Lights, camera, fashion!
Chicago may not come to mind when it comes to fashion capitals, but the inaugural Chicago Fashion Awards Saturday honored scores of emerging and established “creatives pushing the city’s culture forward,” showing that creators and artists don’t need to leave the city to be a force in the industry.
Held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and hosted by the Chicago Fashion Coalition, the awards recognized designers, photographers and stylists across 10 categories, as well as 77 Best Dressed (the number a nod to the city’s community areas).
Designer of the Year nominee Joshua Aponte wears a gown of his own making at the inaugural Chicago Fashion Awards Saturday at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Aponte has dressed the likes of Victoria Secret model Adriana Lima and “RuPaul’s Drag Race”
winner Shea Coulee of Chicago.
Brittany Sowacke/For WBEZ
Nominations were open to the public until Dec. 6 and a jury of six tastemakers determined the winners. The judges included Barbara Bates of Bates Designs, who created looks for the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Whitney Houston; Anna Hovet Dias, teacher at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and founder of consulting agency Hovet Fashion Studio; Danny Dunson, curator at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center; Robin Richman, owner of her namesake avant-garde Bucktown boutique; and the ceremony’s co-hosts, Brandy Penelope, celebrity stylist, and Vic Lloyd, sneaker and hat connoisseur and designer.
“Chicago is a world-class city with amazing creatives who continue to cultivate a growing fashion community that rivals those on the coasts,” Lloyd said in a statement. “Over the past 20 years, I’ve watched it flourish from high fashion to streetwear, and I’m proud to help shine a light on this community.”
Surrounded by Technicolor artwork on the first floor, guests in equally dazzling ensembles lauded each other’s looks. As hairstylist Nicole Kennen, of the 77, said, it’s time “to see some of these creators and makers get their flowers now.”
The 10 winners represented both longtime Chicago designers as well as those who have put down roots here.
“There is something to be said for those who have chosen to stay in Chicago,” said Penelope, after Fashion Designer of the Year and Emerging Designer of the year, the first and second awards of the night, were given to Maxwell Bresler and Jackson Napier respectively, who weren’t present to accept. Both have recently left Chicago for New York City.
Model nominee Seoul Adams Penelope’s sentiment. “Chicago is filled with the most amazing and talented people and we’re a bit overlooked in the arts. … This is paving roads for people to be seen. They don’t need to move out of Chicago.”
Fiber artist Chelsea B, a nominee for Fashion Designer of the Year and one of the 77 Best Dressed, said, “I’m excited to share space and time with fellow creators from Chicago tonight … so many familiar faces and upcoming talent.” Known for her handcrafted crochet work, she’s worked with rapper G Herbo, hosted workshops with Nike and dressed drag artist Monét X Change on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
Ameerah Floyd, who has worked with the Chicago Sky, Nike and the late designer Virgil Abloh, was surprised when she won Wardrobe Stylist of the Year. “Wow, really?” Floyd said, adding, “I’ve always wanted to be a person whose work spoke for itself.”
When the trio behind the gender-neutral brand All We Remember, which uses only natural and biodegradable fabrics, accepted the award for Eco Innovator of the Year, Noah Zager, Rob Johnson and Jacob Victorine noted “none of us were born here but we found community here.”
In attendance, Jermikko, 79, the first African American woman to own a retail clothing store on the Magnificent Mile, formerly located at 520 N. Michigan Ave., received a shoutout from the night’s hosts, thanking her for more than five decades in the industry. “I paved a lot of the concrete that they’re walking on tonight,” she said with a smile.
“Malcom X said ‘By any means necessary,’ Jermikko quoted, “no one wanted to hire me [in the ’60s] because I didn’t look the way they wanted.” She let purchasers with large department stores — wrongly, and with bias — assume she was just the seller, rather than the designer. “That’s when they discovered Jermikko was not Japanese, she was Blackanese!”
The final segment of the night acknowledged Barbara Bates, who was distinguished with The Lifetime Achievement Award. The accolade brought tears to her eyes once she realized the honorifics were describing her work.
Among them, she collected more than $500,000 for women’s health care, donated thousands of prom dresses to local teens, and was featured in a 2022 Chicago History Museum exhibit. Mount Sinai Hospital also named an imaging center after Bates, a breast cancer survivor.
