Introducing a new Qlix! The past few weeks have been INSANE. I’ve uprooted to a new city (NYC); I’ve re-branded my business (in addition to highlighting emerging talent and innovative concepts in fashion, Qlix is focusing it’s content on the entreprenuerial spirit within the fashion industry), and I’ve finally crossed over into the light…the Tumblr light that is. The Qlix List is now the Editor’s Letter on Tumblr. Plus there are also several projects that we are working on, that will debut within the coming months, from a stationary line to the anticipated launch of Qlix ISSUE 04.

So please forgive us for our delay in blog postings and updates…see below how sad Pierre, the dog-at-large is about such misgivings…

And don’t forget to check out the new Qlix blog on Tumblr…EDITOR’S LETTER.

xoxo Tenisha

Read the complete post on New York magazine’s site…HERE.

cover styled by Nicola Formichetti...HOTNESS!!!!!

images copped from selectism.com and b-listed.blogspot.com

With the summer solstice approaching next week, Qlix Magazine couldn’t keep these emerging designers a secret any longer. At the end of May our friends at Laundry Magazine hosted a fashion show at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago. With designers and flowers in full bloom, the crowd helped support Flashes of Hope, a nonprofit organization that changes the way children with cancer see themselves through the art of photography and raises money for pediatric cancer research. What could be better than the harmony of fundraising and fashion?

Designer Ryan Pickle

The show featured collections from 14 of Chicago’s design graduates but the presentation wasn’t amateur. Time Out Chicago magazine’s nightlife editor Joshua Ferguson spun his turntables as these designers let their works grace a lengthy runway amidst suspended botanicals and a wrought-iron glass dome. These young designers deserve due credit for their tedious tailoring and presented their work in the following order: Kelsey Kreiling, Bethany Coffin, Elizabeth Soles, Nicole Johnson, Brette VanKlombenberg, Martha Brummett, Ignacio Maldonaldo, Katie DiFiore, Ashley Totka, Christina Yi, Birgitte Norsen, Kyle Spicer and Lisa Faulkner, and Ryan Pickle.

Designer Kelsey Kreiling

There were feathers and flowers, leather and lace, and among all of these mediums inspiration flowed the best—it was seen in the craftwork and the faces of emerging talent. Each design had something unique to offer.

Designer Bethany Coffin

Designer Nicole Johnson

We loved Kelsey Kreiling’s, Editor in Chief of Laundry Magazine and contributing designer, seamless combination of light draping and thick knits. Bethany Coffin’s rosette bandeau and high-waisted powder blue pants made me want to spend restless days meandering through green markets and laying in the sun. Nicole Johnson deviated from the norm with her bone-structured, hooded evening gown. Ignacio Maldonaldo made us shift with envy as his model strutted a silk body piece and shoulder, flower cape. Ryan Pickle’s indigo lace and tangerine red was feminine but bold.

Qlix Magazine appreciated the work of all the designers that showcased their work on the runway and cheers to our friends at Laundry Magazine for hosting a wonderful event. It served as an opportunity for the creative community to come together for a greater good.

–Laura Lazzara, Chicago Editor

Images courtesy of Karen Wade Photography

Film courtesy of Ben Mahoney Productions

Read below.

Diego Della Valle

Everyone has to start somewhere. For example, Barneys New York founder Barney Pressman funded his first store in 1923 with the $500 he raised by pawning his wife’s engagement ring. In this column, we talk with the fashion industry’s luminaries about how they got their businesses off the ground. In other words: the Big Bang, or how it all began.

Read the entire article HERE.

image courtesy of Barneys New York

Thursday, April 21, 2011 was definitely a day where being at the right place at the right time proved visually beneficial. Pierre Garroudi creatively thinking of ways to draw attention to his lovely collection, craftly put on a Haute Couture flash mob fashion show titled: PIERRE GARROUDI taking over LONDON. This flash mob show and strut consisted of 20 models posing, dancing, and catwalking from “The London Bridge” tube station to “The Charing Cross” tube station and properly ending at “The Trafalgar Square” tube station in front of the iconic Trafalgar Square. All the models were dressed in red. One of our resident London photographers, Paul Blundell, captured the festive show via the images below….

Pierre Garroudi

Pierre Garroudi

Pierre Garroudi

Pierre Garroudi

Pierre Garroudi

Pierre Garroudi

all images courtesy of

l-r: Nate Voronyak, Amanda HIll, Brendan Bunce

l - r: Brendan Bunce, Alex Cruz, Noah Doss, Colin Ryan, Matt Marino, Norbert Isaacs, James Doherty, Uriah Harris, Jose Mendoza, Nate Voronyak

l-r: Marta Traskevych and Katie Carswell

After walking up three flights of stairs in high heels at the LaSalle Power Company before realizing that there was an elevator directly to the right of the entrance, I found my way inside Factor Women and Chosen Management’s fashion show on Thursday, April 21st showcasing their new models, aptly called A New Generation of Faces. The clothes were sharp, the music was bangin’ and the crowd was having a blast. Factor Women staff members were super friendly and helpful, and I was lucky enough to get in a few questions with two of their newest models:

Qlix (Melina Jancovic): What motivates you?
Alyssa Christian (AC): The future, the possibility. Seeing my friends and seeing fellow models become something and have a lot of success. That’s what gives me hope and that’s what motivates me – the success of my friends and people that I’m really close to.
Alex Ingram (AI): I don’t know. I just get up and I do what I want to do that day. Sometimes it’s reading, sometimes it’s going for a run, going to work out. That’s the nice thing about this job is that it gives you a little more time to focus on you. I just get up and follow wherever I go, I guess.

