Newcity’s Best of Chicago 2008 is out this week, and here are the fashion-related items:

Best new boutique (opened in the last year or so)
Best menswear boutique
Best example of DIY creativity gone global
Best museum store for jewelry
Best neighborhood jeweler
Best place to buy women’s underwear
Best place to buy men’s underwear
Best place to design your own jewelry
Best place to get men’s hats
Best place to get women’s hats
Best place to spend nothing on trendy duds
Best store for pink girlie stuff
Best way to profit from your giveaways

Thursday morning 4:30am and the diehard fans have already set up camp. Four-and-a-half hours later, a line of nearly a hundred stretches halfway down the block, then rushes through the open glass doors at 840 North Michigan Avenue. The occasion? The release of Comme des Garçons at H&M. The collaboration between H&M and Rei Kawakubo, head designer at Comme des Garçons, is the most cutting-edge diffusion line to emerge yet from the international retailer. The series of H&M designer collaborations offers exclusive labels at affordable price points, luring label devotees as well as a younger generation of fashion-savvy shoppers. Past designer lines like Roberto Cavalli and Stella McCartney each sold out in minutes.

The mood is gleeful and good-spirited despite the mayhem that ensues as the store’s doors open. Running to a cramped square area in the middle of the store, shoppers grab indiscriminately at the limited quantity of garments in the Comme des Garçons line. “It was just grab now, figure it out later,” says Lisanne Dickson, who had arrived at 7am. “I’ve been a fan of the line for six or so years now,” she adds, “and I am used to paying higher prices for Comme des Garcons so this is great. ” Echoing her sentiment is shopper Vanessa Vitale. “I grabbed whatever I could,” Vitale confides. “It was elbows out; people were crawling all over. “  Local fashion designers Chris and Shane (who decline to give last names) describe the event as “good fun.” Shane says, “I got exactly what I wanted,” holding up a shopping bag that contains two pairs of shoes and a blazer.

Kawakubo is known for pushing fashion boundaries, but Comme des Garçons for H&M is relatively tame. Most articles are straightforward, such as the polka-dot button-down shirts, wool trench coats, crisp blazers and, a huge favorite, the black riding coat with tails. The most puzzling and conceptual piece is a pair of pants with a dangling crotch that reaches the knees. Kawakubo’s craftsmanship and touch came through in the garments’ visibly tailored fits, quirky hemlines and quality fabrics, all of which hint that these are no ordinary H&M pieces.

By 9:20am the collection has been thoroughly picked over and a few lonely shirts hang on a rack. The crowd disperses, leaving neither trace of the chaotic scene that occurred only minutes earlier, nor of Kawakubo’s coveted designs. But given the massive successes H&M has seen with diffusion lines, it’s a safe bet that there will be more to come. Meanwhile, Target is teaming up with indie darling Thakoon; that collection will be released in December. (Kari Skaflen)

By Brian Hieggelke

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.

This week, millions of Americans will watch the season finale of Bravo’s “Project Runway” as three designers show collections at New York Fashion Week and vie for the top prize. Chicago native Terri Stevens will not be among the three, though she came close, getting “auf’d” in the ninth episode. But she will be back in her hometown this week (she lives and works in Columbus, Ohio as a visual merchandiser for Victoria’s Secret) when she presents her fall collection at The Silver Room, which is owned by her lifelong friend Eric Williams. “We grew up together,” Stevens says. Our families go way back.”

After growing up in south suburban Robbins, Stevens spent her adult years in Chicago, most recently the West Loop, prior to her move to Columbus just over a year ago. She learned the fashion business while working for designer Barbara Bates (”my mentor”), who also sells Stevens’ line at her South Wabash studio. Stevens now produces both her original Michael Joseph line and her more casual line, Funkinbeautiful.

She’s launching her fall collection on Saturday with the theme, “A Journey to See the Wiz.” I love ‘The Wiz,’” Stevens says. “I was watching the movie a while back and got inspired.” She promises “no scarecrows” but that fans of “The Wiz” will see “scarecrow-inspired designs with bits and pieces of lion and tin man” and recognizable “textures, fabrications and silhouettes.”

