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 »

Any salon can give you a makeover, but The Ruby Room is upping the ante. They don’t want to just do your hair and put on your makeup—they want to make over your soul.

In introducing their own “Essence Collection,” the style and wellness center has launched a full line of “aroma-infused flower and gem essences” designed to correspond the “seven energy centers of the body”—the chakras—and ultimately create a higher sense of wellbeing.

“We were working with the essences in the past, and we wanted to create our own,” says Ruby Room’s intuitive energy healer, Philip Clark. “We already knew the qualities of each chakra…we also understood essences and crystals,” he says. Using that knowledge to create scents and “energies,” Clark says the aroma-infused sprays work mainly by entering a person’s aura. Read the rest of this entry »

Subject: Splitting Crotch Problem
Sent to: http://www.americanapparel.net/feedback/
Topic of feedback: Retail Store Customer Service
Type of feedback: Problem

My feedback: On Saturday, January 24, 2009, I purchased a pair of large, athletic grey, tri-blend leggings (with a medium, athletic grey, tri-blend track shirt), in Evanston, IL. This is ultimate comfort and utility house wear and cold weather undergarment. I am happy!

Seriously, I like to feel sexy at home, even though I am a man. The shirt is “Taxi”-era Tony Danza, or early Stallone. In it I feel fit and manly without a drop of sweat. With a knit cap the effect is marvelous. I could be chasing chickens. The shirt is, dare I say it, “Streetcar Named Desire” Marlon Brando. I like it and it is so soft. The drape of the 50/25/25 is outstanding. The leggings not so much hug my person as they cradle it, like a hammock. It is unseemly and alluring for me to stand by a window in them. The leggings are Superhero. They give me action figure legs. Gripping. Amazing. Fantastic. Incredible. My wife is worried and happy at the same time. It is like, Here I am.

However, the seam at the crotch has three holes, I noticed the day after purchase. I did wear the leggings, gloriously, the day I bought them and the next. Lounging, writing, sleeping, playing, cooking, reading, watching TV. I put on a Clone Storm Trooper belt and ran around with a Clone Storm Trooper blaster. Even my glasses look fantastic with the shirt and leggings. But the point is that I was sitting with my wife and she reached over into my lap (I was wearing the leggings) and ran her hand to my crotch. She pointed out the holes and I was very disappointed.

I bagged the leggings and brought them to work, with my receipt. I walked several blocks (14ºF) to exchange the leggings for a new pair, because of the defect. I took it to Walton Street, at 7pm on Monday, January 26. The manager said, “No.”

She asked, “Did you wear them?”

I said, “Yes, I did.”

“Well you can’t return them because you wore them. I can’t exchange anything that has been worn. Anything I exchange I have to be able to sell.”

“But you wouldn’t be able to sell these with holes in them anyways, if I hadn’t worn them.”

“I would exchange them for defect.”

“Can’t you exchange these for defect?”

“No, because you wore them. I’m sure the holes were there when you bought them, but you wore them and I can’t take them.”

“I understand, but that seems really unfair.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

I should mention that she held the leggings, that I had worn, and touched the holes on the crotch. She looks nothing like the girls in your advertisements. No one in the store did, except maybe for me. I am regularly asked for help in American Apparel. I wear all the American Apparel shirts! You should see me in the leggings with shirt and a knit cap and my glasses. You would want me for a slideshow, which I would consider but ultimately decline with some modesty. On looking at me in the slideshow people would think about how moderately hot I am, like sushi spicy sauce, and think to themselves, I could look like that, even though they cannot because, really, the leggings and T-shirt suit me spectacularly. I am fit and toned with a little fat to pinch, for that classic American Apparel crease at elastic. My skin is appropriately dark, some mystery of ethnicity, Mongolian tea with milk, with just the right oily tone for the amateur chic flash sheen. My hair is Prince Valiant porno and I can make a juvenile mustachio if this is kicks. But, thank you, no, I just couldn’t pose, even in the leggings and t-shirt. (Although I notice you keep the leggings online under “Women,” with a picture of a woman wearing them.)

I know the leggings are unisex, but by nature they should accommodate me without tearing at the seams. Am I not a man? That is not to say that I made the holes, I’m just saying that it is possible. Regardless, the leggings are defective and I would like a new pair.

