Ahyun Kim was showing her work at the School of the Art Institute Fall 2012 BFA Exhibition. Read the rest of this entry »

By Alexandra Delaney

Just below street level on the 3400 block of Broadway lies buried treasure. Well, it’s not exactly buried treasure so much as it is “bear”-ied treasure. Chitown Clothing, a pop-up shop located a short stack of steps below the sidewalk in what would be considered a garden apartment, offers a selection of Chicago Bears t-shirts for fans to sport at the game this Sunday. For fans wondering what to wear to the game—or how to show their spirit when they can’t cheer on their team at Solider Field this Sunday—ponder no more.

Chitown Clothing (3435 North Broadway) sells unique, creative t-shirts designed and sold by husband-and-wife team Kevin and Sara Kasarski. The company is a joint effort, drawing from Kevin’s background in fine arts and graphic design and Sara’s in writing and Internet marketing. Kevin’s father also owns a screen-printing company in Carpentersville. What started as a side venture set on the back burner behind the couple’s full-time jobs has become their full-time work in less than three years.  Read the rest of this entry »

Michael Alan Stein/Photo: Courtesy of StyleChicago.com (photographer: Don Marshall)

By Alexandra Delaney

Spotted on Randolph Street: sparkles, sequins and fluffy fur shawls. The glamorous getups weren’t costumes for Halloween, but fashion-fascinated Chicagoans sure got a treat as they gathered at Millennium Park’s Chase Promenade for the Art of Fashion show. The fashion show was one of many events throughout the week as part of Fashion Focus Chicago.

The dark autumn night was offset by a soft red glow peeking through the plastic walls of the white tent. The scene was sleek: soft white couches, tall white tables just the right height to hold a cocktail, and sparkling red lights. The attendees were a group as mixed in age as they were in garb—zebra print jeans to black glittery dresses to patterned denim pants—but they were all unified by their interest in fashion.

Despite the drizzle, the atmosphere under the big white tent was sizzling during the runway fashion show as ten Chicago designers showed pieces from their Spring 2013 collections.  The featured designers included Barbara Bates, Borris Powell, Eva Pazola, Lara Miller, Michael Alan Stein, Michelle Tan, Nade Baer, RÜCH (Ruchika Singh), SHALINI (Shalini Sharma) and SWABY (Shernett Swaby). Read the rest of this entry »

By Alexandra Delaney

Throngs of moms and daughters, friends, significant others and families turned the cement pavement at Millennium Park into an urban runway as they shopped Chicago fashion designer’s collections. Fashion Chicago, presented by StyleChicago.com, rounded up local designers for a free shopping event that allowed visitors to peruse and purchase pieces from the local artists’ fall, winter and spring collections.

A table of glistening jewels served as a warm welcome. K. Amato’s sparkly, gemmed jewelry contains colorful stones set in fourteen-karat gold fill, plated eighteen-karat gold and sterling silver. Her signature is gold-filled chains. Several pieces evoke the holidays, like the gold chain bracelets laid on top of green and red bands. All of the handmade pieces have a charming feature, from delicately crafted shapes to Swarovski crystals and glass stones. Read the rest of this entry »

By Alexandra Delaney

The unanswered question returns: What’s R&B without the R? Only this time around, the answer is more vague than before. What does the “R” stand for? R. Kelly—the Chicago-based crooner who posed the question to reassert his dominance as the king of modern soul music? (For the record, R. Kelly defends the title with three Grammy Awards, six number-one albums, six Billboard Music Awards and six American Music Awards, to name a few). Rhythm? The songs off his eleventh studio album “Write Me Back” sure have a melodic measure to them that incites listeners to two-step. Real? Despite the modern craze to auto-tune articulation and add studio-synthesized voices to hip-hop tracks, R. Kelly aims to celebrate R&B, crediting its singing as a traditional, talented art form. Retro? With influences such as Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Barry White, Marvin Gaye and Teddy Pendergrass, the tracks on R. Kelly’s eleventh studio album “Write Me Back” harness that smooth grooves and funk inspiration of the Motown-era musicians. Read the rest of this entry »

Lori Lindberg photo: Fernando Castillo

By Marla Seidell

It’s a quarter to noon on an unseasonably warm Thursday in October, and Lori Lindberg, owner and buyer at Clothes Optional Vintage in East Lakeview, is in high gear. The Classic Vinyl station (on Sirius FM Satellite) is cranked up, spinning tunes by Deep Purple, Joe Cocker and Led Zeppelin (all her favorites), and she’s sipping on a skim latte from Caribou, in between chatting with this curious journalist, fielding calls and tending to customers. Dressed funky chic—Lucky Brand tight-fitting jeans, blue-and-brown cowboy boots, a lacey black tank top and a zebra-striped hooded sweatshirt, her long dark hair tied back in a braid, Lindberg is an eternal child of the seventies, with a friendly openness and passion for do-it-yourself fashion, art and music that feels, well, a bit Joplin-esque.

Janis Joplin created her plain yet sensual look by piecing together clothing and accessories from thrift stores, she sewed and designed many of her own costumes, and loved to smoke and talk about “groovy” things. Lindberg doesn’t sing or perform, but she’s like Joplin in many ways: she sews and fixes up clothing (both her own stuff and pieces in the store), loves vintage, and is also quite fond of smoking, talking and hanging out. Unapologetically hip and sexy in minimal makeup and a frequent smile, Lindberg doesn’t look like the forty-eight-year-old mother of three grown daughters, let alone a grandmother. She looks like the kind of person you want to kick back with and have a beer and a good laugh.

Referring to her rocker outfit with a deep, throaty laugh, she says, “I was watching Kiss [on 'Good Morning America'], and I got inspired.” Read the rest of this entry »

Joanne Kim (@princesssjojo) was hanging out at the Empty Bottle. Read the rest of this entry »

By Elena Rodina

I know all the diamond dealers in person. Amar, an Indian with dark sad eyes whose secretary wears a bright sari and a flowery perfume. Israeli Amit, with his heavily gelled black hair, endless number of pink shirts, and insatiable energy to flirt. Each time we meet he blurts out all the Russian words he knows: “stopochka,” “zdravstvuite,” “svoloch” and “ochen khorosho,” smiling seductively. A Chinese lady, Mina, so small she is barely visible behind her littered table. Whenever I come over she is eating, her head hovering over a bowl of aromatic noodles. We all work in one tall building, a tower of Babel in downtown Chicago, filled with Israelis, Indians, Mexicans, Chinese, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Argentinians and Chileans, and so many more strange and unidentifiable characters from faraway places. English is used here less frequently than Chinese or Hindi, but we understand each other perfectly. We all do the same thing. We sell diamonds.

Everything Is Illuminated
“Once I almost committed suicide. I arranged everything: dying in a car crash, wife getting one-million-dollars worth of life insurance. But I screwed it up. Got too drunk and the cops got me for speeding. So I am still alive, don’t know what for, really… How can I help you?” John abruptly ends his tragic monologue and smiles with a fake, weary smile to the young couple awkwardly entering the store. Read the rest of this entry »