Tired of DKNY? Sick of the soulless selection of national brand labels that tag the clothes from Filene's to Bloomies? The Chicago fashion scene may not rival that of Milan, especially when what's fashionable - and affordable - now are the itchy-tight seventies sweaters and crotch-worn dark blue jeans that line the musty racks of thrift and second-hand stores. But if you're looking for something more unique, there are a handful of local, designer-owned boutiques that might just fit your style.
A. Arsenault
Staring down suburbafied Webster Place is a defiant nine-month-old co-op where Andrea Arsenault and eleven other local designers hawk creations - from roomy, nondescript leather shoulderbags ($275-$295) to the "Berries-in-a-bird's-nest gown" ($3,000). The gown's a criss-crossed white gauze confection with tiny ruby-colored beads knitted into sacs that hang from the bodice. Befitting only the Queen of Hearts, it competes in one-nighter impracticality with the nearby "silk ottoman" dress ($2,000), which weighs at least seven pounds. Nearby is a more affordable line of beaded jewelry by Sophia Forero, who, when she's there, will recount the world-wide treasure hunt behind each teeny-tiny bauble. ("In Vienna," she says, "there was a subway stop filled with heroin addicts...") Arsenault the designer - fond of vintage duds - displays a sweater from her recent "Recuperation" line, which pairs a simple peach v-neck with a huge, glamorous gray mink collar ($275). Joan Crawford might have worn it, had she ever gone out for milk shakes. As chair of the School of the Art Institute's fashion department, Arsenault also markets ideas pitched to her by budding undergrads, like one sophomore's displayed concoction: a hinged steel box transformed into a handbag by way of a handle and fuzzy mohair fringe. "Ninety dollars only," she smiles proudly.
Studio 90
Tessa, the sandle-toed saleschick who works in the Andersonville location, can show you something in a nice Bette Davis or Beecher Stowe. At Studio 90, draped, swingy cuts, generous sizes and elastic waistbands - along with monikers that bring the clothes to life - are the trademark of the design team of Angela Turley and Jill Hilgenberg. "They have a tendency to name a lot of blouses after famous women," Tessa shrugs at the periwinkle Jane Austen dress ($136), which - bell-shaped and flecked with triangular metal divets - looks very little like a Regency-era gown. Anything with slinky fabric, brash colors or a tight fit is liable to have been designed by some of the other designer names the store carries. The Ginger Rogers waistcoat jacket ($72) and trumpet skirt ($56) in crinkly linen can be livened up with an Israeli brooch or chianti-colored silk scarf, but most of the featured styles - like the single-button Eudora Welty sweater ($128) - come in dark colors. "According to some of the fashion-head honcho-types," Tessa rolls her eyes, "gray is real big this season."
Phenomenal Designs
Big windows reveal a world of humming sewing machines and a scrap-strewn floor - welcome to Lamar Gayles' six-month-old tailoring firm. "I go from trendy to conservative," says Gayles, standing by a spectrum of bell-bottomed men's trousers in hues ranging from soft brown to bright red and blue. "I go from your ministers to your NBA ball players." Lamar's heavy bomber jackets - the most outrageous of which features a Picasso-ish riot of leather-scraps - are more subdued and quilted this season. "Black and brown and navy blue," is his fall forecast, as is a return to sixties styles: hip huggers, short jackets and tapered pants. For now, men's suits with overall slacks and matching his-and-hers styles are still hot sellers, as are the custom-made leather jackets which, for $800, can be emblazoned with the fraternity insignia of your choice.
Zone
"I remember sitting in a friend's walk-in closet, looking around and thinking, 'We could make these things,'" reminisces Pamela Vanderlinde. It wasn't long after that Vanderlinde was swishing down the hallway of her St. Louis high school in Issey Miyake-inspired "wrap kimono-things." Her long-abiding love of Eastern design is revealed at Zone, where chocolate wool-crepe suits lined in lime silk ($320, $145 skirt) compete with dragon-red dresses puffing with Asian good-luck symbols ($180). "I pull [ideas] from the thirties and forties and modernize them," says Vanderlinde, who's also outfitted workers at restaurant 160blue and the Admiral Theater ("I learned a lot about Lycra"). She identifies her customers as working urban women who want simple, conservative suits that, upon closer inspection, reveal a faintly mod attitude. "I like to think they've got a little bit of an edge."
Robin Richman
Even the housecat is uniquely textured at Robin Richman's Bucktown boutique, where rustic hangers display wool knit sweaters and vests in muted gray and aubergine ($150-$500). Downstairs, where Richman hand-spins her nubby blends of yarn, the walls are crammed with inspiration for her designs: antique valentines, corset ribbons, springy metal epaulettes and boxes of French feathers - some of which are still attached to their hollowed-out birds. "I've been junkin' for twenty years," she says of the flea-market finds. (Much of her "junk" was snatched up as set design for a Kevin Bacon flick recently filmed in Wicker Park.) Her latest creations are inspired, surprisingly, by abrasive metallic textures. "I'm very influenced by history and architecture," Richman says, adding that she'd love to outfit a gloomy Corecki opera. "I'm very into the Victorian mourning feel."
A. Arsenault
2229 North Clybourn, (773)975-1914
Studio 90
5239 North Clark, (773)878-0097;
1971 North Halsted, (312)642-4010;
1930 Central, Evanston, (847)492-0207
Phenomenal Designs
40 South Ashland, (312)738-2160
Robin Richman
2108 N. Damen, (773)278-1650
Zone
2150 North Seminary, (773)472-4007
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