Chicago's most stylish are prepping for a closeup this week.
Fashion Focus Chicago returns for its sixth year October 18-24, with a number of events featuring some of the city's top designers and boutiques.
Most of the attention will be focused on the four headlining runway shows:
- October 19: Macy's and CS Magazine present the Chicago Fashion Incubator Designers Past & Present runway show. The show features Spring 2011 collections from 14 designers.
- Oct. 20: smartwater and Chicago magazine present Mario, Make Me a Model and Wave of Fashion. Five model finalists will walk the runway with professional Ford models wearing pieces from Chicago designers. Mario Tricoci will announce the winner in the grand finale of this ongoing contest.
- October 21: "Dress Code" features the top students from Chicago's fashion design schools -- Columbia College, The Illinois Institute of Art, The International Academy of Design & Technology and the School of the Art Institute.
- October 22: StyleChicago.com presents the runway finale, "The Art of Fashion 2010" featuring contemporary to couture Spring 2011 collections of accomplished Chicago designers Elda de la Rosa, Lara Miller, Paul Sisti and more.
Additional events include Chicago designer Borris Powell's "Life of Two Fairies" runway show that he debuted at New York Fashion Week, the Modern Vintage Chicago shopping extravaganza Saturday and Sunday, a Sexy & Sustainable fashion show on Sunday and several more shopping events showcasing local designers and boutiques.
Some of the events are free, but tickets are needed to attend the bigger shows. Log on to ChicagoFashionResource.com for the full lineup of events and for ticket information.