Best regards,

Fred Sasaki

By Beth Dugan

Etsy.com, the premier online marketplace for buying and selling all things handmade, has exploded in popularity in the last few years. Since their launch in June 2005, more than 100,000 sellers from around the world have opened up Etsy shops. Etsy makes it easy to explore the Chicago sellers with a “Shop Local” feature, and there are hundreds of talented and entrepreneurial Chicagoans out there, making their crafts, photography and artwork available online.

The Chicago-based Etsy stores cover the gamut from vintage resellers to custom-tailored dressmakers and crafters and artists of every ilk in between. Many times, an Etsy shop is the best way to start selling handmade goods without the expense of a physical store, or the trouble of traveling to craft shows every weekend. For 24-year-old Chicagoan Allie Mundigler, who runs Elizabeth Wren Vintage, it filled a gap she had in her life. “I found myself with a bit of time between jobs and decided to combine my love of vintage items, especially clothing, and my prior fashion experiences.” Elizabeth Wren Vintage has a sister store run by Mundigler’s mother, Kathi, which sells handmade scarves, bags and jewelry.

Many times, Etsy is the first step for young designers to take when getting their retail legs under them, and exploring a wider audience. Chicago’s fashion scene is definitely burgeoning, but can still be daunting and cost-prohibitive to break into with a retail location. Designer Lydia Krupinski, who designs and sells her fun, colorful and eco-friendly creations at Pierogi Picinic (pictured) on Etsy says, “I opened my online indie eco-biz this past summer after being badgered by friends and family to take my designs to the masses. I decided to start things out on Etsy since it is the Mecca of handmade goods. People who shop and sell on Etsy are dedicated to supporting independent small businesses that are often run out of home-based studios, like my own.”

Handmade creations, shopping locally and even businesses that use environmentally sustainable and “green” practices are also an important part of Etsy’s culture. Krupinski is not alone as an eco-friendly seller, and the idea of shopping locally is picking up steam. She explains, “The most important aspect of my business is to promote a truly sustainable lifestyle by providing people with fun and urban fashions that are created, packaged and shipped using 100-percent recycled materials.”

Etsy is also a great way to connect to Chicago visual artists without having to deal with gallery prices or attitude. Laura Berger is one such artist, and she is selling her work at her own Etsy store, Laura George. Berger opened her store on a whim, but found many benefits. “It’s an enormous network of like-minded sellers and shoppers, so that fosters a sense of community. Supporting and promoting independent artists is obviously the biggest pro,” says Berger. Krupinski gushes, “What I love most about Etsy is that it brings together unique individuals from around the world to support a common cause. Etsy users form a unique and tight-knit online community that is changing the way people shop.”

Etsy’s search engine makes it easy to find sellers in Chicago, artists who work in a particular medium, items of a particular color or palette, or those centered on a specific subject—including a large number of t-shirts, jewelry, knit goods, posters and even purses that are focused on our new president. Most of the artists and sellers are willing to work with customers on custom orders, rush shipping or other things that are more difficult to arrange when dealing with larger  retailers.

Chicago is teeming with talented, imaginative and energetic artists and creative people. Etsy has become a place to shift through them in a friendly, organized and user-friendly way and find exactly what you are looking for. The next time you need a fuzzy yellow sweater to go with that pencil skirt, or are looking for just the perfect thing to hang over the new sofa you picked up, check out the Chicago artists featured on Etsy and see if you can keep those dollars local and the Chicago artists supported while finding exactly what you are looking for.

etsy.com

A box of turtles and a hardcover book. That’s what I seek for my father and pretty much all he wants. I drop in at Margie’s Candies and Women & Children First Bookstore, select my gifts and I’m done. Not the Sterns. Last winter, they ordered a pair of carbon-based heated gloves from Blazewear, a British company established in 2005. They had them shipped to their father. He liked them; he really liked them.

Soon father Joel said to son Jeff, “Let’s import these gloves.” Joel Stern approached Blazewear, and worked out a sole distributorship for the U.S. and Canada. He partnered with Jeff, who had worked in mortgage lending, and Jeff’s friend Paul Chernawsky, who had a legal background and set up shop here in Chicago.

