Leather makes leap to spring

Dissecting the spring fashion season can be done in one word. Leather. Need two more? Bold stripes. The New York Fashion Spring/Summer 2013 shows, which ended Thursday, herald the arrival of what shoppers can expect to see on racks in six months. Make room in the closet for leather — it’s not just for winter … Read more

Style points from the Paris runways

We’ll always have Paris. Or rather, shoppers have the fall couture shows, which ended Thursday, to study fashion’s trickle down economics — and what could end up in stores, without the astronomical pricetags. There are said to be fewer than 100 clients who buy couture worldwide. But designer’s ideas can filter from the elaborate embroidery … Read more

Bidders go all out to get Kanye West Nike collaboration Air Yeezy 2

By Meg Moore Make way in those shoe closets. Kanye West’s hotly anticipated Nike Air Yeezy2 dropped Saturday, and only those with a deep appreciation — and deeper pockets — are set to wear them today. Only two stores in Chicago had the rights to sell them via a silent auction Saturday. Lavelle Sykes owns … Read more

Cancer survivor Yali Derman wins Glamour magazine top award

By Meg Moore There’s a popular British wartime phrase that has been revived and plastered on coffee mugs.“Keep calm and carry on.” That’s certainly a fitting sentiment for Highland Park native and University of Pennsylvania nursing student Yali Derman. In addition to her studies — which currently have Derman interning overseas at a hospital in … Read more

Be Inthavong’s well-traveled handbag lands in Winnetka

There’s room in our world for women who appreciate both the high and lowbrow. Which means my TiVo is filled with Larry the Cable Guy’s travel show “Only in America” as well as “Downton Abbey” and “Mad Men.” But I’ll tell you what, Larry’s trip to the largest alligator farm in Georgia prepared me to … Read more

Chicago’s North Shore nears top in best dressed list

A gal can’t live on Lululemon yoga pants alone.While the perfect combination of stretchy fabric and colorful waistbands of the “groove pant” are staples on the school run, it’s not a secret that many closets on the North Shore are filled with upscale, fashion-foward designer garments. And now, thanks to bundle.com, the nation knows just … Read more

Heart leads science student to fashion

Dan Wittenberg got it right. And left. The New Trier graduate headed to McGill University in Montreal to study geochemical engineering, a decidedly left-brain  sort of endeavor. But he soon discovered that while he had the head for the advanced sciences, his heart had a mind of its own. And a right-brain kind of mind … Read more

Breakfast, bags and benefits Loyola Academy

  By MEG MOORE The fashion crowd isn’t generally known as early risers, but Loyola Academy fashionistas took Tim Gunn’s advice and “made it work.”More than 40 guests stepped out the morning of March 30 to find that perfect dress to wear for the school’s annual charity event May 5.But the show highlighted more than … Read more

Zengeler collects more than 4,000 dresses to help Chicago’s Glass Slipper Project

When Cinderella went to the ball, she didn’t have a choice. It was blue dress with a carefully-orchestrated sash and as a precursor to today’s impossibly tall heels — highly impractical glass slippers. And Cinderella didn’t get to keep her ensemble. That’s not the case for Chicago high schoolers who shop the Glass Slipper Project’s … Read more

Cambridge Satchel Company has bright beginning

By Meg Moore While heading to fashion shows in New York City or running errands in Chicago, street style photographers stop the fashionable to pose for pictures. Prior to owning my fluorescent pink Cambridge satchel, the only time a photographer asked to take my picture was to shoot 17 different angles of my nose for … Read more