Sarah Lafferty in Alexander Wang and me in Cynthia Rowley
This past Saturday night, my friend Mark Tisdahl invited me to attend the heART of the City fundraising event at the Zhou B. Art Center to support the Jane Addams Hull House community arts program. The main event of the evening was a fashion show produced by Akira, Chicago’s beloved local boutique. Local artists were on hand for live painting performances and gourmet hors d’œuvres were served alongside a premium open bar.
The lovely Darlene Hill from Fox Chicago was the hostess and announcer for the evening. The scene was Chicago’s philanthropic elite, the men and women who frequent luxurious events like these to support social programs for the less fortunate. Tickets were $115 each and proceeds benefited the Jane Addams Hull House.
Darlene Hill
Front Row
Click the link below to read more about this event:
It wouldn’t be a runway show without a barefoot model
Final Looks
After the runway show, guests mingled with Zhou B resident artists and socialized with each other. Everyone was in a great mood and enjoyed the show. Chicago is really just a small town superimposed over a big city, so of course there were familiar faces at this event.
The Zhou Brothers with a resident artist
Samuel Ng of Akira
Nicko of Akira
The always beautiful Ford model Anastasia
Deborah and Jay
Sarah and I had a ton of fun wandering through the different floors of the multi-leveled Zhou B art collective. The following pictures are of a few of our favorite artworks displayed around the hallways. Sarah in particular is a fan of brightly colored abstract works, while I favored the living plants and zen designs.
Traci, Amy, Nicole, Lau and Rachel
(Me with the Cynthia Rowley Chicago Team)
Halley Nop, Cortney Tippin, Anthony Maslo, Me, and Matt Kasin
(Me with the styling team)
Chicago’s Fashion Blogging Clique
Nicole with the list
68 people “officially” attended (over half of the RSVP list) but the final count is closer to 80, since many people who didn’t RSVP came
Runway samples from Cynthia’s Spring 2011 collection
Matt “The Gaudy God” Kasin doing complimentary manicures
Thankfully my friend Isa Giallorenzo from Chicago Looks showed up to take street style photos of the partygoers!
She got me too!
Meagan from LATTERSTYLE
Cortney Tippin, George Kanoon and Benjamin Bradshaw
Sabrina Wottreng and Sarah Whitman
With my BFFs Maryhelen Harper and Sarah Lafferty
Cortney Tippin and Samantha Kellogg
Shai
Emily Draznik
Brett Mense (right)
Benjamin Bradshaw, Matt Kasin, and George Kanoon
Tayben Ramirez and Christian Herrera Rua
With my close friends Jon Corpman, Sarah Lafferty, and Maryhelen Harper
Cynthia Rowley’s Traci Button, Lau, and Nicole
Last night was my official debut of sorts onto the Chicago fashion scene. I hosted
Cynthia Rowley’s Spring 2011 trunk show. The runway samples were on display and Traci made beautiful laminated lookbooks with photos of all the runway looks. For many of the guests this was their first designer trunk show. Being only 24 myself, this is only my third trunk show. Since my followers, readers, and fans tend to be on the young side (average between 16 and 35 years old), it was really exciting to be able to introduce Cynthia Rowley to a whole new demographic. Many of the partygoers hadn’t ever visited the boutique before – and several of those same attendees left with purses and dresses from
Cynthia Rowley.
As you can tell from the photos above, the bloggers were out in force. They ranged from street style to personal style bloggers, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing Cynthia’s pieces on blogs for weeks to come. Isa of Chicago Looks captured some fantastic photographs of partygoers for her blog: check them out here. All in all, the event was a great success. Over half of the RSVP list showed up for a total of 68 people. At one point it was quite difficult to move from the front of the boutique to the back. But hey, it’s always better to have an event over-attended than under-attended, right!?
All photos by Paige Nowak.
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Special thanks to Cynthia Rowley for inviting me to host her Spring 2011 trunk show! Shout outs to Vosges Haut Chocolat for providing such fantastic goodies to munch on, Il Prosecco for the libations, and Fiji Water for the refreshing bottled water!*Extra special thanks to the stylists who assisted me with the event: Matt Kasin of Strange Beauty Show; Anthony Maslo and Cortney Tippin of Salon Soca; and Halley Nop of Marianne Strokirk.
Chiara Ferragni is the wonderful woman behind one of my morning “must read” fashion blogs,
The Blonde Salad. I had the opportunity to meet Chiara before she went on stage at the IFB
Evolving Influence conference. She is an incredibly warm person and full of positive energy. It was really lovely chatting with her and if she ever comes back to Chicago (she briefly lived here) I would love to take a proper street style photograph of her.
