So, about last night. Last night was the GenArt’s FreshFaces show, one of the two big events of Chicago’s fashion week.

When it was all said and done and the fashionistas teetered out of Millennium Park in search of more Champagne, one Chicago fashion designer had stood out from the pack...

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So, about last night. Last night was the GenArt’s FreshFaces show, one of the two big events of Chicago’s fashion week.

When it was all said and done and the fashionistas teetered out of Millennium Park in search of more Champagne, one Chicago fashion designer had stood out from the pack...

" />

So, about last night. Last night was the GenArt’s FreshFaces show, one of the two big events of Chicago’s fashion week.

When it was all said and done and the fashionistas teetered out of Millennium Park in search of more Champagne, one Chicago fashion designer had stood out from the pack...

" />

Gen Art: Dresses Good, Sweatpants Bad

So, about last night. Last night was the GenArt’s FreshFaces show, one of the two big events of Chicago’s fashion week.

When it was all said and done and the fashionistas teetered out of Millennium Park in search of more Champagne, one Chicago fashion designer had stood out from the pack…

The Young Ones: Stella McCartney and Chloe

Stella McCartney keeps it real, and thus brings something very special to Paris Fashion Week. Her silly invitations make you smile (this year, it was a small magnetic board with six letters spelling out "STELLA"). It’s admirable that she’ll donate the huge wall of greenery which served as backdrop for her show to a housing project in Paris. And then there’s the way she tells her models to smile. What fun…

Tory Burch Arrives on the Gold Coast

Upscale Prep The much anticipated Tory Burch (66 E. Walton St.; 312-280-0010, fashionfocuschicago.com for a full list of events and shopping tours, or check out two of the highlights listed below. One of the best events of the week is Gen Art’s Shop Chicago, relocated this year from Union Station to Millennium Park (55 N. … Read more

Nina Ricci! Lanvin! Louis Vuitton! A Major League Day

Today was wonderful. Big shows, and not a clunker in the bunch. I left Nina Ricci feeling like my feet couldn’t touch the ground. Part of the uplift came from the purity of the staging. The models walked into the blackened tent from a sun-drenched crack at the far end, which opened onto the Tuileries gardens. The music was classical stringed instruments. The show felt pure and impassioned…

Waiting for Lanvin

If France, you have to have a paper ticket to get into the shows. They arrive via messenger or post, often the day before the event (because the PR people need to scramble to make sure the front row ranks are just right). All of this means you may not know if you’re invited until the last minute.

Sometimes the tickets just never come, and it’s a sad, Waiting-for-Godot situation. I had a scare regarding Chanel (it arrived eventually, after some phone calls), and wasn’t invited to Dior, Valentino, or Dries Van Noten this season…

Loving Soko: A Three-Step Program

Watching the work of your fashion heroes during this week is fun, but even more fun is discovering new people who inspire. Here’s a look back at the three steps it took for me to fall in love with the so-new-she’s-still-unsigned French singer Soko.

STEP 1: Tuesday night, I took my friend Sened to the Jeremy Scott/Colette party at Elysée Montmartre…