By Nicole Briese

Monday marks the beginning of local fashion mavens’ favorite time of the year: Fashion Focus Chicago. While the Second City’s version of fashion week may not boast the allure of similarly dedicated weeks in New York, Paris or Milan, Chicago’s efforts to bring fashion to the forefront of the community have definitely become a highlight in recent years. Exciting shows from known and up-and-coming designers alike combined with shopping events and seminars designed to celebrate the industry have given us something to look forward to mid-October for the last five years running.

But changes wrought by the economy and even bigger uncertainty about the city’s future political lineup beg the question: what will become of Chicago’s fashion scene? With the demise of Gen Art in May, along with the city’s well-publicized economic woes, rumors started circulating that Fashion Focus Chicago might not even take place this year. After all, Gen Art sponsored one of the event’s most anticipated shows with Fresh Faces in Fashion Chicago; who would be there to take their place in the lineup? The rumor mill churned again when Chicago’s first and only director of Fashion Arts & Events, Melissa Gamble stepped down not long after. But the city’s fashion imperative has been a pet project of Mayor Daley, so when he surprised everyone by announcing that his current term, ending in 2011, would be his last, questions about the future came into stark relief. And what about the loss of some of the city’s most renowned names in retail and design? The doors to high-profile gems like Maria Pinto, Ultimo and Jake began to close as economic casualties in the last year, leaving in their wake the question: was Chicago’s nascent fashion industry fashion doomed before it could ever reach its full potential? Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the press release from the city with the complete FFC schedule for this fall.

FASHION FOCUS CHICAGO 2010

MONDAY, OCTOBER 18 THROUGH SUNDAY, OCTOBER 24

FULL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Fashion Focus Chicago, a celebration of Chicago’s thriving fashion industry, returns for a sixth year in 2010. Running from Monday, October 18 through Sunday, October 24 Fashion Focus Chicago showcases some of the city’s top designers, and features runway shows in Millennium Park and at various locations around the city, shopping events, and industry seminars. To make a reservation for an event or for general information, please visit www.chicagofashionresource.com.

This year, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs is expanding its partnership with the industry to help market and produce the runway shows taking place in MillenniumPark. Fashion Focus Chicago 2010 is a collaboration with the headlining show producers: Macy’s and the Chicago Fashion Incubator; Mario Tricoci; StyleChicago.com; and the city’s four fashion design schools: Columbia College Chicago, the Illinois Institute of Art – Chicago, the International Academy of Design & Technology Chicago, and the School of the Art Institute Chicago.

“Fashion in Chicago is evolving and it is exciting to see a wide range of businesses involved with the industry—from a national department store along with a local nonprofit, major beauty brand, the four fashion design schools, and an on-line media outlet—more invested and involved in the City’s efforts to support the local designers and independent boutiques in Chicago,” stated Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Below, please find a full schedule of events taking place Monday, October 18 through Sunday, October 24, 2010. Read the rest of this entry »

Stephanie Kuhr’s designs stand out amongst her peers in the Chicago Fashion Incubator–for starters, the 27 year-old Oak Park-native’s line, Dottie’s Delights, is a little… smaller.

“I’ve always had a love for vintage clothes and old, tiny stuff,” Kuhr says. Shying away from apparel, Kuhr decided to stick to the garments that drew her to an older era of dress in the first place. “The thing I’ve always loved best [were] those old bustiers and girdles,” she says.

And so a boudoir collection was born. Named after Kuhr’s grandmother, Dorothy, the collection mirrors its namesake’s personality: “she’s very sweet…and put together, [then] will say something completely random out of nowhere.” With cotton-candy colors, lace inserts, structured seams and surprising details, the pinup-girl pieces follow suit. “It’s like her super-ultra-feminine alter ego.” Read the rest of this entry »

The city issued a save-the-date right before the Labor Day weekend (and last than a week before the Mayor’s announcement that this would be his last FFC, among other things), announcing the dates, but no event details, for Fashion Focus Chicago 2010: October 18-24. Stay tuned for details.

[Show as gallery]

By Rhianna Jones

It has long been a great debate as to whether or not New York or Paris is the fashion capital of the world. The biannual mash-up of runway shows known as “fashion month” is comprised of globally renowned designers showcasing their infectious creations starting in New York, followed by London, down to Milan and ending in Paris. These four cities would thus be described by the chicest coterie as the hotspots for style, with others like Berlin and Sydney growing a discernable presence as well.

