Ulovee

CHICAGO — From a James Galanos “New Look” black chiffon cocktail dress to a Christian Lacroix lace jumpsuit, Michigan Avenue will be the focus of an upcoming exhibit at the Chicago History Museum entitled “Chicago Styled: Fashioning the Magnificent Mile,” opening Nov. 15.

Through a selected collection of 26 designer looks dating from the late Fifties to early Nineties, the exhibit will study the rise of the Avenue, known as the Magnificent Mile or “Mag Mile,” as a world-class shopping destination via key fashion designers and retailers that impacted its history.

“This was such a period when there was a lot of glamour, prestige and activity. A lot of designers were traveling to Chicago and seeking it out as a destination,” says Petra Slinkard, curator of costumes at the Chicago History Museum, which is celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Costume Council. “I was looking for pieces that represented what I felt like were quintessential silhouettes and styles that pinpointed different decades.”

From retailers like Bonwit Teller and Ultimo to designers like Chanel and Yohji Yamamoto, the exhibit travels through the city’s fashion history with designs that graced the famed avenue and its environs.

Exhibition works include Karl lagerfeld Chloe one shoulder minidress, last month to buy;A Courreges sequins clothing brand shop in front of the water tower, floor-length red, sequined dress Geoffrey Beene Magnin namely;And a thierry muller golden lace skirt in Stanley Korshak purchase.

The earliest ensemble is the aforementioned James Galanos short cocktail dresses, circa 1955, and the latest is the Christian Lacroix lace jumpsuit with a silk chiffon skirt and embroidered bodice, from 1993/1994. Galanos has three designs in the show and Norman Norell has two dresses featured.

The exhibit traces the Mag Mile’s history as far south as Pucci Chicago, the former bespoke tailor at 333 North Michigan Avenue, with a Seventies windowpane men’s suit belonging to a Chicago investment broker, and as far north as Millie B. Oppenheimer, with a Philip Hulitar dress bought in 1961 at the boutique once located at the former Ambassador West Hotel at 1300 North State Parkway.

“Every piece we chose had a strong Chicago story,” says Slinkard, who began assembling the exhibit last September. “Each dress has its capsule story. For instance, when Versace opened on Oak Street in 1986, he himself came to Chicago to open the boutique and during his visit he did a fashion show at the Field Museum. He donated nine pieces to the Chicago History Costume Collection, pieces from his Klimt collection.”

One of those pieces from the designer’s 1985 Klimt collection is featured in the exhibit. It is a metal mesh floor-length gown, patterned with large rectangles in gold, silver and white diamanté. “It’s what it would be like to wear liquid,” Slinkard says.

In choosing the looks, Slinkard says her focus was to illustrate how fashion has evolved in the last half of the 20th century.

“We’re starting with the Fifties classic hourglass silhouette and we’re going through to the Seventies and Eighties,” she says. “I was looking for pieces that were emblematic of each decide.”

The exhibit space is intimate; the 26 pieces are displayed in a gallery that normally houses 15.

“The previous exhibitions here were Christian Dior, Charles James and then Bertha Palmer. These are historical pieces. The volume of space — the piece, the dress and the mannequin — is a bit more voluminous,” she says. “I was lucky that we were focusing on more contemporary pieces as some of these pieces are skintight. The amount of space required is less than dealing with more historical shows.

Read more cocktail dresses here:white cocktail dresses

With a warehouse venue and a set that featured speakers stacked high and a neon centrepiece, fashion editors walking into the Marc By Marc Jacobs New York fashion week show on Tuesday afternoon understandably thought they were in for a hedonistic clubbing collection. And those suspicions seemed well-founded when the soundtrack started with ear-bleeding drum'n'bass. But, as the collection was revealed, it became clear that British creative directors Luella Bartley and Katie Hillier aren't that easily second-guessed. In place at Marc Jacobs' second line since 2013, their sophomore catwalk outing showed their ideas are rich and various. Even the soundtrack reflected this – the dancefloor-worthy tunes were contrasted with snatches of Strauss.

