Chicago designer Barbara Bates competes on NBC’s “Fashion Star”

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Barbara Bates, who has a Near South Side studio, vies for a retail deal on “Fashion Star,” debuting March 13.

Updated: January 27, 2012 2:21AM

South Loop fashion designer Barbara Bates has thrown her stylish hat in the ring for a competition starting this March on NBC.

She’ll be one of 14 designers squaring off on “Fashion Star,” debuting March 13 with host Elle Macpherson.

Bates’ current clientele includes Linda Johnson Rice and gospel star CeCe Winans, but in 1987 former NBA forward Sam Perkins was her first big client.

He introduced Bates to his North Carolina teammate Michael Jordan at a party hosted by former Cub Gary Matthews. Jordan also became a client.

‘I don’t know anybody in the basketball world anymore,” Bates said Thursday from her studio at 2031 S. Indiana. “Back in the ’90s I had 80 percent basketball players. I hated it, but I did it because it was lucrative. Women’s clothes are always what I’ve loved doing. Right now it’s 2 percent men’s clothes.

“People have asked what good a show like this would do for me. I’m established. But the show offers an opportunity to do mainstream and have your things sold from retail, which is something I don’t do. I do everything custom.”

After each episode of “Fashion Star,” contestants’ winning designs will go on sale at Macy’s, H&M or Saks Fifth Avenue. The final winner gets a multimillion-dollar deal to sell collections in all three retailers.

Jessica Simpson, Nicole Richie and designer John Varvatos mentor the contestants.

Bates, a Garfield Park native, has had hundreds of clients since 1986 when she opened her studio. Every client visits Bates, 55, at her sunny, 1,400-square-foot space.

“Some days I don’t like myself, so I don’t want to like anybody else,” Bates said with a chuckle.

Dave Hoekstra