Spring in Chicago: Michelle Tan

michelle tan - My Favorite Store in Chicago's NEW Location

And in Chicago...Michelle Tan Trunk Show, April 24

CHICAGO: Michelle Tan Trunk Show, May 9

Chicago's Porte Rouge: Closing Sale, May 2-3

I came across Porte Rouge when I was in Chicago last summer and loved loved loved it. Unfortunately it is closing down. But somewhat fortunately for the good people of Chicago there is a final weekend sale, May 2-3. They have really quality, classy selections of tableware, store fixtures, and antiques, including a vintage butcher block that has been hidden in storage for three years (I can't guarantee it's still there, however). Good luck and let me know if you get anything great (and how much you got it for)!

Chicago: Saffron's Going Out of Business Sale

Nov. 28-29 - Michelle Tan: Holiday Sale, Chicago-Style

For all my fashion-forward friends in Chicago, aka my second favorite city.

Chocolate Skulls

OK, I have to admit that this comes wholly from Daily Candy Chicago, but I had to spread the word to New York, as these SKULLS can be ordered online. What could be better than a regular skull for Halloween? Well a CHOCOLATE skull of course!

Dia de los Muertos Chocolate Skulls

What: Solid chocs with edible, salt-coated eyes made in honor of the Mexican holiday.

Where: Vosges Haut Chocolat, 520 N. Michigan Ave., at Grand Ave. (312-644-9450); 951 W. Armitage Ave., at Sheffield Ave. (773-296-9866).

Chicago: Robin Richman

Funny, but the first store I visited during my Chicago shopping mission was also the most interesting. Sadly, I was forbidden from taking any photos inside the store and the salespeople behaved as though they were protecting the world's most valuable works of art at MOMA. But to be somewhat fair, this store does offer much more than the standard clothing-and-accessories that we plebeians are accustomed to.


While considering some of the delicate clothing and jewelry masterpieces, created by designers such as Istanbul's Umit Unal, I had to ask, for example, "how do you wash this dress?" I was sternly advised to wear the dress a couple of times until it was unwearable and then hang it on my wall...I assume by a curator. And no I am not even being my usual sarcastic self. This is literally what a salesperson said to me.


Oh, the name of the store you ask? I shouldn't say, but since you can kind of see it in the photo above anyway, guess I will relent: Robin Richman on N. Damen.

Chicago: Clothes I Bought at noir & michelle tan

So in addition to scoring a pair of the arguably best-fitting jeans (Levi's) ever at new'd (it's a resale shop with truly amazingly new-looking apparel) for about $34, I also got the above skirt-that-doubles-as-a-cape (for when you are needed as a stand-in superhero in a crunch) at michelle tan, and the fun fluorescent greenish yellow off-the-shoulder scoop neck top at noir.

The skirt is by ming, a Hong-Kong based design outfit that offers some interesting pieces. This one has dual functions and includes some interesting styling and details (e.g. red thread). Since it's made of poly+wool, I got it at the decent price of $87 (it is the off-season after all).

The top, by Rubber Ducky was basically the only thing that fit my body in this store better suited for a 23 year old. However, the salesgirl was fun, interested and helpful...so I bought something. See how effective real customer service can be?

Chicago: Porte Rouge Table & Home

Porte Rouge on W. Division in Chicago was one of the most exciting stores I encountered during my Wicker Park/Bucktown shopping tour. If I lived in Chicago I fear that I would spend all of my hard earned cash in here, for it is not cheap, but it is full of beautiful, quality housewares, cookware, teas and the like. If you have a wedding or shower present to buy, I highly recommend taking a look in here (even online). I'm actually lusting for the tableware again as I write this. Oh! and the antique old-style colored glass seltzer water bottles are divine (I think they cost about $95).

One of the most interesting items are the teas from Mariage Freres in France, which apparently is sought after from individuals and restaurants from all over the country.

I may become a grown up yet. Stay tuned.

Chicago Shopping: Bucktown & Wicker Park

The other headline I was considering was: CHICAGO TAX RATE IS 10.25% (and you thought NYC was bad!). But more on that later.

