Set amidst a French-inspired garden of perfectly trimmed hedges, sculpted foliage and bunches of soft, white blossoms, Borris Powell’s thirty-three-piece womenswear collection, inspired by the excitement of new love and the advent of spring, is both elegant and youthful in its Fashion Focus debut (October 24). Read the rest of this entry »

Horacio Nieto’s Spring 2010 collections of menswear and womenswear draws inspiration from the past and future, creating two distinct lines that are cohesive on their own, and interestingly complementary together. An infrequent user of pattern, Nieto prefers to communicate his vision through silhouette and broad strokes of color, as exhibited during his fashion show on October 23. Read the rest of this entry »

Hoodiecouture.com blogger Elizabeth Aguirre and cinematographer Bobby Rockwell filed this video report from local stylist Justin White’s “Let Them Eat Cake” fashion show at Heaven Gallery. Aguirre says that “Justin totally defied the rules of ‘classic fashion; and instead took his audience into the world of what I like to call ‘rogue chic.’ Ripped tights, bold makeup, and pastels paired with black leather were only some of the trends to watch for on Justin White’s runway.” Read the rest of this entry »

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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