Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/861960
Chicago designer Maria Pinto is among several local fashion figures embracing denim for fall, with looks like this Dunaway denim dress, $325, Hutton skinny jean, $295, and Streep denim wrap, $295. MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 85 PHOTOGRAPHY BY YUYA OHASHI CHICAGO BLUES THANKS TO A TRIO OF WINDY CITY LABELS, CHICAGO'S DENIM SCENE IS HAVING A REAL MOMENT. BY MURAT OZTASKIN With our history as a city of workers, Chicagoans have had a long affinity with the consum- mate workwear: blue jeans. Now, three Windy City brands are reestablishing denim as a local staple, producing native pieces for the city's modern workforce—and reenergizing Chicago's manufacturing industry while they're at it. Back in 1926, 25 percent of all apparel sold in the US was made in Chicago, notes Rob McMillan, 33, who last year established Dearborn Denim & Apparel in a former industrial laundry in Garfield Park. There, Dearborn's 17 employees knock out some 110 pairs of handcrafted stretch jeans a day using 100-percent domestic materials ($59–$64), with slim, tailored, and relaxed fits for men and skinny and straight-leg for women. Dark and light blue, black, and khaki washes are joined this fall by shorts, a jean jacket, and more women's fits. Manufacturing its own clothing and selling directly to customers—via Dearborn's website (dearborndenim.us) and new Hyde Park storefront (1504 E. 53rd St., 872-465-3188), which opened in May—makes premium denim affordable, says McMillan, a North Side native who, frustrated with the denim options available to him, left his career as a bond trader to "build a better apparel brand." "We're STYLE OF THE CIT Y