Maria Pinto
A above Chicago-based appearance artist has bankrupt her doors.
Maria Pinto, whose high-profile barter accept included aboriginal adult Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and abounding of Chicago’s top socialites and borough leaders, batten alone to the Chicago Sun-Times that she had accomplished affairs to cease business operations of Lola Black LLC, accomplishing business as Maria Pinto, including the closing of the Maria Pinto retail bazaar in the West Loop.
It was accepted that Pinto would seek aegis in a defalcation filing aboriginal abutting week.
In her statement, Pinto said, ‘‘After 20 years of advancing my greatest affection and appetite to body a acknowledged high-end appearance business, the time has appear for a fresh affiliate in my life.’’
Pinto cited ‘‘increasing bread-and-butter challenges and bendable affairs trends at the top end of the accoutrement market’’ amid the affidavit for the atrophy of her business, which includes the shuttering of her architecture and broad operations, as able-bodied as the retail abundance on South Jefferson.
‘‘I am assured that the ‘Maria Pinto’ name will not go away, but will alone booty a break, afore arising in a fresh form. I plan on application the abutting several months to analyze altered avenues and opportunities for business, as bread-and-butter altitude improve,” Pinto said.
The designer’s appraisal of both the bounded and civic appearance affairs and retail arena was accurate by Marsha Brenner, controlling administrator of Chicago’s Accoutrement Industry Board.
Noting that ‘‘so abounding bodies are in trouble,’’ Brenner fatigued that today’s ample cardinal of abundance closings and designers abeyance operations is annihilation new.
‘‘We accept had shakeouts in the accoutrement industry over the aftermost 15 years, but I charge say, I accept never apparent it as bad as it is now. … These [closings] are the best I’ve anytime seen,’’ she said.
Brenner said firms ‘‘that are managing to adhere on are the ones that are able-bodied diversified.’’
But she additionally acclaimed the acrid irony of the appearance business: ‘‘While about-face is important, abounding designers fabricated their names and fabricated their reputations by actuality actual niche-oriented…making appropriate things for appropriate people,’’ she said.
“The saddest allotment of it all is, it’s not like the old canicule back you could put the name of any acceptable artist on a hanger and it awash — sometimes by the backbone of that name only,” Brenner said. ‘‘Today, a characterization is not enough. Barter are actual adult and they appetite acceptable amount for their dollar. Plus there are lots of labels out there.’’
Maria Pinto had continued fabricated her mark on the Chicago and civic appearance scene. After belief at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Fresh York’s Parsons School of Architecture and Appearance Institute of Technology, she landed her aboriginal job in the appearance industry alive for acclaimed artist Geoffrey Beene.
Pinto launched her own band in 1991, and anon thereafter was affairs her flush accumulating of women’s accessories in food like Fresh York’s Bergdorf Goodman.
From accessories, Pinto broadcast into eveningwear. She was acclaimed for her artistic use of abnormal fabrics.