Chicago is my second favorite city in the U.S., so when I had the recent chance to go there and stay for free (in my parents' hotel room, like a 12 year old), I took it! I was directed by my Midwestern friends to seek out Bucktown and Wicker Park for fun and shopping. They equated it to the East Village, which is mostly accurate. Except there's a little bit of Fifth Ave.-in-the-teens-vibe at some points as well. And I don't know if it was due to the holiday weekend or that I was shopping on a Sunday and a Monday, but it was ghost-townish by comparison.

Anyway, I spend my days on N. Damen (see photo of empty store front for any of you entrepreneurs), N. Milwaukee and W. Division and found some pretty good spots, including:

bazar apparel, beadniks, daniels antiques, hejfina, michelle tan, noir, new'd, p.45, porte rouge, pump, robin richman, saffron inc., the silver room

So let's go back to this tax issue and compare and contrast NY vs. Illinois, shall we?

New York has a 4% state sales tax. There is no New York City sales tax imposed on the purchase of clothing and footwear regardless of the amount. As of September 1, 2007, New York State has eliminated sales tax on all clothing and shoes if the single item is priced under $110. Most counties and cities have not eliminated their local sales taxes on clothing and shoes. There are however, 11 counties and 5 cities (most notably New York City) that have done so. So this means when you buy clothes and shoes that cost more than $110 in New York City, you only pay the 4% New York State sales tax.

Much to my shock, the combined tax rate in Illinois therefore varies from the State minimum of 6.25% to a current high of 10.25% in Cook County.

This means that everything I bought in Chicago had a ten-point-two-five percent tax tacked on! This is outrageous! And possibly the only thing in Chicago that is not cheaper than New York...

Anyway, I will be providing more in-depth insight into some of the stores I visited, so stay tuned for forthcoming Chicago postings.

Chicago...Chicago...

Hi all, sorry I have been MIA for a while, but I was shopping in Chicago! I will have several tales for you shortly. but in the meantime, enjoy the puppetbike.com, which entertained me outside of the Hopleaf on N. Clark.

Chicago: Shopping Secret...Shhhh

So in communicating with a GS friend, I have been given some insight from an anti-shopper's shopper:

I'm not a big shopper myself but definitely love a good bargain and get very proud of them. One thing that I discovered in the past year: Chicago is a great city for shopping. I visited a friend there and we shopped for a weekend; Chicago is a big enough city to have a lot of good clothes but Chicagoans are far too practical to spend ridiculous amounts of money. I feel compelled to tell you about my biggest score in Chicago: jeans are a rough area for me (for everyone over 25, I imagine...) There is a dangerously fine line between flatteringly low-waisted and my a** hanging out when I sit down, and I try on a LOT of jeans without buying many. In Chicago I bought a cute pair of True Religion jeans that I can sit in for $50! They were originally $320, but nobody in Chicago is going to pay that much because it's stupid. Even with the flight to Chicago ($200) they were cheaper than retail!My other new thing: for sports equipment, www.steepandcheap.com. They sell only one thing at a time but they sell it REALLY cheap--usually more than 60% off-- and then move on to the next. My sister has actually bought a ton of stuff on there (she's the sporty sister). I check it a lot, though. It's totally worth it. Wow. I totally feel like talking about shopping. I totally agree with you about Old Navy, Macy's and Lord and Taylor.

In Land of Khakis, a New Focus on High Style

Perhaps one day I can become the Guerilla Shopper Chicago - my 2nd favorite U.S. city. One of my stringers tipped me off to the below article on how the windy city is focusing on growing and keeping fashion designers in town. I suppose if the midwest needed a fashion capital, Chicago would be the obvious choice. I mean better there than Des Moines. ;)

The New York Times
July 2, 2007
In Land of Khakis, a New Focus on High Style
By LIBBY SANDER

