Industry
Chicago Fashion Incubator Blog
Read what Lara Miller, the Executive Director, has to tell you about the Chicago Fashion Incubator! Lara will be bringing you the latest and greatest on the CFI designer’s exciting endeavors. Check back often to read her updates.
Chicago Fashion Incubator Designers on ABC 7
March 30, 2009
Click here to watch the ABC 7 Incubator Segment
Nora del Busto
February 26, 2009
Nora del Busto, a Michigan native with a passion for architecture, loves to design structured garments with precise detail and manipulating plain fabrics into extraordinary one-of-a-kind pieces.
Nora initially worked as a lawyer after receiving her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan and her Juris Doctor degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. After working as an attorney for a few years, Del Busto decided she wanted to spend less time in the courtroom and more time exploring her creative side.
Nora del Busto recently graduated from the International Academy of Design and Technology and is currently working at Cintas as an apparel design assistant. When not working on a project she can be found taking a break on the lakefront running path training for the next marathon.
Click here to view more of her work
Nora del Busto
Cynthia Ryba
February 26, 2009
Cynthia Ryba, who began sewing and creating clothes at the age of 16, offers a unique alternative to everyday dressing. With great attention to detail, Ryba’s expertise lies with using conventional materials in an unconventional way. Molding and shaping fabric in an organic fashion, her silhouettes are fluid and imaginative transcending the fleeting, temporal trends of the day.
Past professional experience includes work as an International Accessories Buyer for the major retailer Claire’s Accessories (Japan based stores), an internship with Cynthia Rowley and work as a freelance milliner for musician Lenny Kravitz. In addition, she is a Fashion Group International award winner as well as a Richard Driehaus Annual Fashion Show participant and winner.
Ryba is a graduate of the International Academy of Design and Technology in Chicago where she earned a degree in Fashion Design. She is currently working on a line of day to evening professional womenswear dresses – available in stores in the spring of 2010.
Click here for more information
Cynthia Ryba
Dress by Cynthia Ryba
Zamrie – Ashley Zygmunt
February 26, 2009
Ashley Zygmunt, a Chicago native, began pursuing her interest in fashion at the School of the Art Institute Chicago, through the early college program and continuing at Purdue University in the Apparel Design and Technology program. In spring of 2007, she became the first student in the program to study abroad in Hong Kong at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Past professional experience includes design and production internships with Zac Posen, and Peter Som where she worked through two Mercedes Benz Fashion weeks. In addition, Zigmunt has freelanced for Li and Fung USA, in the Oxford collections division of the company, where she assisted with Norma Kamali for Wal-Mart, Just My Size, a plus sized label, and White Stag Fast Fashion, a high style mass marketed label.
Click here to view her line
Zamrie Logo
Zamrie Coat
Furio Apparel – Catherine Furio
February 26, 2009
Catherine Furio, a Chicago native, had a passion for creating and designing at a young age. Growing up, Furio spent Saturday’s working in her father’s menswear store where she was surrounded by fabrics, patterns and garments. Her enjoyment working in retail and her interest in the visual arts drew her to pursue fashion as a career.
Furio received her bachelor’s degree in apparel design from the Rhode Island School of Design in May 2008 and moved back to Chicago to pursue her career in fashion design.
Click here to view her line
Furio Apparel Logo
Furio Apparel
Audey Dresses – Jess Audey
February 26, 2009
Jess Audey began her sewing career in Cleveland, OH at the age of fourteen and spent most of high school sewing her own skirts and prom dresses. After moving to Chicago in 2001, Audey began to design and sell her own dresses to those interested in her luring style. Heavily influenced by her experience with tactile upholstery fabrics and custom orders, Audey strives to combine the perfect fabric and design for each of her garments.
Past professional experience includes work in the creative department at Chicago’s custom handbag company, 1154 Lill Studio.
Audey studied fashion design at Columbia College Chicago. Focusing on fit and timeless silhouettes, she launched AUDEY, her own design studio that is committed to the classic tradition of cocktail dresses with an innovative touch. Audey dresses are mix and match – pick from 5 different tops and 5 different bottoms, you can have 25 different dresses!
