Chicagoland Students on Fashion: The City Knows Its Stuff

(NEWS REPORTING EXAMPLE)

(***done for a class where we were allowed to interview one family member. Aimen Shah is my sister.)

(November 2018)

Students from different colleges around the Chicagoland area finally have something in common: They’re annoyed that even though they live and breathe fashion, Chicago remains ignored and cut off from the rest of the industry.

“Fashion in Chicago is something that needs to be taken more seriously because we do spend this money on clothing; we do spend this money on fashion,” said Evan Martinez, an 18-year-old fashion student from Harper College. “We do look out for that stuff.”

Martinez said that misconceptions about the crime rate in Chicago as well as the drug problem might be off-putting for newer designers looking for a place to start their brands.

He said these misconceptions might be causing people to turn to New York and Los Angeles instead.

Chicago also failed to make a list of cities with big clothing spenders, possibly because the wide disparity of rich and poor distorted the spending average, according to online zine The Cut.

But those drawbacks aren’t dissuading celebrities.

“Kanye is moving back to Chicago, and I’m not surprised,” Martinez said. “It shows Chicago isn’t as bad as people remember and that it’s actually a great city with potential.”

Kanye’s clothing line, Yeezy, has opened several product development job positions in Chicago, ranging from shoemakers to prototype technicians.

The abundance of new positions could indicate the start of Kanye bringing his company back to his favorite city.

This discussion was front and center at Latino Fashion Week Chicago, a three-day event Oct. 11-13 that let Latino designers present their collections to an audience of roughly 150 people each night.

At the event, Martinez said it is upsetting that Chicago ignores its fashion industry because some brands actually take the city seriously.

“Companies like Nike and Adidas do realize the market for streetwear is huge, and Chicago sometimes gets exclusive products designed after it,” Martinez said.

One of the most popular pairs of shoes are inspired by Chicago, said 20 year old Kasia Pryzbyl, a Northwestern University student and fashion enthusiast.

The first time Virgil Abloh, CEO of Off-White and artistic director of Louis Vuitton menswear collaborated with Nike, he released the Off-White x Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG Chicago sneakers.

This shoe sported the classic red and black colors the Bulls are known for and had a retail price of $190 but now is a collector’s item, selling for over $2,000 online, said Pryzbyl.

“It’s so cool that these shoes inspired by Chicago are worn by people like Bella Hadid and other fashion icons,” Pryzbyl said. “How exclusive these shoes are now is crazy.”

Pryzbyl said she believes that if more designers embraced the city like Abloh did, Chicago could gain more traction in the industry.

A volunteer at Latino Fashion Week Chicago said it’s a vicious cycle.

“Maybe designers and artists from Chicago don’t create the hub of their brand in the city because they think things won’t sell as well and it doesn’t have the same reputation as fashion capitals like Milan, Paris and New York,” said Nikki Magat, a 19-year-old fashion merchandising student at Harper College.

Magat said that she thought if these designers just used their names and prevalence based in Chicago, the city might even become the Paris of the Midwest.

She said she believes Latino Fashion Week is important because it gives new designers a chance to showcase their work and associate themselves with the city.

An 18 year old attendee said he thought this event expresses hispanic culture and fashion to a larger audience.

“I feel like this event brings people of different backgrounds together, not just latino or latina people,” said Matthew Velasquez. “It’s about shared interest so it brings people from Chicago that care about fashion together and creates a stronger sense of community.”

Magat said that fashion is “all about community,” and that events such as this open more doors for fashion to be developed in the city.

Magat and Velasquez both said that Latino Fashion Week was important because it created a sense of community.

But Martinez said he believed the event was not as strong as it could have been.

“This event is hidden,” said Martinez, “but it is a hidden gem at this point.”

Martinez said though the event was important, it, like a lot of the fashion scene in Chicago, flies under the radar.

“I think it’s so weird that Chicago isn’t as well known for fashion,” said Aimen Shah, an 18-year-old student at Loyola University. “Whenever I walk by Michigan Avenue, I’m surprised by the amount of creative outfits and styling I see.”

She said it is shocking because she herself is so involved in fashion.

“I’ve spent $700 on Balenciaga sock runners and $200 on clothing from Antisocial Social Club in the same month,” Shah said.

Though expensive, Shah said she believes the shoes help elevate her outfits and the Antisocial Social Club pieces are an investment because their resale values increase with time.

“Fashion is culture,” she said. “It shows sides different sides of people and Chicago is a place full of so many different styles that if we started embracing that and showing it off, we could be up there with New York and Los Angeles.”