It’s not the first time Stevens has tackled lions, so to speak, since the king of the jungle led to her demise on “Project Runway,” in an episode where she was portrayed virtually devouring her assistant, ousted designer Keith Bryce. On the show, Stevens came off as a badass with the stuff to back it up and was a fan favorite to make it all the way to the finale. She was a strong designer, a very fast sewer and had a thing for pants. Even though she was portrayed with an occasional mean streak on the show, she couldn’t be friendlier on the phone. So how did “Project Runway” change her life? “I am so recognized everywhere,” she says. “People freak out and cry. It’s just reality TV, not like I put out a record or something. I’m like, really.” She adds that the show brings great opportunities, but they need to be taken with a grain of salt. So what did she think of the way she was seen on television? “I was portrayed the way I am. And I am a big personality.” (Brian Hieggelke)

Terri Stevens presents her fall collection in a fashion and trunk show, “A Journey to See The Wiz,” on October 18, 7pm-midnight, at The Silver Room, 1442 North Milwaukee. RSVP to susan@thesilverroom.com.

TimeOut reports that the West Loop’s Koros and Ouest are moving around a bit. Also, Gold Coast shop ps: accessories has left the city altogether, but not the region, setting up shop in suburban Park Ridge at 7 S. Prospect, (847)685-2771.

Lenny and Me has been saved. Owner Ana Camino reports that the popular Wicker Park shop took over the old Brown Elephant space on Milwaukee Avenue:

“Lenny and Me did not close after all.  We were able to relocate right next door to our old location to a larger space.  We still carry our great vintage and contemporary clothing and accessories and now with our larger space have expanded into home furnishings with lots of vintage and mid century modern pics.”

New deets: 1459 N. Milwaukee,  (773)489-5576.     Open seven days a week, 11am-7pm.

Every sport has its own fashion culture. Some such cultures are especially indecipherable to non-participants—what’s up with those tight spandex shirts with the Nascar-style designs that bicyclists wear, for example?—while some work their way into the more general fashion realm, fully detached from the athletic pursuit originally intended (think Air Jordans). This week, with the Chicago Marathon bringing 40,000 or so 26.2 milers along with their supporters to the frontline of the city’s consciousness, running gear will have its annual fifteen minutes of fashion focus. For its first-ever sponsorship of the Chicago Marathon, Nike has responded with seventy-five products designed for, or to commemorate, the big day. Some, like finisher t-shirts, will be available only to the select few and will be unveiled at the race, but most can be bought right now at Niketown or Nike.com. A few notable favorites include the twenty-fifth anniversary-edition Pegasus running shoes, which pay homage to the city with “CHI” on the tongue and the city flag on the heel, and the men’s short-sleeve Dri-Fit shirt with a neighborhood map. Dri-Fit, in fact, is one of those “insider” sacred cows to runners, who subscribe to the adage “cotton kills.” Nike’s shirts provide the most variety of marathon memorabilia, including a couple of shirts designed to recognize specific neighborhoods on the route, including Chinatown, mile twenty-one, and Wrigleyville, mile seven. Perhaps the most iconic, though, is the pizza-slice shirt, “Run it Chicago Style,” which perhaps appropriately, is not Dri-Fit. (Brian Hieggelke)

The Betsey Johnson store has decided that Lincoln Park’s Halsted strip is not the thing and has relocated to Water Tower Place. We’ve been hearing that the once-fashion-forward but lately touristy and mall-ratty vertical shopping center is undergoing a transformation designed to bring back some of that old magic; if anyone can help with that, Betsey can. Or maybe she’s just changing customers; after all, she’s got a store in Northbrook now, too. Here’s the addie and hours according to betseyjohnson.com.

CHICAGO	NORTHBROOK
Water Tower Place	2171 Northbrook Court # 2092
835 North Michigan Ave #3030	Northbrook, IL 60062
Chicago, IL 60611	T: 847.205.9025
T: 312.280.6964 Hours: mon-sat 10:00am - 9:00pm sun 11:00am - 6:00pm	Hours: mon-sat 10:00am - 9:00pm sun 11:00am - 6:00pm

The Sun-Times today carries a report that, not only was Michelle Obama wearing a Maria Pinto dress during her electrifying speech at the Democratic Convention Monday night, but that Barack Obama will make his speech tonight in a custom-made suit by Chicago’s own Hart Schaffner Marx. Noteworthy fact: Barack’s a 40-long with a 33 waist.