As fashionable as Chicago thinks it is, it’s still a major event when one of the top New York-based designers cruises into town. This week, it was Zac Posen, who brought along a full-on runway show, courtesy of Saks Fifth Avenue.

I blanked completely on the event, didn’t dress appropriately, and wandered in the stately Murphy Hall on Erie Street in a full-on turtleneck and a dress I’d accidentally shrunk in the dryer. Everyone else was head-to-toe designer; what do you do? If you’re me, hold your head up high and squeeze through the crowd to find Zac Posen for a photo.

Courtesy of Julia Van Nice and our fashion editor, Stacey Jones, I got to Zac, who graciously posed in front of some hydrangeas. (He’s cute, right?) I’m not sure why he felt the need to proffer some career advice, but he did, insisting that the only way I’d ever be successful is to ask—no, demand!—what I want to see happen in the workplace. Chart my own course. That sort of thing.

Ok, Zac, here it goes. I want—no, I demand!—a clothing allowance.

Photography: Cassie Walker