Fashion: Call it Art THIS WEEKEND!!

This is VERY exciting, since these are some of the most creative, skilled, and tasteful designers in town:

"Gallery19 will be the vehicle for inventive modern clothing, jewelry and objects by three Chicago-based designers, Friday through Sunday, May 19^th-21^st!

The Gallery is honored to host works by Artists Gillion Carrara, Andrea Reynders and Anna Brown. Carrara, director of SAIC’s Fashion Resource Center, uses techniques acquired from around the world to create refined glass rings, hard wood cuffs and bone letter openers. Reynders, the Director of the Chicago Fashion Incubator, focuses her clothing design on simplicity, volume and texture. This devises an unrestricted fluidity and depth to each of her creations. Brown, a designer-in-residence at the Chicago Fashion Incubator, makes garments with the independent woman in mind. Each of the ethically manufactured statement pieces tell her story.

Join us on Friday, May 19^th from 6-9pm for a reception and an introduction to the designers’ newest clothing and jewelry lines for 2017. All three designers will take part in an insightful panel discussion. Gallery19 Co-Owner Dietrich Klevorn will moderate and entice the designers to speak about the current and future state of fashion.

Stop by for a viewing during our gallery hours on Saturday, May 20^th from Noon-6pm. We encourage you to leisurely look through and try on the designers’ best works. Carrara, Reynders and Brown will be on hand to answer any questions about their pieces and how best to wear them.

Listen, shop and get inspired on Sunday, May 21^st"

Ltd.Wear2 OPENING THIS EVENING!

This event will certainly be COOL! Very intrigued about the pieces the artists will come up with this time.

See below a message from LVL3 Gallery in Wicker Park and Tusk Boutique:

LVL3 and Tusk are happy to present Ltd.Wear2. Following in the footsteps of last year’s premier, Ltd.Wear2 is both a group exhibition and a fashion line presenting one-of-a-kind looks by 45 artists. Ltd.Wear2 gears up for summer – each set includes a custom tank top and sun visor that will be available for purchase on a first-come/first-serve basis throughout the exhibition period. Come try on the looks and prepare for all your fun summer festivities.

Gallery display on view through Sunday, June 11th.

Email info@lvl3official.com for purchase and shipping inquiries.

Opening Reception
Saturday, May 13th
6-10 pm

Featuring artists/designers:

Alexa Viscius

 – Alika Cooper– Allison Wade – Alma Wieser – Anna Kunz – Arron Morris – Ben Marcus – Caroline Walp – Cat Lauigan – Cody Tumblin – Cole Pierce– Dan Rizzo Orr – Dave Eassa – David Knowles – Elizabeth Ferry – Em Kettner – Francesco Lo Castro – Gnat Rosa Madrid – Hope Esser – Hope Wang – James Bouche– Jason Pickleman – Jesse Malmed – Jessica Viscius – Josh Reames – Kangmankey– Karolina Gnatowksi – Kris Chau – Lara Mann – Latham Zearfoss – Lauren Taylor – Marcel Alcala – Mary Do – Matthew Hilshorst – Meg T. Noe – Mika Horibuchi – Nataliya Kotlova – Nathaniel Russell – Noel Morical – Nora Chin – Paul Kenneth – Robin Kang– Sky Cubacub – Tegan Brace  – 

Yani Aviles

Street style photos of the SAIC fashion show coming soon!

Eleonora

Justin

Justin studies fashion at SAIC. His bag is by Jacquemus.

Scott

Kamau

Sarah

María

Feel the Bern hat

Kyle and Chloe

Zack

All dressed up, no particular place to go

Even though Zack Crichlow defines his style as casual, he often has many admiring strangers ask where he's going looking so dapper. "I don't have to be going anywhere to wear these clothes," he says of the vast collection he has organized by color in two closets of his home. "I'm not gonna let them sit there and rot." The 67-year-old dresses up every weekend, when he takes a break from his job at a food pantry. "I care about how I look. Being well-dressed makes me feel wonderful."

Originally published in the Chicago Reader.

