In what is certainly turning 2010 into the winter of fashion discontent, the onetime Michelle Obama fave Maria Pinto told the Sun-Times she is closing up shop.

Laura Kofoid has spent a lot of time searching for two of life’s smallest essentials. A Harvard business-school grad, onetime brand manager and a retail specialist, Kofoid’s always had a pretty good handle on her life. Not, neccessarily, her personal belongings. “I spent half my life rooting around for my keys and my pen!” she says.

Cut to 2009, when the launch of her and partner Grace Tsao-Wu’s fledgling company, Laudi Vidni, got off the ground. Buying a business idea from a Chicago entrepreneur who sold his brainchild for just one single dollar, the two women launched a premium leather-bag manufacturing company. “We set out to really transform that idea into a business,” she says.

Allowing patrons to either create their own or choose from one of forty different options, Kofoid and company made one element standard—the label’s signature key leash and pen pocket. “It came about because we were thinking about how do you really create a brand for women and not just a brand itself?” she says. Never a huge sucker for logos, Kofoid embraced a different approach. “The idea of the key clasp is something that is so valuable and functional,” she says. It also lends an element of authenticity. “Every day the woman who owns the bag sees ‘Laudi Vidni,’ but nobody else really does,” she says. Read the rest of this entry »

Factor models Akilah Hill and Rachal Prince/Photo: Ray Pfeiffer

It wouldn’t take long to guess that models were somehow involved glancing at the line outside of the Griffin Lounge Friday night. Devastatingly tall women filed into the lounge’s dark space for Factor Women’s holiday party, where the main room yielded more models, friends and well wishers. Attendees, some in suits, others in skyscraper heels, dallied in booths in the dimly lit lounge and sipped free drinks among the beautiful faces that grace magazine pages and runway shows. Some danced tastefully along to the pop anthems the DJ spun out, while others enthusiastically crowded the table where model Holly Bartle accepted donations for her charity initiative that betters classroom conditions in areas of Ghana and Togo.

After nearly thirty years in the business, owner and president Jane Stewart of Elite Chicago has separated from the international Elite modeling network, which boasts thirty-six agencies worldwide. Along with her devoted staff and clients, Stewart has rebranded Elite Chicago as Factor Women, a women’s-only boutique agency. Read the rest of this entry »

By Nicole Briese

It’s a bittersweet year for Saks Fifth Avenue. 2009 marked a momentous occasion for the company—eighty years as one of the premier department stores in the city of Chicago. But 2009 also brings the departure of one of the company’s key resources, when special events manager and fashion director Nena Ivon retires.

This Friday will see the end of an era. A 53-year-long era during which Ivon reigned supreme as the go-to fashion maven on high at Saks Fifth Avenue.

“Everyone thinks I’m gonna be hysterical,” Ivon says. “I’m perfectly fine. I’m actually kind of excited.” Dismissing an old quote in which she said that she’d do her job until it wasn’t interesting anymore, Ivon says she’s leaving to expand her other interests—and to rest. “I wanna write the book, I want to research for school… I’ve always done charity work, I’ll be able to do more of that now,” she muses. A retirement will also mean more time for friends and family. “I’ve never had the holidays off!” she says. ["I've] had to put people on my schedule to be with them. It isn’t that it’s no longer interesting, ’cause it is..it’s been a really exciting time, it really has, but I think one gets to the point where one goes, okay, what else do I want to do?” Read the rest of this entry »

These and many more questions await you, but the polls close at midnight tonight so sharpen your mental pencil and get over to http://newcity.bestofchicago.sgizmo.com to get started!

In the process of fact-checking and updating our semi-annual print edition, we confirmed that the following boutiques have closed or are closing: A Cooler Planet, Ciao Bella, Eva May (moved her designs into Mr. & Mrs. Digz), Grace, Guise/Chic, Hip Fit, Hejfina, Mint Boutique, Only She (reincarnated as Urban Style Emporium in a new location), Pivot, Plein Aire, Revolver, Soko Fashion, Untitled closed its Evanston store and Verse closed its Bucktown location with plans to reopen in the West Loop next spring.

Updated 10-30-09

The Chicago Marathon is a serious business, and its apparel is no exception. For the second straight year, Nike is producing all of the offical fashion and  footwear for the event, with a product line targeted at runners, their friends and general Chicago fans. Last year, Nike offered up a series of looks largely consistent with its clean, forward-looking Nike Running line, but for this year, the label’s designers endeavored to create a collection more internally unified and one that reflects their take on the Chicago aesthetic. The result is surprisingly retro-looking, with vintage typography and imagery, like the merch that might have been created for the 1976 marathon, if they had Dri-Fit then, or a Chicago marathon for that matter (the current race started the next year).  Note, for example, the font-crazy Chicago map that adorns several of their shirts, or the groovy “Love, American Style” vibe captured in one of the women’s shirts.

