Chicago designer Katrin Schnabl steps confidently into a new season with her latest collection celebrating the female form.
“This piece drapes around the body,” says Schnabl of the Vieve top, which she customizes by tucking the neck differently or adding sleeves.
A trained dancer turned fashion designer, Katrin Schnabl continues to celebrate fluidity while crafting womenswear in her Old Town atelier. “When you look at the designs, they’re shaped in a way that really moves the eye, that really engages the space,” says the statuesque German-born designer, whose draped Vieve top (shown) from her spring 2016 collection is a testament to an empowering notion of movement.
“Let’s say your hips are a little bigger,” poses Schnabl. “You wear a piece like this, [and] nobody [notices] because your eye dances around, so it’s something that, when they put it on, it activates them: ‘Oh, I can wear this.’ That’s exactly the feeling that I want, the sense of: ‘That’s me. I can do this.’” Heather flame Vieve top ($390) and Dutch blue Margaux skirt ($690) available at Chalk Boutique, 2611 Prairie Ave., Evanston, 847-424-0011