“Jeff and I are both very entrepreneurial in spirit,” Chernawsky says. “We put the business model in place in October, and we started getting orders through word of mouth right away.” Jeff and Paul manage Blazewear USA’s marketing, order fulfillment and shipping. Joel interacts with Blazewear’s British office. Their straightforward CTA billboard ads read, “Cold?” against a blue background, followed by “www.heatedclothes.com” on an orange background.
Blazewear’s heated clothes have rechargeable battery packs tucked away in the lining. Their waterproof, fleece-lined Taslan Nylon jacket is specially priced at $169.99. “It’s a very reasonable price for a jacket, let alone a heated jacket,” Chernawsky says. “The jacket has five different heat settings. The heat will last for seven consecutive hours with three as the setting.” That should be long enough for me to go to a Bears game, shovel my driveway and chase my dog Marley around in the snow.

Oh wait, I don’t have a dog. But I do ski. Jeff Stern says the heated gators, socks and insoles that skiers favor “are so popular we sold out of them for this season.” Heated gloves are still in stock though; they are $61.99 for basic black, and $73.99 for deluxe black and grey. The gloves require a separate battery pack that costs $79.99, and includes two slim-line batteries and a dual charger.

Blazewear works equally well for construction workers, snowmobilers and crossing guards, and is finding a niche, Chernawsky says. “At a time when the economy is tough, our product is selling. There isn’t really anything on the market that can keep you warm like this.” (Sarah Klose)

Blazewear, heatedclothes.com, 1-(800)999-2121

By Nicole Briese

This has been a hard fiscal year. Wall Street collapsed. Many lost their jobs. With a surge of Americans wondering how to pay the rent, the question of how to buy that new pair of jeans didn’t seem quite so important. In its place, a new question emerged: what’s a fashionista to do when she can’t afford to step out in style? Thanks to exchange stores like Crossroads Trading Company, the answer is simple: she can. Crossroads and company are stepping in to ensure that although your wallet may be empty, your closet doesn’t have to be.

While the rest of the retail world is suffering, Wicker Park store manager Jessica Blythe says Crossroads is thriving like never before. In addition to their regular customer base, Blythe says the store is “seeing a lot of people who have maybe never purchased secondhand.” A newfound need for lower price tags has made the idea of brand names at a discount wildly enticing to the masses, and Blythe says most are pleasantly surprised. “We’re having them come in and realize that it’s really good,” she says. “They’re seeing things that they would love to have. Those $200 Diesel jeans that you can’t afford now… they’re gonna be $50 or less.”

First-time sellers are also on the rise. “Sometimes you have things in your closets that‘re not old, but you’re not gonna wear them again,” Blythe says. Crossroads gives you the option to sell those items for your choice of cash or store credit. “It’s easy and it’s quick!” she says.

With three Chicago locales to keep fully stocked—one in Lincoln Park, one in Wicker Park and one in Evanston—Blythe says the two elements of the business are entirely co-dependant on one another. “You can’t have one without the other—they kind of go hand in hand,” she says. “We want to buy as much as we can from the customer.”

Make no mistake, though, this is not the place to drop your stained, worn five-year-old duds. Blythe is quick to point out that “secondhand” doesn’t mean necessarily mean “second rate.” “It’s not a thrift store,” she says. “We don’t just take any donation from anyone.” She isn’t kidding. Buying clothes from a potential seller isn’t exactly guesswork. “We try to take current trends and styles—things that people are wearing now. Things in the past year or two in really great condition,” Blythe says. To determine exactly which threads fit the mold, employees must be, above all, fashion savvy. “All of our employees are trained buyers,” she says. In order to compete with other exchange and retail stores alike, keeping up with the Joneses (or Marc Jacobses!) of the fashion industry isn’t an option—it’s a requirement. “It’s shopping the boutiques, it’s looking through the magazines…it’s a combination of a lot of things,” Blythe says. With a broad variety of both brands and shoppers, Blythe says buyers must also account for varying tastes. “We want to buy really great fashion for a wide range of people.”

Founded by Gerald Block and Chip Gerken in 1991, Crossroads has been on the Chicago scene for about four years. Joining local staples like Buffalo Exchange and Elliott Consignment, Blythe says Crossroads is largely distinguished by its level of excellent customer service. “We want people to stop in all the time,” she says. “We know people’s names, we have regulars. People feel really comfortable coming in, buying or selling.”

