I hung out with Connie Perez, interior fashion designer and owner of Aesthetics boutique in Crystal Lake, and a bunch of her budding fashion designers yesterday afternoon.
Perez offers sewing classes for all ages in addition to interior design services and cute items in her store. Some of the students I met yesterday ranged in age from elementary schoolers to high school students, who come to Aesthetics for sewing classes and this summer’s Fashion Camp programs.
Amid the colorful fabric and whirl of the small sewing machines, Perez was instructing students and overseeing a dozen or so different projects. Some of the younger students were working on pinning their pajama pants, while the older students were looking for inspiration in fashion magazines and sketching designs.
Perez organized the day to show off the skills that will be on display at the Project Raueway fashion show, which will be part of the FOCUS Cultural Youth Day on Aug. 23 at the Raue Center for the Arts in Crystal Lake. The event will combine visual art, performing arts and Perez’s fashion show.
One of the features in the fashion show will be newspaper dresses made by the students in the summer Fashion Camps. The first round of dresses made from newspapers and various fabrics were completed this week by the group of four young designers who incorporated their personalities and hobbies into their personally designed dresses. Perez says the fashion show will feature 25 newspaper dresses, and possibly one dog dressed in a newspaper design.
The goal of Project Raueway is for her talented students to create designs inspired by local Crystal Lake businesses. McHenry County Magazine will feature a write-up on the FOCUS Cultural Youth Day in an upcoming edition, but it was great to see the creative talents of some of the local youth who will have their creations on display in August.
[...] County Magazine article showcasing the children creating their fashion designs and check out a sneak peek of Project [...]