In the footwear category, Nike’s also launching a line of shoes designed in homage to various major world marathons (Amsterdam, Beijing, Boston, Chicago, Honolulu, London, New York, Rio—Rio!—San Francisco, Tokyo), with Chicago getting a smart-looking coal black Lunar Glide variation with baby blue highlights and elements taken from the Chicago flag. It’s almost enough to convert shoe destroyers (runners) into sneaker collectors. (Brian Hieggelke)

Official Chicago Marathon apparel is available now at local running stores, Niketown, Nike.com and will, of course, be around the race on Sunday.

Division Street boutique Gamma Player, owned by world-renowned DJ and music producer Jeff Mills and his wife, Yoko Uozumi, have just launched an art project disguised as a limited-edition t-shirt. A collaboration with Tokyo menswear label Rozalia Scartissue, the shirts are inspired by Oscar Niemeyer’s iconic Niteroi Contemporary Art Museum in Brazil, while drawing a line back to Mies van der Rohe’s work here in Chicago and the early minimalism that infuses the work of all parties involved. Mills has recorded a special CD soundtrack to accompany the project, which comes included with the shirt in a smartly designed package that augments the whole thing. Mills’ atmospheric techno provides a musical foundation to the otherworldliness inherent in Niemeyer’s UFO-like museum design and a message inside the shirt from Mills hints at new life forms in the hidden waters just off the coast of Niteroi. That being said, the shirt stands on its own as a fine bit of fashion, and comes in four different designs, with three different colors, for $80-$90. (Brian Hieggelke)

Available at Gamma Player, 2035 West Division, (773)235-0755, or online at axisrecords.com

A sunny Saturday afternoon and you, clueless you, think it a nice day for shopping for a new pair of kicks. You arrive at Saint Alfred’s, that Wicker Park sneaker shop you’ve been hearing about, and find the security grate closed. Oh no! Has the economy taken them out too? A couple of teenagers, immaculately attired and topped out in LDRS hats, seem unperturbed; they take advantage  of the large Saint Alfred logo painted on the outside of the grate to take some snaps in front.

Silly you: the action here was all last night, when the latest edition of the Nike Air Yeezy releases kept the crowd of sneakerheads at sway till round about four in the morning, after opening at 12:01am. Yeezy is a ultra-limited-edition series being designed by hip-hop star and renowned clotheshorse Kanye West, and the “limited” part means forget about it, they’re all gone (though trading on eBay north of $600 a pair, up from $215 list, but even retail upcharges from there). But don’t despair your oversight: many of the two dozen or so who camped out, some for two days, at Saint Alfred’s (or Leaders nearby) for the black-on-black edition went home shoeless—the store had less than twenty pairs in total to dispense. You’ve  got at least one more chance to rock like ‘Ye, when the third color combination, the  “Net/Net” (pictured) gets released the first week of June. You may want to get in line now. (Brian Hieggelke)

Pictured: Blue Dress: Calvin Klein, Grey Dress: Taylor, Black Skirt: Forever 21, Coin Purse: Vintage Jacket: Taylor, Yellow Pant: J.Crew, Jeans: Henry III Generation, Long Red Sweater: J.Crew, Green Sleeveless Top: J.Crew, Vintage Clutch, Red Beaded Dress: Collette Dinnigan, Ilse Jacobsen rain boots, “Amelia” necklace from erin gallagher, Mar-a-Lago bag from Lilly Pulitzer

Gregarious and polished, public relations entrepreneur Liz Kores’ personality is reflected in her closet of preppy silhouettes combined with spunky color palettes. Ever a pragmatist, Liz isn’t afraid to admit that comfort and the versatility of each piece in her closet do help define her personal style.

She proudly attests to having inherited her mother’s ability to “sniff out a sale.” And she often combines designer label with inexpensive items. “This isn’t something new with the economy,” she smiles as she reaches for a pair of Manolo Blahniks and pairs them with a skirt from Forever 21.

A perfect example of Liz’s aesthetic is the classic shirt-dress with creative volume by Nuj Novkahett she purchased at SHE Boutique. It’s preppy with a flippant flare and shape. Liz snipped the dress with a vintage belt and added tights and boots; in summer she’ll wear it with bare legs and ballet flats. Another noteworthy wardrobe addition is a gift from her younger sister. It’s a black vintage clutch with a fabric rose and signed on the inside in marker. But the coolest part is that the rose is from Liz’s childhood collection of hair bows that her sister found while visiting their parents and added to the clutch. (Interview and photos by Kari Skaflen) Read the rest of this entry »