Image:formal dresses melbourne

The first model in tailored shirt has a wide plastic polka dot pencil skirt and a shiny PVC straitjacket.Cut square at the top and fitted dress and trousers are dominant, the outline of tie-in stompy, "don't want disorderly" attitude, enjoy two people the first collection of marc marc jacobs.Model recalled some 90 carton girl, twisted braid hair, but tailored pants is known as the "ninja pants" show notes.

Less poppy than the first collection – which included lots of print and Motorcross and manga references - this amped up the bona fide fashion namechecks. Distressed T-shirt dresses and jackets with harness details recalled Vivienne Westwood's early work, while slogan dresses reading "New World System" were a nice homage to Katherine Hamnett's famous slogan T-shirts while slip dresses in industrial brights showed the influence of Helmut Lang. A section of the show towards the end, where the frills of semi formal dresses were patched together with less special occasion fabrics like sweatshirting, recalled Japanese designers like Junya Watanabe, who pioneered such hybrids on the catwalk. They were also a knowing nod to Bartley's own work for her brand Luella – where she quickly established the short formal dresses as her trademark shape during the noughties. With these ones ripped up and destroyed, and made into something else entirely, they perhaps semaphored a new era.

Taken as a whole, the collection was a wonderfully confident cocktail of ideas – not so easily digestible as their debut, but maybe stronger for that. Backstage after the show, Bartley and Hillier – in matching white shirts – were quick to draw the connections of seemingly unconnected inspirations together, all as part of a particular mood. "It was hardcore idealism," said Bartley. "It's a feeling that you find in rave culture but it's anything that's a bit anti-establishment, with a do it yourself ethos. It's strong, bold and euphoric. "

There is an optimistic mood around this brand at the moment – it's been rejuvenated by the duo's appointment and feels relevant again, ripe for a new intake of customers after clothes that are cool but clever too. Responsible for 70% of the entire Marc Jacobs business, that can only be a good thing. For a second season, Jacobs himself was sat proudly front row and greeted his design duo with a warm hug as they came out for their bow. The music only helped things along. "It's been so much fun putting the set together," said Bartley. "We've been dancing to that for hours. " A Marc by Marc Jacobs rave might be on the cards yet.

If contestants on Lifetime’s Project Runway haven’t learned it by now, they sure had a rude awakening when Heidi Klum stormed the work room to tear almost every single one of them a new asshole. You don’t mess up Heidi’s dress.

The challenge was to create a red carpet look for Ms. Klum to wear to the Creative Emmy Awards using only $250. Sounds simple, right? Oh no, it all went so terribly wrong.

Most of the designers pick black fabrics and Korina starts dissing on all of them while touting her choice of dark teal and snakeskin. Kini is done with his impeccable dress in like three seconds. Alexander thinks Mitchell’s idea looks like a pile of garbage and well, he was kind of correct on that assessment. When Heidi visits the workroom to critique she tells Korina that the color green she has chosen is like what hunters in Germany wear. She also hates the snakeskin. Sandhya’s design looks like an 80′s episode of Dynasty, with peacock feathers and matronly lace. Mitchell’s look has a bustier with devil’s horns.

The looks are so terrible that Heidi allows anyone who needs to go back to Mood and buy $100 more fabric. If they don’t need to go back they can opt to help another contestant and give them their money. Because Sandhya is no dummy, she asks a few people for their extra cash and ends up buying fabric at Mood that is $120 a yard. Korina is pissed, but I call that smart business acumen. Meanwhile, Korina seems like all lip and no game.

The top three looks are made by Kini, Amanda, and Sean. Amanda’s look is very bohemian, very hippie, and very much her aesthetic. It’s bold and different. Not all the judges love it, but Heidi likes it. Sean’s look is made entirely of royal blue fringe which fades into black ombre. It’s perfectly cut and hugs the body nicely as to keep its wearer from looking heavy.

The bottom three looks were made by Korina, Kristine, and Mitchell. Kristine’s look also had devil horns and rather than keeping straps she added them to the back of the short cocktail dresses australia and opted for strapless. Mitchell’s second-chance look was a disaster. It was poorly made, the fabric was cheap looking, and the concept was terrible.

The judges chose Sean as the winner (although Kini seems to deserve these wins based on consistency alone). They sent both Mitchell and Kristine packing. Korina had better get her shit together or her butt will be the next one out the door.