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And while the Bezos connection dominated headlines in the days running up to the Met Gala\u2019s 78th year, themed \u201cFashion Is Art,\u201d Chicago offered its own twist on the theme. Here, the assignment was to choose an artwork by a Chicagoan and translate it into the look for the night: \u201cformal to conceptual, playful to profound.\u201d<\/p>\n
Suggestions included painter Kerry James Marshall\u2019s \u201cSchool of Beauty, School of Culture,\u201d graffiti artist Sentrock\u2019s \u201cI\u2019m Still Listening,\u201d multimedia artist Nananko Kono\u2019s \u201cHangry\u201d and Nick Cave\u2019s soundsuits.<\/a> And while in Chicago, the event did not have the same celebrity co-chairs as in New York \u2014 Anna Wintour, Beyonc\u00e9, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams \u2014 tickets for the local event were more accessible to obtain than their namesake and started at $50, the original price to attend the 1948 Met.<\/p>\n The more than 300 tickets sold out days in advance, and among the first to arrive was Terry Verdoscia, 65, of East Lake View, dressed in a hand-painted canvas and petticoat with paint splatter as accessory. Verdoscia, a fine artist and designer of BellaCh\u014d sleeves said, \u201cI am art, I do art, this is me. I took it fairly literally.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Terry Verdoscia wore a hand-painted canvas and petticoat.<\/p>\n Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n Danny Dunson, 50, of Hyde Park, who is the director of curatorial affairs and arts education at the DuSable Black History and Education Center, wore a shirt from the brothers Jack and Nick Cave\u2019s 2022 \u201cColor Is Fashion\u201d exhibition. Dunson curated that show.<\/p>\n \u201cThe art theme is really great because we have such amazing artists,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n To further explore artists\u2019 impact on our world, Dunson recommended making a visit to the ongoing \u201cParis in Black\u201d exhibition<\/a> that he curated at the DuSable. It explores the \u201cprofound journeys of Black artists, writers, performers and intellectuals who found freedom, inspiration and transformation,\u201d he said, \u201cestablishing Paris as an essential site of the Black Renaissance.\u201d<\/p>\n Partygoer Lauren Lein, of Streeterville, made her outfit to reference famed late designer Karl Lagerfeld, complete with a matching fluffy white stuffed animal. \u201cYou know he left his whole estate to the cat,\u201d quipped Lein, a fashion designer with more than 25 years experience selling to retailers such as Neiman Marcus and Marshall Field\u2019s.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sherrill Bodine wore a dress designed by her friend Lauren Lein.<\/p>\n Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n Lein also made her friend Sherrill Bodine\u2019s dress. Bodine remarked that her dress reminded her of a Monet flower. The tiny hummingbirds in her updo were a nod to her late husband, Sean.<\/p>\n Daniella Ashibuogwu, 32, of Streeterville, the chief operating officer of the coalition, also took influence from canvas, but hers was raw, unpainted and ready to become something new. \u201cI feel a blank slate at this point in my life. I took on this new leadership position, started business school, got a new job, I\u2019m transforming,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Daniella Ashibuogwu, the chief operating officer of the Chicago Fashion Coalition, wore a dress inspired by a raw canvas.<\/p>\n Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n The at-capacity Chez Event Venue was draped in rich hues of red and designed by Jacob Lee, Chicago Fashion Coalition art director. Sheer red fabric marked a cozy sitting area, red roses cascaded from the glass staircase, and red Chicago stars dotted the walls. <\/p>\n \u201cRed has been a really important color to me this year,\u201d said Lee, who\u2019s 28. \u201cWe\u2019re in a time period when we need to reflect on things in the world. Red is intensity, danger. I don\u2019t want to shy away from that. It\u2019s my role as an artist to speak out.\u201d<\/p>\n Fashion Coalition President Marquan Jones, 28, of Austin, wore a custom suit of diverse patterns and finishes made by local upcycling designer Jen Restyle.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m repping [Chicago artist] Theaster Gates<\/a> and the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi,\u201d said Jones. \u201cWe don\u2019t get to choose our bodies, but we get to choose how we decorate them.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Chicago Fashion Coalition President Marquan Jones wore a custom suit of diverse patterns and finishes made by local upcycling designer Jen Restyle.