“I’ve been hoodwinked, bamboozled,” said Bates, “ I thought I was just a judge. … My mother had a saying, ‘There are no earthly words.’ … I am in awe, speechless.”
“I would love to cry more,” she said while holding the CFA trophy, “but I have false eyelashes on!”
The Chicago Fashion Coalition, a nonprofit established in 2021 by Taylor Naughton, the director of creative strategy at Wasserman, and helmed by Chief Executive Officer Marquan Jones, communications co-lead at Chicago Global Shapers, aims to change the perception that Chicago is not a fashion center.
“Chicago’s fashion ecosystem has always thrived on community shaped by the makers, mentors and neighborhoods that uplift one another. [The Chicago Fashion Awards] is our opportunity to honor that collective impact and spotlight the talent that makes our city unmistakably its own,” Jones said in a statement.
The James Beard Awards and the Equity Jeff Awards have long celebrated the city’s food and theater communities. Perhaps in time the Chicago Fashion Awards will do the same for Chicago’s fashion scene.
Full list of Chicago Fashion Awards winners
Winners in bold.
Designer of the Year
Joshuan Aponte
Chelsea B
Maxwell Bresler
inv.sion
Ron Louis
Nickza
Sheila Rashid
Emerging Designer of the Year
Alexandra McDermott
IGO
Elly Jimenez
Tyler Morgan Studios
Jackson Napier
Steven Rousseau
Fashion Content Creator of the Year
Amy Anderson
Brenda Levesque
Buchi Okafor
Jabari Sandifer
Bayoud Twins
Atiya Walcott
Fashion Photographer of the Year
Ashley Chappell
Mastermind Foto
Chistopher Marrs
Michael Montiel
Steven Piper
Jordan Smith
Drake Sweeney
Makeup Artist of the Year
Kerre Berry
Sydney Zenon
Deja Blackwell
Melissa Musseau
Cade Pearlman
Claudia Ramos
Hair Artist of the Year
Jacob Aaron
Ryuan Johnson
AJ Jones
Model of the Year
Seoul Adams
Jiri Braxton
Sharaun Brown
Aliana Glory
Jalen Hopson
Julia Papillon
Eve Nichelle Taylor
Wardrobe Stylist of the Year
Casscellina Crededio
Ameerah Floyd
Nina Kallas
Rachel J. Penca
Brooklin Phelps
Josh Ray
Eco Innovator of the Year
All We Remember
Vanessa Arroyo
Madison Burger
Samantha Dong
Dana Todd
Lifetime Achievement
Barbara Bates
The 77 Best Dressed
Alaina Rose
Ameerah Vania
Amy Anderson
Antonio “Tone” Coleman
Ayrun Dismuke
Atiya Walcott
Brandy Penelope
Brenda Levesque
Brittany Simone
Buchi Okafor
Camille Ries
Casscellina Crededio
Chyna Tamar
Cora Violet
Corey D. Williams
Dane Twin
Daryl Layson
Dash
Destiny Arredondo
DJ Simmy
Don C
Dutch Priestly
Ease
Elijah McCarrell Bradley
Elly Jimenez
Emmanuel McCarrell Bradley
Felton Kizer
Genie Kwon
Henry Jones
Iiickey Genes
Ikram Goldman
Ioannis Adamopoulos
Jabari Sandifer
Jason Payne
Jayvon Jackson
Jesus Velasquez
Jewell Makenzie
Joey Purps
Jordan Martin
Joseph Robinson
Josh Ray
Julian Burnett
Katon Black
Kayla Dempsey
Kiara Bond
Kristen Noel
Kristopher Kites
Landon Tate
Lu
Manny Edwards
Mano
Mieka Joi
Mickey Monday
Mikkey Halsted
Najee Reed
Nicole Keenen Kramer
Nina Kallas
Prosper Bambo
Qiana Nance
Rhan Rodgers
Rikki Byrd
Robbie Coutee
Robin Richman
Ron Louis
Sam Marco
Stef Applebaum
Stephen Brisco
Sydney Zenon
Ticara Devone
Timothy Flores
Tina Kourasis
Tyuan Mathis
Vic Lloyd
Vic Mensa
Von Clark
Zo Jackson