So what is Blythe buying and selling right now? “Right now we’re selling tons of boots,” she says, with an emphasis on “vintage style boots.” Winter coats are also in demand, preferably of the type with a uniquely fashionable detail, like toggle buttons. Blythe says vests are big for guys this winter, while girls are loving “longer tunic sweaters, cardigans and sweater dresses.” Both sexes, she says, are going gaga for the lumberjack look. According to Blythe, it’s all about “plaids and flannels.”

Crossroad Trading Company is located at 2711 North Clark, (773)296-1000; 1519 North Milwaukee, (773)227-5300; 1730 Sherman, Evanston, (847)492-9400, crossroadstrading.com.

“It was one percent intuition and ninety-nine percent luck,” admits Vive La Femme owner Stephanie Sack, about her decision to lower the prices at her boutique about eighteen months ago. But that flash of inspiration seems to be paying off for the effervescent Sack and her six-year-old boutique that caters to size twelve-to-twenty-four women. Sack, a veteran of the Chicago style scene and of Bucktown boutique row, says her fellow store owners are playing it close to the vest about how they are faring. But when the recession was just a nascent blip in the minds of central bankers everywhere, Sack lowered her prices from the $325-$65 range to $175-$35 range and that seems to have made all the difference.

“People are excited to find the prices lower, and I have no intention of raising them when this is over,” confides Sack.

There are a few industries that don’t suffer during recessions, but retail fashion usually isn’t one of them. Sack revealed that she has had to drop a few vendors, and push a little harder to get deals and to find items that represent the “Vive” look without going outside of her new pricing structure. And what is the “Vive” look? Sack explains that, “It might not be on trend, but it is always on style.”

Sack says people are still shopping, but they are being more careful. Instead of walking out with five or six items, they buy maybe one or two. And of those one or two items, it’s important to get more “style mileage” out of them. To that end, Sack is looking at classic, well-made items with the signature Vive La Femme pop. That would mean more black dresses, paired with different shoes and accessories for different looks, more chic sweaters to brave the Chicago winter, and more denim all around. Sack recommends classic, good quality pieces for every woman’s wardrobe, but pieces that have a lot of that style mileage.

The spring will bring warmer weather for sure, possibly a relief from some of the worst economic hardships, and Sack is curious to see what happens, but not really concerned. Sack promises, “If this is the nuclear winter of the economy, I’m going to sell mittens.” (Beth Dugan)

Vive La Femme, 2048 North Damen, (773)772-7429, vivelafemme.com

Top 5 Women’s Trends
Sheer
Satin
Slouchy
Bold
Leather
—Andrea Giampoli

Top 5 Men’s Trends
Retro
Bahama
Synthetic
Lean
Plaid
—Andrea Giampoli

Top 5 Women’s Accessories
The skinny belt
The patterned scarf
The long chain necklace with story-telling charm
The animal print
The hippie headband
—Andrea Giampoli

Top 5 Men’s Accessories
The buttoned cardigan
The fedora
The loafer
The cotton scarf
The old-school Ray-Bans
—Andrea Giampoli

Top 5 Worst Fashion Trends
Uggs (why won’t these die?)
Bangs
Earlobe stretching
Wearing leggings as pants and/or hosiery
Hipsters wearing scarves in warm weather just to look cool
—Garin Pirnia

Top 5 Trends We Hope Won’t Progress in 2009
From eighties retro to the shoulder padded suit jacket
From skinny jeans to skinny shorts
From leggings to knee high socks
From the Panama hat to the khaki fishing hat
From hobo to homeless
—Andrea Giampoli

By Kari Skaflen
It’s the party of the year, a farewell to the past 365 days, and a fresh start, a new year. We all know some of the best and biggest bashes take place on a night where bubbly, streamers and fireworks are mandatory. With all of this pomp come high expectations for the evening and pressure to shine. And for us girls, that means donning the perfect outfit. It’s a look that expresses a carefree enjoyment of the present and an optimism for the future. And in my humble opinion, the safe little dress just doesn’t cut it anymore. So we’ve compiled a photo collection of ten edgy, atypical New Year’s looks that are bound to turn heads and make a girl stand out in a sea of mini dresses. All looks are available at local boutiques, many of which are having killer sales—this is the time to splurge on a decadent New Year’s outfit that will carry you into the next year with sass.

[Show as gallery]

By Sarah Klose

She wraps her head in a Persian shawl. The fabric once decorated the wall of her mother’s now-dilapidated mansion. As the walls crumble, Little Edie twists the shawl into a headdress and sinks into self-imposed isolation.