CHICAGO, July 1 — Mayor Richard M. Daley — who moves about town in perfectly nice, but not overly nice suits — is hardly the picture of fashion-forward dress with his blue shirts and the occasional striped tie.
But no matter: Mayor Daley, now serving his sixth term, has made the nurturing of Chicago’s fledgling fashion industry one of his pet projects. He is determined to remake the city as a fashion hub, even though it has often seemed to display a fashion sense that reflects his own, with all the flair of a golf shirt and khakis.
“These are great artists,” Mr. Daley said recently of the young designers whose careers he hopes will take off — and remain — in Chicago. Fashion, the mayor said quite sincerely, “is the heart and soul of the city.”
So, with strong guidance from City Hall, the city has started an ambitious plan to support young fashion designers and to try to prevent them from leaving for the coasts, where design jobs are more plentiful. Some of the 250 or so designers here are in the beginning stages of their careers, sewing samples in their living rooms, while others are more established.
In response to a reporter’s question on Friday, Mr. Daley elaborated on the reasons for his support: “Fashion designers add excitement and flair to the city. They attract attention from around the nation and the world.” “And,” he added, “they create jobs.”
Last year, the mayor created a position in the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs to focus on helping fashion designers and linking them with the local industry they need to thrive. Melissa Turner, a former lawyer turned fashion advocate who took the job, has since become the city government’s official face of fashion.
Ms. Turner plans Fashion Focus, Chicago’s equivalent of Fashion Week. She organizes shopping trips to some of the neighborhood boutiques selling items by emerging designers. Later this summer, she will start a Web site compiling industry and business resources for designers, a must-have in a city with no centralized fashion district, she said.
Ms. Turner acknowledges that the city’s hands-on approach to fashion is unusual. Unlike the established fashion capitals, where the industry is ingrained in the local economy and history, a city like Chicago needs a little more help from local government to get things moving, she said.
“It is a different approach to cultivating artistic talent,” Ms. Turner said. “The goal is definitely to get a very good, solid foundation laid, and then to keep building on that to support the different levels of designers here.”
Though Fashion Focus’s weeklong whirlwind of fashion shows and shopping tours has been well-received since its inception in 2005, its debut in a Midwestern city known for sharp-elbowed politics — but not quite for style — was met with some amusement back East.
“At first there was a sort of snicker,” said Lee Trimble, the fashion director for Gen Art in New York, a group that promotes emerging artists, including fashion designers, and has an office in Chicago. “It seemed an oxymoron for a city in the Midwest to have a fashion week. Not to sound snarky, but honestly, that was the feeling.”
Undeterred, Mr. Daley pressed on. The next year, he appointed Ms. Turner and created the Fashion Advisory Council, a group of designers and industry experts.
The last time a Chicago mayor tried to jump-start the city’s flagging apparel industry, acid-washed jeans and shoulder pads reigned. That was in 1987, when Mayor Harold Washington created a city agency to promote the sewn products industry here. Mr. Daley’s plan “is simply taking Mayor Washington’s vision to the ultimate,” said Dorothy Fuller, the president of the Apparel Industry Board Inc., the agency created by Mr. Washington. “To have a city agency behind you is a great deal of help, and it’s unique.”
Lara Miller is just the kind of designer Mr. Daley hopes will stay in Chicago. Ms. Miller, 27, a native Chicagoan, began selling her free-form hand-loomed garments at local boutiques while still a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
“Chicago is just part of who I am,” said Ms. Miller, who often listens to Cubs games while working in her studio. “In New York and Los Angeles, it’s a lot more competitive. You’re a little fish in a really, really big sea.”
At Habit, a boutique in the Wicker Park neighborhood that features emerging designers, about half of whom are based in Chicago, the owner, Lindsey Boland, said she was content to market her clothing line, superficial inc., locally.
“I’m not pursuing a national market,” said Ms. Boland, 34, a graduate of Parsons the New School for Design in New York City who grew up near Chicago and moved back here a few years ago. “I’m happy with my Chicago market.”
She welcomes the city’s involvement. “It’s really exciting to feel there are people trying to put programs out there that will help you, give you forums to show your work.”
And though Ms. Miller now sells her clothing line in 16 states, including New York and California, hometown pride keeps her in Chicago.
“I don’t expect it to be glamorous,” Ms. Miller said. “I just want it to be fun.”
As for the mayor, even he says the city has only just begun to perfect its strut down the proverbial catwalk. “We’re going to keep working at it,” Mr. Daley said. “We’re not going to say we’re there yet.”