Why did you decide to work with Factor Women?
AC: Because I love them! They have a really good reputation with their models and with the success they’ve been able to bring their models. And they’re really a wonderful group of people.
AI: I met someone at another event who is represented by David Love, my current agent, and then I came in to meet David and just absolutely fell in love with the guy, he’s such a character. He made the decision really easy.

How would you describe the ideal modeling job?
AI: I think it’s great when the client has a vision for you, but gives you a lot of creative latitude, as well. So, it’s kind of like you’re working together to create something – it’s not usually about the clothes – something with a little more artistic depth to it where the client lets you work and they have a vision themselves.

Are you comfortable with all the travel that is involved with modeling?
AC: It’s definitely something that’s necessary, so if you want to be a successful model, you have to be willing to travel. And traveling can always be fun, with your parents, with your friends. So yeah, I’m open to travel.

Name one person that you would love to be friends with.
AC: Elie Saab, so he could design my prom gown.
AI: James Franco. What another character! James Franco or Gregory House from House. The latter is fictional, but I love characters, and those two people certainly have personality for days.

Who do you respect the most?
AC: I would have to say my mom. She works constantly for everyone else, always putting herself second and her self-sacrifice is truly respectable.
AI: My mother, of course. She’s the one letting me do this, more than anything – because what mom says goes. She made sure that I finished school first, but I gotta respect that she’s letting me do what I need to do.

Where do you see yourself in a year?
AC: Hopefully modeling. Doing a lot of print work and still being with Factor.
AI: Hopefully finishing up law school, and then maybe moving to a bigger market, like New York or Miami and just continue getting lucky and booking some jobs.
— Melina Jancovic

Nikayla Novak

Adam Tiltz

Lizzy Chen

Allie Fosheim

Munene

Factor Women Finale

All party images courtesy of Vitaliy Radchenko.

All show images courtesy of Dennis Lee.

For more information on Factor Women modeling and talent agency go HERE.

For more information on Chosen Management go HERE.

As you could imagine my expectations were heightened on the rooftop of The Wit with sprawling urban views; however, they were seamlessly met as we meandered our way through lux textiles, carefully tailored designs, and categorized trends. The tangible collection deviated from my digital perception of the brand.

Each rolling rack was divided by trend lines: PsychoBilly, Thrift, Glamrock, Bavaria, and Unique. PsychoBilly offered bold prints, silkscreen windowpanes and sapphire jacquard. Thrift is the mainline trend showcasing Grecian pleating, soft chiffon, light lace; it’s vintage-inspired reminiscent of the 40’s post-war Britain. Glamrock is self explanatory—shaggy coats, feathers and leather—imagine 70s grunge. Bavaria is folklore inspired with rich colors like emerald and maroon accompanied by heavy knits and velvet. And finally Unique, as the company’s progressive collection this trend line is constantly evolving and paying homage to the cities it graces, creating a unique print simply for Chicago, you have to see this.

Of course the flagship retail will feature the TOPMAN Collection for gentlemen, which is just as thoughtfully crafted as the TOPSHOP line. The store will also offer sizes for petite, tall, maternity and will feature accessories, lingerie, and make up. Did I mention that there will be a shoe lounge alongside on site DJs and personal shoppers? As the biggest supporters of the U.K. design community and proponents of trend-oriented wear, we cannot wait for this emerging brand to open its doors to Chicago in September.

UNIQUE: Chicago Print

–Laura Lazzara, Contributing Editor

Read more at iGNANT

images courtesy of iGNANT

“ Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.” — Ira Glass

This really hit home to me and is so true that it’s frightening, yet exciting to know that feeling this way is normal. So to all my readers, those of us who are doing creative BIG and small things….read it, be it, BELIEVE it.

xoxo

Fashion Designers-FRONT ROW FROM L: Chloe Flora, Ruth Reyes, Jacqueline Amezcua, Katya Flores, & Jiayin Zheng BACK ROW FROM L: Dana DuPree, Johnny Hicks, Sadie Smith, Amy Hilber, Kelly Coll, Kristin Gillespie, & Omotola Akinbiyi

Despite getting lost on the way to Columbia College’s Red Hot Runway fashion show on March 29th, I made it with 10 minutes to spare before the models took to the runway wearing red dresses created by fifteen student designers. The evening served as a pre-event to Chicago’s Red Dress Party taking place on April 16, 2011, which benefits AIDS Foundation of Chicago and Equality Project. From avant-garde to more traditional gowns, each dress was amazingly created within three weeks. The winner, Amy Hilber, and one other contestant, Sadie Smith, had the misfortune of interviewing with me using a style I like to call, “Human Resources Power Trip Method”, a method that combines asking a mix of questions that will promote answers with useful information, along with questions that Human Resource managers love to ask that can’t possibly provide any details that could be useful in determining if the applicant is suitable for the desired position. I’m sure you’ve been asked asinine questions before in a job interview? I can’t possibly be the only one who has thought that the interviewer was on recreational drugs at that exact moment…

Qlix (Melina Jancovic): Sell your dress to me.

