Chicago Latino designers make name for themselves

July 23, 2008
By Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz    

Chicago fashion designer Anna Fong knows a thing or two about designing for curves.

Rifling through a rack in her Pilsen showroom, she pulls out a teal mock-turtleneck sweater dress — the kind of clingy frock that normally might send the hip-and-thigh-conscious running for the A-line skirt — and points to the generous cut she designed in the hips. "This dress does not look good if you don't have [a rear end]," Fong said.

Sometimes it takes a curvy Latina to understand the importance of designing with an ample rear in mind.

Fong, a Humboldt Park native of Guatemalan and Chinese descent, represents a burgeoning segment of Chicago's fashion community: the Latino designer.

As Chicago strives to boost its fashion profile, the city's Latino fashion designers are enjoying a particularly bright moment in the spotlight.

Fong, 30, last summer beat out hundreds of applicants from across the U.S. to win AOL Latino's first Fashionista competition, an online reality contest. Another Chicago designer, 26-year-old Horacio Nieto, took the top prize this year.

Fong and Nieto both will show at this fall's Chicago Latino Fashion Week, Oct. 22-Nov. 2.

And last spring, the producers of Chicago Latino Fashion Week launched the first Chicago Latino Fashion Designer Competition; the winners will showcase their designs at fashion week.

"It's been an exciting year for Latino designers," said Cesar Rolon, president of marketing firm Imagen Consultants and the executive producer of Chicago Latino Fashion Week. "We've opened a lot of doors."

In the cutthroat fashion industry where success depends as much on contacts, publicity and money as raw talent, the help is appreciated.

Nieto said he was toiling in relative obscurity before he was asked to show his menswear collection, Arlo, at Chicago Latino Fashion Week last year.

"That helped me a lot to get my name out there," said Nieto, who is of Mexican ancestry.

Latino consumers made up the bulk of the 671 people who attended the event's main runway show. The turnout was "overwhelming," triple what organizers expected, said designer James De Colon.

"It's not that the fashion itself is targeted at Latinos," said De Colon, who is Puerto Rican. "It's that so much of the Latino community did not realize that we existed and had never had the opportunity to see a fashion show."

The fashion industry is becoming increasingly diverse, said Margaret Hayes, president of Fashion Group International, a New York-based non-profit.

The bigger challenge facing designers is that they're from Chicago, Hayes said. "Chicago is definitely building its fashion presence, but if you only show in Chicago and don't show in New York, it's a little tough to get the international recognition," she said.

Chicago has been trying hard to make a name for itself on the runway. The fourth Fashion Focus, Chicago's fashion week, will take place Oct. 1-8.

"The more top-quality fashion events that we have highlighting the talent here, the better," said Melissa Gamble, director of fashion arts and events with the city's Department of Cultural Affairs.

Source: Chicago Tribune