathbury was one of the few designers repeating an appearance from last year (when she was a GenArt Fresh Face), with her show as part of the Allure of Couture evening.

Agga B
Agga B was one of four local designers sponsored by Toyota to develop work inspired by its i-REAL concept; she also showed as one of the inaugural designers in the Chicago Fashion Incubator project housed at Macy’s.

Anna Fong
Another Toyota i-REAL designer, Fong showed during the Macy’s Designers of Chicago show; she’s been picked up to be sold at Macy’s this fall.
—Brian Hieggelke

World Fashion Chicago, an event designed to showcase the city’s Sister Cities program (October 2), oozed with admirable ambition. Chicago has twenty-seven official “sister cities,” including the style meccas of Paris and Milan, so why not have a show that conveys the global nature of fashion, and Chicago’s place within?

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Unfortunately, the project was far too overwhelming to properly execute. Some cities were represented by Chicago designers who created looks drawing inspiration from a particular city, sometimes subtly, sometimes like costumes for a B movie. On the other hand, some Chicago designers simply represented their ethnic backgrounds by showing from their general collections. Six designers actually brought their designs from their far-flung cities, ranging from Amman, Jordan to Casablanca, Morocco. And in a few cases, models wore clothes from international designers who needed little exposure, like Escada and Dolce & Gabbana. Needless to say, the range and styles were literally all over the map.

The resulting show was a cacophonous hoot of excess without cohesion. Several cities, inexplicably, were even represented by multiple designers. Add to that the “commercial” presentation of looks designed by talented Chicago comers Agga B, Melissa Serpico, Evil Kitty and Anna Fong for Toyota’s “space-age” I-Real project, and you had a show that would defy anyone trying to actually take anything actionable (i.e., to buy the clothes or learn more about a designer) away from the runway. And we didn’t even mention that “Project Runway” contestant Steven Rosengard showed up to represent Hamburg, Germany. Eventually, we put our pens away and just enjoyed the show. (Brian Hieggelke)

Each fall, Gen Art kicks off Fashion Focus with its anointment of the latest and greatest emerging local designers amidst a charged-up atmosphere that somewhat successfully imitates the elitist air of fashion in New York. While jewelry and accessories designers have to stand in the hall, so to speak, the fashion designers get a runway showcase, complete with front-row celebrities (Pete Wentz and Ashlee Simpson), local celebrities (the usual suspects) and an enthusiastic audience who’ve paid good money, or schmoozed the right people, to be here.

Here’s our take on this year’s fashion designers, each accompanied with a slideshow of photos supplied by Gen Art.  (Brian Hieggelke)

Sophia Reyes
Frei Designs
Shorty
Philip Sparks
Elise Bergman
Eskell

Sophia Reyes debuted a muted palette for spring in her accessible line, highlighted with pleasing details rather than bold ideas. Black and white dominate (except for an incongruous, though not unpleasant, burst of purple), with patterns and small details in her dresses elevating this very market-friendly line above the mundane.

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Anne Novotny’s eco-friendly Frei Designs offers elaborate constructions, with layering, color and fabric choices that seem both original and individualistic. She does creative things with “barnacles” of fabric that manage to work in non-obtrusive ways. The line was the first of the evening to introduce what would become the dominant color spectrum (peach/rust/copper), with shades of rust throughout. Novotny’s looks are creative but wearable; that is, perhaps except for the over-the-top scarf that closed her show on a surprising note that evoked “Halloween costume.”  Nevertheless, her show really had something to say and stood as one of the night’s highlights.

Read the Boutiqueville profile of Frei Designs

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The design collective Shorty made its statement with big hair. And peach-peach-peach, plus pops of purple, green and color. With short, flowy, even gauzy dresses, Shorty evokes a dreamlike spring season. And they’re not confined by their name, with a variety of dress lengths both short and long. They’ve even got a prom dress for Miss America, if she needs it.

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Apparently we don’t have much of a menswear design scene here in Chicago, because Gen Art reached out to Toronto designer Philip Sparks to represent. Not a bad choice though, as Sparks crafts a contemporary silhouette out of classic retro ideas. Think cocktails at the tennis club with gold cotton v-neck sweaters, sort of a Bill Tilden chic—if Bill Tilden wore short shorts, that is. By day, the Philip Sparks man is a Poindexter, in bow tie, who sometimes wears a blazer with his short shorts. But he knows how to step out in style—just take a gander at his monochromatic three-piece grey glen plaid suit, with skinny pants and a textured gray tie on gray shirt. Dapper!

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Elise Bergman showed why she’s taking off in Chicago, with her accessible but feminine collection. Smart details, varying hem lengths—something for everyone, but nothing crazy. Lots of beige, perhaps in more than one sense of the word.

Read Boutiqueville’s profile of Elise Bergman

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