Glamorama pulls off style with a twang
Just one year after Macy's took over Chicago's beloved Marshall Field's, the retail chain asserted it might have the Windy City in its signature red star-studded shopping bag after all.
Macy's tagged this year's Glamorama, its annual music and style charity event, as "The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful" celebrating an epic American tale, with good and bad colliding in a tragic test of chic.
Country and couture was a surprising theme for a city that prides itself on high style. But the audience at the Chicago Theater proved ready for -- or at least curious about -- some hee-haw after all.
The red carpet show was emceed by Clinton Kelly, TLC's co-host of "What Not To Wear." Celebrities included actors Debi Mazar, Trevor Morgan and Jason Gerhardt, Iron Chef Cat Cora and DJ Ruckus.
Headlined by country/rap artist Cowboy Troy, fellow MuzikMafia members Gretchen Wilson and Big and Rich also performed.
Amy Robinson of Crystal Lake brought her 13-year-old daughter Emily and seven other teenage girls to the dress rehearsal Friday.
"These girls aren't country (music) listeners," Robinson said, but they still seem to know a lot of songs by Gretchen Wilson and Big and Rich. "Maybe this theme isn't such a crazy idea after all."
The show opened with a montage of cowboy movie scenes, followed by a quick bang of fireworks as Big & Rich came onstage. The duo opened with "Loud," as girls in white tank tops, jeans and cowboy hats appeared behind them.
When models clad in Donna Karan took the runway, it became clear that country music provided an ideal beat for the stick-thin women to "walk the line." Clad in old-Hollywood inspired belted dresses, patent leather pumps and feathery headpieces, the models' broader smiles, cockier poses and more rhythmic struts were evident.
Gretchen Wilson looked relaxed and casual in a T-shirt, rhinestone belt and faded jeans, singing "You Don't Have to Go Home," a sharp contrast to Cowboy Troy's "Hick Chick," which interspersed country drawl and rap.
Temperley London's women's collection, paraded onstage during Troy's performance, consisted of bright pleated silk dresses and pencil skirts paired with opaque hosiery, with the models clapping and shaking their hips all the while.
When shirtless male models danced to Big and Rich's "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy," the audience hooted, hollered and whipped out cell-phone cameras.
This year's show raised $400,000 for the Art Institute of Chicago, funding special events and community outreach programs in the city.
"(The theme) was certainly different, but I thought it was excellent," Susan McLean of Barrington Hills said after the dress rehearsal. "I've gone to most of the past shows, and this year, the fashion struck me as very wearable for average people."