Click here to view her line
Jess Audey
Audey Dress
Fashion Geek – Alonzo Jackson
February 26, 2009
Alonzo Jackson or “Zoe,” as he’s fondly known, has taken the underground streetwear scene by storm. The Chicago south side native, who’s mascot began with a quick sketch of a duck when he was seventeen, has grown into the face of the brand “Fashion Geek”. Mixing contemporary, classic, and urban styling with a witty sense of humor, Alonzo has established a key customer base for Fashion Geek which includes Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, Jermaine Dupree, Jagged Edge and most recently, in the XXL magazine on Young Jeezy. In addition, Fashion Geek Clothing has been featured in publications including Complex Magazine, Antenna and New City. In 2008, Jackson was accepted into the SLATE show at the International Magic Fashion Tradeshow in Las Vegas where he exhibited Fashion Geek Clothing’s 2008 Fall/Winter Collection for worldwide buyers. Everything Jackson has learned about fashion design, production and manufacturing has been from pure fascination with the process. Jackson admires such designers as Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Louis Vuitton and Gucci.
Click here to read more Alonzo Jackson
Alonzo "Zoe" Jackson
Fashion Geek Logo
Fashion Geek Varsity Jacket
Welcoming the New Class
February 10, 2009
Tonight was a special night, our first Designers in Residence welcomed in the new 2009 class and the wonderful ladies over Second City Style were amongst the first to get the word out. Here’s a snippet of their coverage, please click on the link to read the whole story.
“Last night there was a changing of the guard at Macy’s. It was a celebration to wish the class of 2008 Chicago Fashion Incubator designers well, and to say hello to six designers who will be occupying their studio space within the offices of Macy’s on State Street. The outgoing class included Kate Coxworth – Kate Boggiano, Yana German – YANA Collection, Kristen Rosynek Hassan – organiK Revolution, Glenn Mallory – 6Ace by Glen Mallory, Agga Raya – AGGA B and Lidia Wachowska – Evil Kitty.”
Click here to read the whole story
On March 1st, 2009 we’ll welcome in the brand new class! Stay tuned to meet:
Alonzo Jackson
Ashley Zygmunt
Catherine Furio
Cynthia Ryba
Jess Audey
Nora Del Busto
Melissa Gamble introduced the 2009 designers. Left to right: Ashley Zygmunt, Alonzo Jackson, Cynthia Ryba, Catherine Furio, Jess Audey and Nora Del Busto. Photo courtesy of Second City Style
June week 1
Quite a busy week at the Chicago Fashion Incubator. Chicago Magazine came in for a photo shoot with the six designers. The location of the shoot was the 9th floor events center at Macy’s on State Street. The huge space with floor to ceiling windows was a perfect spot to feature the designers. They all wore white and looked fantastic! Some of the designers even made their outfit the night before! Photographer, Keith Claunch and Creative Director, Lucas Buick did an amazing job making these already handsome six designers look even better! Look for the spread in Fall Fashion Edition of Chicago Magazine that will be out in September. View pictures below to get a sneak peek of what went on behind the scenes at the photo shoot.
Yana German of Yana Collection held a shopping party for some of her best clients at the CFI space on Thursday night. She had about 25 guests viewing her collection while sipping wine, snacking on hors d’eauvres and enjoying the lake views from the CFI conference room. Women had the opportunity to shop Yana’s collection and speak to her about their specific fashion needs. View pictures from Yana’s event!
The Chicago Fashion Incubator Board met this week at the CFI space to discuss the first three months of progress since the Incubator launched in March. The Board was pleased to hear about all of the accomplishments the designers have already made and impressed with the amount of press CFI and the six designers have received in such a short amount of time. The program is really moving in the right direction!!
Photographer, Keith Claunch snaps the CFI 6 along with Kim Prodan!
Photographer, Keith Claunch and Creative Director, Lucas Buick review some shots with their assistant and Agga B. Raya as the other designers pose in the background.
May week 4
The Chicago Fashion Incubator Space is crawling with interns! All of our machines were being put to good use this week as all six of our CFI designers have hired interns to help them with their collections. The students have come from Columbia, IADT and Dominican University. Its great to see design students get excited about the program and get hands on experience with our Designers in Residence. From actual sewing of the garments, to researching a designers competition, to helping create press packets and more, these interns are getting invaluable hands-on experience. The local educational institutions have been outstanding partners in helping our designers find quality interns when necessary.
May week 3
This week at the Mayor’s Fashion Council Industry event all six of the CFI designers had their looks on display. The event was at the Hard Rock Hotel on Michigan Avenue and was filled with Chicago’s fashion industry elite. The Hard Rock Hotel has been providing a tremendous amount of support to local designers by featuring their designs in the windows.
Look for the designs from Glenn Mallory, Kate Coxworth, Agga Raya, Kristin Hassan, Lidiia Wachowska and Yana German in the Hard Rock Hotel Windows in June.