Amy Hilber (AH): My dress is probably the most comfortable thing you’ve ever worn – shorts under a slinky skirt, with a pleated top and a zipper up the side.
Sadie Smith (SS): My dress was inspired by a firefly – it was the one with a metallic vest and a contorted shape with the circles. I chose a firefly because I thought about how AIDS was spread and how we spread it to each and how bugs do the same thing, so I wanted to do a positive spin on it. So it’s about spreading light, spreading awareness because that’s what this event was about, and I think it turned out really well.

Qlix: What special skills or abilities did you need to learn that you never thought you would need to know as a fashion design student?

AH: The thing that I’ve learned that is probably the most difficult for me is how to dress other people. You grow up dressing yourself, but having to know the kinds of things other people want is probably the skill that I needed to learn.
SS: I am not a big hand sewer and I became one this past week. I’m also an interdisciplinary major in Business so I don’t have some of the technical skills, so it’s a lot of trial and error, but it’s a learning game for me. It’s fun, it’s experimental.

Qlix: If you were to win an Olympic Gold medal for anything, what would it be?

AH: Probably for cooking. I love cooking and baking. I love making soup.
SS: It would have to be something kinda random that no one really knows about. If there was a trampoline sport, that would be it. Yeah, definitely the trampoline.

Qlix: Which superhero or villain do you relate to the best?

AH: You know, it would probably be Batman because he likes to stay out of the spotlight and do goods under the cover of darkness.
SS: Oh man, I don’t even watch that much TV. Hmmmmmmm…someone really conspicuous – that doesn’t say much! But someone who has a lot of power. Who is someone like that? I’m not into superheroes. I would want the power to switch bodies with someone standing in front of you and to get inside their mind.

Qlix: Fashion design students should definitely not ___.

AH: Sell out.
SS: Be negative towards each other.

Qlix: Describe the last time you were inspired to create.

AH: Well, I assisted a costume designer on a show, and one of the pieces in the show – it was a collaborative piece with this woman who used stilts to make a spider character, and from that I was really inspired to do some sculptural work, so I’m branching out from fashion design a little.
SS: Just this morning seeing a bridge shape inspired me. I’m really into shapes. Repetitive shapes – making something over and over again in a garment. I’m inspired more by objects than an actual dress.

Qlix: If you were shrunk down to the size of a pencil and stuck in a blender, how would you escape?

AH: How would I get out?! This is a terrible, terrible question. I think the adrenaline would make me sprout wings and I would rise up into the top of the blender and push off the lid.
SS: Maybe lodge myself so it couldn’t turn, and when they’re dumping it to fix it I would fall out.

Qlix: Where do you see yourself one year from now?

AH: My main focus is costume design, so one year from now I would like to be a known costume designer in the city and doing work for some of the bigger theaters. I’m also starting my own lingerie line, so I would like to be selling lingerie.
SS: One year from now? I think about this all the time and every time it’s a new thought. Hopefully either traveling or studying somewhere abroad with my sister, and finding and studying a unique culture to inspire my fashion.

Qlix: What is your biggest weakness?

AH: My biggest difficulty is meeting new people. I’m very bad at meeting new people. I like the comfort of people I already know.
SS: Being scared to fail. I think people don’t try new things because they’re scared to fail and I think that you just got to get over it and do it.

Qlix: Dear diary, tonight’s fashion show ___.

AH: Was completely incredible. I was so blown away by how many people showed up, I didn’t expect that at all, and how amazing all the people were who organized it, and how kind they were. It was wonderful, nobody lost their cool, and everything went according to plan. It was wonderful.
SS: Was awesome.

Eve Rydberg (Agency Galatea), Amy Hilber (Designer, Red Hot Runway winner)

Sarah Ryan (model), Sadie Smith (Designer)

Clara Wong (Agency Galatea), Jacqueline Amezcua (Designer)

Charde Moore (Agency Galatea), Kelly Coll (Designer)

Leah Lehr (Agency Galatea), Chloe Flora (Designer, Red Hot Runway 2nd place )

Andrea Cronberg (Agency Galatea), Russell Yost (Designer, Red Hot Runway, 3rd Place)

Eve Rydberg (Agency Galatea), Kristin Gillespie (Designer)

Clara Wong (Agency Galatea), Jiayin Zheng (Designer)

Sarah Ryan (Agency Galatea), Omotola Akinbiyi (Designer)

Sadie Smith

Amy Hilber, Chloe Flora, Russell Yost (1st, 2nd, 3rd place winners)

images courtesy of photographer, Eddie Ellis