By Tamara Jenkins 

 Chicago’s best and brightest in fashion descended on Millennium Park for Fashion Focus Chicago 2010. 

Fashion Focus Chicago, in its sixth year, was held October 18 through 24, featured shopping events, industry seminars, and showcased the city’s top designers with seven runway shows including Dress Code and StyleChicago.com Presents the Art of Fashion 2010. 

The top students from Chicago’s fashion design schools made their runway debuts during Dress Code. Standouts included bold menswear from  Katie King (School of the Art Institute of Chicago);  long, flowing open back neutral dresses from Sara Perez (Columbia College Chicago); sexy black balloon pants and bottom fringed sheath dresses from Amanda-Michelle Olson (the Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago);  and  beautifully colorful gowns from Toni Pescatorre (the International Academy of Design and Technology). 

New to this year’s event was a showing of the four finalists from the Chicago History Museum’s FashionNext Generation competition. The winner was Brenda Beavers (the Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago). Beavers winning hat and handbag designs are now on display as part of the I Do! Chicago Ties the Knot exhibition at the museum.

StyleChicago.com Presents the Art of Fashion 2010featured a preview of Spring 2011 fashions from established Chicago designers including the sporty sophisticated and versatile knits from eco-friendly Lara Miller; colorful, Oscar worthy gowns influenced by1950’s French couture from Elda de La Rosa and ultra-urban chic styles from Borris Powell. Kirk James Collection, Laura Lein and Paul Sisti were also featured.

The event also included three award-winning designers in an emerging artist category: Hector-Javier MonArrez, Fraley Le (featured in 2009’s Dress Code show) and Lydia Wawrzyniak. For more information on Fashion Focus Chicago, please visit www.Chicagofashionresource.com

Photos by Raymond Boyd and Dan Locke