May week 2
Last week our six designers attended the first phase of workshops as part of the CFI curriculum. Ken Walter, a 30 year retail veteran and former VP and GMM of Men’s RTW for Sears, and now, Columbia faculty, conducted the workshops in the Incubator space on Thursday and Friday. Day one covered defining your company, writing a mission statement, creating a customer profile and competitive analysis. Day two covered and extensive SWOT analysis (discovering your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats), the Four P’s (product, price, promotion and place), and beginning the discussion of how to transition all of this information into a successful marketing plan.
One thing was clear, and that was few of the designers have taken the time to think about these crucial elements of their business. They literally put pen to paper and wrote their mission statements, discovered who their customer and competition was, and analyzed themselves vs. their competition. The workshops were very interactive. There was great participation from all of the designers! They all had the chance to share their discoveries with each other and received productive feedback on how to fine tune some of their thoughts.
Most of the designers have pure design backgrounds and have had little exposure to the business side of fashion.
Ken did a tremendous job in keeping them all engaged over the two days. He shared some of his own industry experience that really solidified the importance of merging business sense with design sense!
The International Academy of Design and Technology will be conducting the next set of workshops in June.
May week 1
The Mayor’s Fashion Council seminars were this week at Gallery 37 and Kristen Hassan, Glenn Mallory, Lidia Wachowska, and Yana German were in attendance. The Designers heard panel discussions relating to the current retail climate, how to launch a successful fashion business and merchandising strategies. They all agreed that listening to each of the speakers’ personal experiences was extremely helpful in identifying opportunities for their own businesses.
The MFC did a terrific job securing speakers that provided valuable, practical information. Kristen Hassan, of OrganiK Revolution, was introduced to the boutique owner of Pivot, Chicago’s first Eco-friendly boutique. The introduction has led to Kristen showing her goods to Pivot for a possible partnership. You never know where your next opportunity might pop up!
On Thursday, May 8th, Kate Coxworth, Lidia Wachowska and Kristen Hassan participated in the Make a Satement: Design for the Cure event. Each of the designers featured their collections in a fashion show held at Le Passage. It was a completely full house!!!
Coming up…Kate Coxworth, of Kate Boggiano, Trunk Show at Floradora 330 S Dearborn from Noon-6pm. Also, check out this month’s issue of CS to read about the Incubator launch in the Be Scene section. All six designers are pictured.
April week 5
Agga B. Raya, of AggaB, was commissioned to design costumes for Kid Sister’s back-up singers as they performed in the Gobi tent at Coachella. It was a last minute deal, so Agga and several of her team worked through the night to complete the costumes!!! You can view photos of what she created below. Also, you can view some of the performance on YouTube here
Lidia Wachowska, of Evil Kitty, had a successful trunk show this weekend at Vicious Cycle on Clark and Belmont. The boutique has picked up her line so stop in and check out her collection! She and Yana German, of Yana Collection, also participated in trunk shows at Macy’s on State Street this weekend for the Looptopia extravaganza!
Kristin Hassan, of OrganikRevolution, had a successful meeting this week with possible sales reps. Anyone designing in Chicago knows how tough this can be. She’s so close now to finalizing the deal so she can get her line in Eco-friendly boutiques across the country! Great accomplishment Kristen!
Kate Coxworth, of Kate Boggiano, continues to promote her custom shirt line throughout the city. She’s been meeting with local Chicago boutiques introducing them to the concept.
All six designers were asked this week to display some of their designs in theHard Rock Hotel windows on Michigan Avenue!!!
This is a great opportunity for them to show off their talents to the more than 10,000 people that walk passed those windows everyday! The looks will be on display starting late May and will be there for 6 weeks-be sure to slow down and check it out when you’re walking by. Stay tuned for more info.Kristen, Lidia and Kate are participating in the Make a Statement: Design for the Cure Fashion Show on May 8th at Le Passage.
Check out the press from this event here!
April week 2
This week the latest issue of Time Out Chicago came out featuring 4 of the 6 Chicago Fashion Incubator (CFI) designers: Glenn Mallory, Kristin Hassan, Agga B. Raya and Lidia Wachowska! Check out their 4 page spread starting on page 22. Each of the designers were challenged to create a piece of clothing inspired by an assigned Chicago landmark. Take a look at what they came up with! Time Out’s article
Kate Coxworth of Kate Boggiano launched her Create Your Own Shirt business on-line last week and is already seeing a great reaction. Customers can completely customize their shirt from the cuffs to the buttons, fabric and fit! You can completely make it your own original design. Check it out!
Last week all six designers, Yana German, Glenn Mallory, Agga Raya, Kate Coxworth, Kristin Hassan and Lidia Wachowska, were featured on ABC 7 news wearing their designs. You can watch the segment on-line here!