Works by artist Candida Alvarez make an appearance at Comme des Garçons—and at the Cultural Center

• Fall 2017 Comme de Garçons "Shirt" collection, featuring prints made with images by painter and School of the Art Institute professor Candida Alvarez

“Vibrant camouflage” might sound like a oxymoron, but the concept has recently catapulted Candida Alvarez’s paintings into Paris Fashion Week. The School of the Art Institute professor was one of the artists chosen to collaborate with Comme des Garçons on its Fall 2017 “Shirt” and “Homme Plus” collections—no small feat considering the iconic status of the Japanese brand founded by Rei Kawakubo, who herself picked six of Alvarez's works after seeing them online. Her paintings and drawings are mixed with other fabrics, creating an effect Comme des Garçons is calling "new camouflage." 

But Alvarez's images themselves often resemble camouflage patterns. "I am engaged in finding reproduced or original images, which I overlay with conceptual strategies to keep the process interesting," the artist says. "It is this process that turns them into a form of camouflage, burying their true identity. Rei Kawakubo saw that, was excited by that and used it to build on it as the designer. She understood the work." 

You can see Alvarez's works in their original form beginning Saturday, when the first major exhibit of paintings by the Brooklyn-born Puerto Rican-American artist opens at the Chicago Cultural Center's second-floor Claudia Cassidy Gallery.

The show kicks off with a talk between Alvarez and the exhibit's curator (and her fellow SAIC faculty member), Terry R. Myers, at the Claudia Cassidy Theater from 2 to 4 PM. Then on Saturday, May 6, from 6:30 to 8 PM, Alvarez will be joined by Queens-born photographer Dawoud Bey for a discussion of New York in the 80s. And on Thursday, May 11, from 5 to 6 PM, Alvarez and Myers will host a gallery talk in the Cultural Center's fourth-floor Exhibit Hall.   

"Candida Alvarez: Here" 4/29-8/6, Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington, 312-744-6630, free. 

Originally posted on the Chicago Reader.

Juni

Harajuku self-expression in the South Loop

Model Juni Park was spotted hanging out at a Harajuku party at Studio 415 cohosted by Akira cofounder Jon Cotay. No longer working for the local boutique, the globe-trotting businessman now runs an event company that organizes such parties. "I decided to do the Harajuku-themed party based on my travels to Tokyo," he says. To Cotay, the Japanese teen street style popularized by the fashion magazine Fruits gave his partygoers an occasion to experiment with hair and makeup, layer patterns and colors, and engage in playing roles such as punk, goth, kawaii, and sweet Lolita.

Originally published in the Chicago Reader.

Sir Babygirl

Sir, yes, sir!

Fashion is a serious matter for musician and comedian Sir Babygirl (aka Kelsie Hogue). "The ritual of putting on a face and getting a look together in solitude is very cathartic for me and an important act of self-care," she says. Inspired by cartoon heroines such as Helga G. Pataki from Hey Arnold! and Ashley Spinelli from Recess, TRL-era music videos, and absurdist comedy like Tim and Eric, Sir Babygirl's style is empowered, tomboyish, and very 90s. It's the sartorial version of what would result, she says, "if you set a baby clown loose on a Spice Girls music video shoot and the baby clown stole clothes specifically from Baby Spice, Sporty Spice, and Ginger Spice's wardrobes." On the day she was photographed, she described her look as an answer to the question "What if Neo from The Matrix was a cheerleader and what effect would that have on his character arc?" Wearing an Adidas jacket and sneakers, she says, makes her feel powerful, "like a really pretty boy named Sven. . . . He is very good at soccer and treats others with genuine respect."

Originally published in the Chicago Reader.

Shinda and Amrita

Sikh threads

"The Sikh look," Amrita Hanjrah says, "goes back to the concept of authentic living. It's an expression of one's being." While most Sikhs wear a dastar (or turban) and keep their hair long, Hanjrah and her husband, Shinda Singh, say their religion isn't all that strict about appearance. "Strictness is provoked out of fear and control," Hanjrah says. "What you can and cannot wear is not decided by another but oneself. The key question one must ask themselves is, 'Is this my authentic self or it it a facade?" explains Hanjrah, an artist and court liaison. "Who we are inside and out should be connected seamslessly," says Singh, a musician and health-care consultant. "True fashion is the reflection of one's true self. At the end of the day if it doesn't tell your story, it's not fashion."

Originally published in the Chicago Reader.