Chicago Fashion Week - Recap from a UIUC Student
By: A. Gem
Yes, you heard me-- Chicago is following the footsteps of New York and Paris and finally hosted its first Fashion Week!
While Chicago is often associated with deep dish pizza, the Cubs, that one song by Steve from Stranger Things (just kidding, everyone say “thank you Joe Keery”), and The Bean, it also has a vibrant fashion community that is too often slept on. Chicago Fashion Week (CFW) seeks to highlight the local designers, artists, and businesses that have made its blossoming fashion scene what it is today.
From October 9th through the 20th, the city held various fashion shows, swaps, exhibitions, markets, and countless other events to highlight and celebrate its fashion scene. Two weekends ago, I had the privilege of traveling up to Chicago (October 11th-13th) to see glimpses of its long awaited Fashion Week. In my short stay, these were some of the amazing things I got to do during CFW:
Saturday Morning: Clothes Swap @ the Chicago Fair Trade Museum!
First stop on Saturday was the Clothing Swap at the Chicago Fair Trade Museum in Uptown!
For $10, visitors were able to come into the swap (no trades necessary) and take home up to 10 items. The Fair Trade Museum had been collecting donations for several days, with 6 racks and 8 tables (plus dozens of yet-to-be-sorted bins and bags) worth of clothes that had been donated by other swappers in the city. Leading into the swap, we were welcomed by one of the exhibits of the museum: a map showing where popular foods and miscellaneous products were sourced across the globe.
My friends and I took the time to read through the small exhibit before entering the swap, and honestly it was a pleasant space for reflection. In retrospect, it was perfect that the swap was held in the Fair Trade Museum, and I think the reason was not lost on its organizers. The vast majority of the fashion industry is, quite literally, built on exploitation of the global south: There is nothing fair about the current state of the mainstream fashion trade. Encouraging a circular fashion economy through swaps like these helps reduce the environmental and exploitative impact of fashion on an individual basis, and encourages others to turn to their local communities to source pieces and curate styles that are truly unimitable.
At the end of the swap, I snagged a cute satin bandana top (perfect for upcoming Bances) and some much needed business-casual wear. One of my friends got a gorgeous black jumpsuit along with, not one, but *2 pairs* of high heels that fit perfectly. The magic of a good clothing swap is real.
Saturday Night: Asian Fashion Show
Later in the evening, I took the Red line over to Uptown to watch the 4th Annual Asian Fashion Show, hosted at Wilson Abbey. Tickets were about $35 for entry, which (albeit a pretty penny) the money does go to Chicago Asian Women Empowerment, a local non-profit with multiple community initiatives running throughout the year. The fashion show featured a variety of up-and-coming AAPI designers, as well as veteran AAPI designers that have found their home in Chicago.
It was fascinating to see so many designs testing the boundaries of textile and form. From formalwear, to wearable sculptures, to street wear, the fashion show highlighted a broad range of artistry-- but what made it so heart-warming to watch were the motifs, textile choices, and visual imagery that were so distinctly inspired by a vast range of cultural experiences. Being an Asian woman that often feels alienated by much of mainstream fashion, it was such a joy to see so many models and designers showcasing clothes and personal narratives that resonated and felt familiar.
Crammed in the standing space behind the reserved seats, using the 20% battery I had left, I attempted to photograph the designs that caught my eye and piqued my interest. Here is my short list of labels and its designers, for your viewing pleasure:
1. The Black Dandelion by Kaiyuan Xu
Xu is a Shanghai-based fashion designer who had completed a Masters in Fashion Design in School of the Art Institute in Chicago! His collection, *The Black Dandelion*, explores human instinct and applies sculptural techniques to many of his complex designs. Two pieces that had caught my eye were the red and black jackets respectively:
In the moment, the red jacket reminded me of Chinese knotting I had seen in my own childhood, which look a little something like this:
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But in deeper research after the fashion show, I found a previous interview with Xu for Schon Magazine: he explains that much of his inspiration comes from forms found in nature, such as spiders and webs. Xu also reflects back to Mariko Mori's mobius sculptures for sculptural technique inspiration as well, which becomes evident in his other pieces.
2. Dasia Yoo
Yoo is an interdisciplinary artist who focuses on Black-Korean identity, fashion sustainability, and mental health in many of her pieces. Just as Yoo's focus is interdisciplinary, so are her methods of design and construction. This piece below is an organza dress with screen-printed butterflies:
It was hard to source more information about her senior thesis pieces, but nonetheless, it was amazing to see the ways Yoo experimented with organza, mechanized knitting, and a variety of other mediums in her pieces.
3. TONO by Jireh
Jireh is the mastermind behind the brand *Tono*, where he explores "personal and universal emotions" through his first two collections of streetwear pieces. Jireh was trained as an industrial designer, which has certainly influenced his methods and final pieces in both concept and form. I fell in love with the eye motifs across his pieces, especially with the eye placement on the knees of cargo pants, giving it the appearance of a blinking eye.
During the fashion show, I was particularly intrigued by his jackets, such as this one titled “Kindness/Malice”:
I love the detailing with the fur trim (and I'm a sucker for bright suede). Admittedly, the jacket also reminded me of a certain character from *Jiujitsu Kaisen* who wears bright yellow with fur trim (iykyk).
Much to my own glee, I was not entirely wrong about Jireh’s pop culture references, as I looked up the red cube TONO bag that was on the runway earlier in the show and found out it was *quite literally called* "Prison Realm - Whim", and even comes with a Gojo figurine:
These designs, among many others, were just some of the pieces that made Asian Fashion Show unforgettable.
(Note: If you're interested in exploring the work of the other designers featured at Asian Fashion Show, I've attached their names and social media at the end of this article!)
Sunday: Modern Vintage Market
On Sunday, there was a massive Vintage Market held by Modern Vintage in Ravenswood Event Center. Tickets were $15 for entry, but students entered for $5 (yay!), which provided access to 50+ vendors.
Upon walking in, I was hit with the smell of popcorn and decision paralysis as my friends and I faced the vastness of the market:
This picture only captures a quarter of all the vendors that were present-- let me tell you, we spent HOURS here. It was truly every vintage enthusiast's dream come true: there were vendors selling furniture, costume jewelry, leather goods, 60s/70s/80s jackets/belts/trinkets, vintage designer pieces (Hermes, Christian Dior), etc. Aside from vintage, there was also a writer selling typewriter flash poems, and several other artists selling crochet goods and posters.
Overall, Chicago Fashion Week was well worth the 2-hour drive up from campus. If this is what its inaugural year had to present, I am looking forward to the way Chicago builds on this momentum in the years to come.
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Here is the list of designers from the Asian Fashion Show:
- Kaine
- Mia
- Philippines Finest Barong Embroidery
- Tono
All the wonderful designers!