Chicago, on the other hand, would most likely not be one of the big mode metropolises. With the city losing some of its most notable footholds in the industry, like the closing of Michelle Obama’s favorite line Maria Pinto and the end of Melissa Gamble’s reign as “fashion czar,” Chicago’s state as a fashion-oriented city seems rather precarious these days. But then, as a little reminder that Chicagoans still do have some allure towards the more fanciful side of life, Macy’s Glamorama comes around to the Chicago Theater. Read the rest of this entry »

Go gallery-hopping, buy beautiful clothes, then sip a glass of bubbly and nibble on dessert. Art and fashion at Atelier, then food and wine at Prosecco. “Now we have a one-two punch,” says Kathryn Alvera, co-owner of both Atelier and Prosecco, although it’s really more of a one-two-three-four punch.

Walking into Atelier is like stepping into the closet of a mature but hip art collector/clotheshorse: paintings, photographs and antiques coat the velvet walls and wooden countertops. The clothing is well-organized and dense, but there’s certainly a lot of it (for both men and women), and it ranges from cheap (I eyed a thrifted $10 C&C tank) to bank-breaking (vintage Lanvin, Chanel and Stella McCartney).

Atelier will also be working with legendary tailoring house Cesare Attolini to design custom suits. Alvera says “It’s something of a coup” that the prestigious Neapolitan suit-makers are partnering with her boutique, which opened in April, but she’s convinced the exquisite suits, with prices reaching far upwards of $4,000, will find a niche among sartorial Chicagoans. Read the rest of this entry »

"Dew" by Miriam Cecilia Carlson

It’s been an exciting couple of weeks for designer Miriam Cecilia Carlson. Two weeks ago, the Chicago Fashion Incubator resident walked the red carpet at Macy’s Passport Presents Glamorama 2010—she designed one of the event’s Office Max supply dresses, using only leather notebooks, brass facets and a zipper. Last week, she was named “The Next Big Thing” by Michigan Avenue magazine. The buzz around the blonde fashionista has been generating for a while, and it only seems to be getting louder.

Getting her start as early as age three, it’s been a long time coming. “I’ve always been scribbling [and] drawing,” Carlson says. The young designer learned to sew before she was even out of diapers, and she honed her artistic abilities in art classes at age six. It wasn’t until later, however, that Carlson decided to turn her hobby into a career. “I never actually said, ‘I want to be a designer.’ It kind of terrified me. It was a big statement to make and to see it follow through.” Read the rest of this entry »

Vintage and antique items, outside of lucky finds at thrift stores, usually out-price shoppers on budgets. Libby Alexander and Katherine Raz—bloggers who met with a shared idea that vintage was just too pricey—are pooling their efforts to change that. The Vintage Bazaar, now with its second pop-up market, is bringing the idea of an urban flea market together with vintage and antique items.

“You can’t even find something to take away for twenty bucks sometimes, so we wanted to provide both ends of the spectrum and focus also on vendors who have not really done shows before, as well as veterans,” Alexander says.

Set in the vintage-friendly Congress Theater, the space is larger this time around, allowing for more vendors, increasing the list to sixty-five. Read the rest of this entry »

Some men feel constricted by underwear. Others feel constricted by their underwear choices. Or they have—until now, thanks to the opening of Egoist Underwear, a new Boystown men’s boutique specializing in underthings, swimwear and loungewear from around the globe.

Owner Sylvester Jurczynski, who opened the shop in late June but only recently hosted the store’s “Grand Opening” sale, is unromantic about the store’s genesis. “I hated my job,” he says, “and I saw a niche in this neighborhood.” So far, he says, he’s been right: business is good. While he’s not making the hard-sell—or maybe I’m not the target demographic?—Jurczynski obviously knows his underwear. Read the rest of this entry »

A luscious pink carpet is rolled out to show you into the door. Upon entering, a well-dressed woman leads you towards the raspberry sangria bar and tray of pastel-colored cupcakes, with an equally inviting bartendress at your service. You are not here to party the night away at your favorite club though—you are here to learn. As an unconventional way to glamify your post-work relaxation, Luxe a Salon is offering “Lessons in Luxe,” where founders Ella Fedorovich and Elizabeth King will demonstrate how the most coveted hairstyles can easily become DIYs. The duo decided to offer this series so they could show clients “how to approach the trend in a way they can work it that fits their own style,” Elizabeth says.

At their inaugural class, “Bust a Braid,” attendees were given tutorials on how to master a series of braided hairstyles. The classroom setting is a clean and contemporary room with four styling chairs, lucite seating and mint and orange walls to accent the stark white rooms. Though pleated skirts and starchy polos are not required, the closer you look to a J. Crew or Anthropologie catalogue model, the more you will fit in. With a drink in one hand and their lecture guide in the other, the stylish students watched intently, marveling at every seamless step necessary to executing the French braid, braid band, knotted bun and the ever-so-daunting fishtail. Some took notes in leather-bound pads, others gawked slightly agape, and a brave few tried it simultaneously on themselves. Read the rest of this entry »