Designers both famous and fresh to spring forward at fashion show
BY BAILEY DICK Staff Reporter/bdick@suntimes.com October 16, 2012 6:48PM
Designer Sarah Church makes final preparations in the Fashion Incubator at Macy's, 108 N. State St., in Chicago, Ill., on Tuesday, October 16, 2012. | Andrew A. Nelles~Sun-Times Media
macy’s incubator runway show
When: 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday
Where: Millennium Park, 201 E. Randolph
Tickets: $35-$95
Info: www.chicago
incubator.com
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Updated: November 18, 2012 6:31AM
It’s the opportunity of a lifetime for six of Chicago’s newest names in fashion.
Wednesday night in Millennium Park, six emerging designers, along with eight other established designers, present their Spring 2013 collections at the The Macy’s Chicago Fashion Incubator Runway Show as part of Fashion Focus Week.
The runway show is the cornerstone of a yearlong program called the Chicago Fashion Incubator, a non-profit organization that helps emerging fashion designers in the Chicago area.
Six of the designers showing their collections are Designers in Residence at the Incubator. As part of the program, they rent out a workspace at the Macy’s on State Street, where they attend workshops on the fashion industry, and work alongside other designers.
“It’s a safe environment of up-and-coming designers to learn the business of fashion,” said Lauren Dolan Rapisand, a spokesperson for the Incubator. “The designers work as a cohesive group and bounce ideas off of each other.”
The six Designers in Residence showing at the event are RFD by Rachel Frank, Sarah Church, Elizabeth Smith Fashions by LaTonya Williams, Lagi Nadeau, Christina Karin by Christina Monley and Blank Nation Apparel by Brooke Conrady.
The show also features eight Incubator alumni, including Anna Hovet, Modahnik by Kahindo Mateene, CFAN Design Inc. by Christina Fan, Cettina by Concetta Cipriano, Miriam Cecilia by Miriam Cecilia Carlson, Zamrie by Ashley Zygmunt, Gidi by Taneasha Prunty and Crystal B. Designs by Crystal Simms.
“They’re now all successfully running their own lines,” Rapisand said. “The key is that we strive to keep these designers in Chicago, and we like to highlight them at our show.”
The show looks toward spring fashion.
“You’re going to see a lot of lightweight fabric and spring colors. You’re going to get a feel for the design elements that will be on trend this spring,” Rapisand said of the show. “But each of the collections is really very different from the others.”