Little Edie Beale and Big Edith Bouvier Beale were the cousin and aunt of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. They shared a glamorous life of manicured gardens, horseback-riding lessons and society balls in East Hampton. Jackie married a future President, but Little Edie became a creative, dysfunctional adult living in squalor with her indomitable mother Big Edith.
The life and fashions of the eccentric daughter and mother come to life in “Grey Gardens,” a 1975 documentary film turned into a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical now in its Chicago premiere at Northlight Theatre, directed by BJ Jones. The  film has long been a cult favorite and something of a legend in the fashion world, which raised the stakes, costume-wise, for its theatrical adaptation. The costumes in Act One reflect the carefree gaiety of 1941, while those in Act Two show the mental imbalance and deteriorating living conditions of the mother and daughter in 1973.

“Ultimately, we had to create two worlds,” costume designer Jacqueline Firkins says. For the first act, she brought 1940s glamour to the stage, based on photos of the period. Hollis Resnik dazzles as Big Edith in a flowing green silk caftan that Firkins rented. Handmade matching gold silk slacks wink beneath the frock. “Not many pieces match the script,” Firkins says. “With Act One, we made up a lot more. There isn’t exactly a photo of the mother in the kimono in her loungewear.”

In an engagement party scene, Resnik sports a pink custom-fitted 1940s dress purchased from a vintage shop. Young Edie sashays in a pale blue taffeta ball gown constructed by Firkins’ students at Loyola, where she teaches. Four strands of pale green pearls accent the dress. Ayla’s Originals in Evanston loaned the necklace to Northlight Theatre, and the theater promised to lock it up at night for the duration of the play. Earlier, Little Edie prances in navy-and-white-striped peek-toe pumps fastened with navy bows, borrowed from a Loyola production of “Guys and Dolls.”

For Act Two, Firkins’ designs reflect unhinged creativity. Grey Gardens mansion has deteriorated into a broken version of its former self, its garden overgrown with weeds and house overrun with cats, raccoons and garbage. Big Edith and Little Edie are broke recluses. Firkins watched the movie online and did freeze frames to copy the bizarre fashions. “We had to realize that people who know the cult film, know it really well. The challenge was to make sure the pieces looked as true to the film as possible,” she says.

The elderly Big Edith, expertly played by Ann Whitney, drapes men’s shirts over her chest, ties the sleeves in back, and throws a kimono housecoat over the ensemble. Little Edie’s skewed sense of reality bubbles to the surface in her bohemian oddball style of dress. She wears a series of red pieces called a marching outfit. Her girdle-like shorts are layered over ripped fishnet panty hose. On top of that is a cashmere skirt flipped upside-down, the seams cut open, the sides fastened with huge safety pins. This was how Little Edie dressed in East Hampton in 1973—three years before the Sex Pistols gave birth to the punk rock movement in the U.K.

Twisted sweaters or bath towels wrap around Little Edie’s head. Due to quick costume changes, Firkin says, “You have to fake it. You have to simulate the idea.” The head scarves are decorated with decorative gold brooches bought from Grey Gardens Online. Ayla created one in conjunction with the play; it is on display in the theater lobby and sells for $250.

Little Edie referred to her style of dress as revolutionary, and it may well be so. Designer Todd Oldham mentioned her as an influence, and John Bartlett said he watches the “Grey Gardens” documentary every four months. Jennifer Lopez has imitated Little Edie’s head wraps. In October 2007, Harper’s Bazaar featured a “Grey Gardens” fashion-inspired layout of Lauren Hutton and Mary-Kate Olsen. In September 2008, Italian Vogue wrote about Edie Bouvier Beale and posted photos of her fashion style.
Little Edie’s style, and her story, live on in film. The 1975 documentary film “Grey Gardens” by the Maysles brothers captured the bickering, codependent pair shortly after the health department raided their home. The 2006 sequel, “The Beales of Grey Gardens,” contained unreleased footage from the 1970s. The documentary about the making of the Tony award-winning musical (“Grey Gardens: From East Hampton to Broadway”), premieres on PBS on December 23, 2008. And then, of course, there is the Hollywood adaptation. Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange star as the eccentric daughter and mother in that movie, to be released in 2009.

The fashions can be seen in “Grey Gardens” at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd, Skokie , (847)673-6300, through December 28.