As summer months fade into fall, it’s easy to get a case of the blues. But new denim-based boutique City Blue Denim & Apparel is here to prove that’s not always such a bad thing.
Celebrating their grand opening November 6, owner Mallory Ulaszek says her Old Town shop is one part rock and one part roll. “[The store] is basically revolved around being… a denim and simple apparel boutique where it’s casual and comfortable and it has a little bit of a rock ‘n’ roll edge,” she says. “I carry styles that a lot of places don’t carry.”
Like the celeb-driven brand Genetic, for example. “It’s a big denim player right now,” Ulaszek notes of the high-end label. “It’s something that’s a little more edgy and different.”
Taking the Midwest notion of denim for comfort and mixing it with a New York brand of denim couture, Ulaszek’s store is a blue-jean nirvana. With styles that morph America’s wardrobe staple into leggings, leather and even lace prints, Ulaszek wants to give denim its due. “Denim’s becoming a lot more of a power player when it comes to high fashion,” she says. “Denim can be [really] fun.”
Old records and vintage graphic tees complete the store’s rockin’ vibe, while complementary jackets, tops and sassy accessories keep City Blue from being entirely one-dimensional. “We carry a lot of things that range from simple white tees to leather jackets,” Ulaszek says.
Favoring brands like Ella Moss and Junk Food, Ulaszek says she “[doesn’t] really break the $200 mold much. I wanted to make it accessible to the customer. You think the economy’s suffering, [but] quite honestly, people are still here. They still want to shop!
“The idea behind the store is that fashion, music and art, they’re always changing, so the store will always be changing, always adapting,” Ulaszek says. The name, perhaps, says it all—”blue jeans, blues scene, music, everything blue, color, art, denim, music—everything’s kind of intertwined. It’s what you want it to mean.” (Nicole Briese)
City Blue Apparel & Denim, 1444 N. Wells St., (312)664-222
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As summer months fade into fall, it’s easy to get a case of the blues. But new denim-based boutique City Blue Denim & Apparel is here to prove that’s not always such a bad thing.
Old records and vintage graphic tees complete the store’s rockin’ vibe, while complementary jackets, tops and sassy accessories keep City Blue from being entirely one-dimensional. “We carry a lot of things that range from simple white tees to leather jackets,” Ulaszek says.