<\/p>\n Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n The hallway and stairs ascending became a makeshift photo studio, and guests graciously tiptoed around each pop-up shoot, noting when to take an extra-long step to miss a hem.<\/p>\n Every few feet, a new photo shoot erupted, ecstatically cheered on by friends and strangers alike. Influencers and subscribers traded contact details and design inspiration.<\/p>\n Although the New York City event was broadcast on larger-than-life screens within the venue, the attendees here only had eyes for their fellow Chicagoans.<\/p>\n The coalition has been making a marked effort to inject life into the fashion scene in the city since its founding by Taylor Naughton in 2021, including creating the inaugural fashion awards.<\/p>\n Without access to multimillion dollar fashion archives like so many celebrities, guests chose to dig into their creativity.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kendall Hicks, whose outfit was inspired by the \u2018Lizzie McGuire Movie\u2019 made her entire outfit.<\/p>\n Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n Kendall Hicks, 24, of Beverly, made her entire outfit herself.<\/p>\n \u201cThe top is cotton that I manipulated with epoxy. I was inspired by the [2003] \u2018Lizzie McGuire Movie\u2019 igloo dress and wanted to take that down to the bare bones but elevate it,\u201d said Hicks.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Married couple Darnell E. Nolin and Tiffany McPherson-Nolin incorporated color blocking into their outfits. <\/p>\n Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n Married couple Tiffany McPherson-Nolin and Darnell E. Nolin, both 37, of Frankfort, said they didn\u2019t initially plan on coordinating their outfits, but various aspects of color blocking took form in both their ensembles.<\/p>\n Many also took the chance to have fun with their fashionwear. Raymond Dinh, 24, of Edgewater, said, \u201cI decided to come as my most authentic self, a couch potato. All recycled and thrifted materials that I dirtied up, musty but glamorous.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Milliner Weather Clark (left) was inspired by the dinosaurs at the Field Museum. Kelcie Beene asked painter Chistopher Trejo to paint her dress with influences from multimedia print artist Swoon and Frida Kahlo.<\/p>\n Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n Milliner Weather Clark, 40, of Bridgeport, completely teal with matching fascinator and dino handbag thought about her favorite place in the city, the dinosaurs at The Field Museum. Her friend and neighbor Kelcie Beene, also 40 and of Bridgeport, asked painter Chistopher Trejo to paint her dress with influences from multimedia print artist Swoon and Frida Kahlo.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Showstopper Kiara Bond said she \u201cwanted to look like a big hairball, but fun.\u201d<\/p>\n Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n All night, wherever Kiara Bond stopped, a crowd gathered. From shoulder to knee, she was enveloped in kanekolan and high-gloss gold, soft curves and coiled curls. Bond, 35, of the South Loop, had created her outfit in the last 24 hours. No matter \u2014 she became a showstopper. Inspired by her career as a barber, she \u201cwanted to look like a big hairball, but fun. … Hair can be anything!\u201d<\/p>\n When DJ Ndulgnce cued up hometown heroes Rufus and Chaka Khan\u2019s \u201cAin\u2019t Nobody (Loves Me Better),\u201d groovers descended on the dance floor, including a man in a Chiquita Banana costume. The city\u2019s most fashionable \u2014 and the banana \u2014 kept grooving into the night.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The fashion assignment of the night was to choose an artwork by a Chicagoan and translate it into the look: \u201cformal to conceptual, playful to profound.\u201d<\/p>\n Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n![\"Terry](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778056889_533_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Sherrill](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778056891_715_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Daniella](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778056892_803_.jpeg\")
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<\/p>\n![\"Kendall](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778056894_423_.jpeg\")
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<\/p>\n![\"Milliner](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778056899_124_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Kiara](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778056900_264_.jpeg\")
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