About Illinois Fashion History
Illinois Fashion History is an independent historical preservation and storytelling initiative dedicated to researching, documenting, and sharing the people, organizations, businesses, and industry that have shaped fashion in Illinois.
Mission
Its purpose is to help ensure that important stories are not lost. Illinois Fashion History focuses on creating meaningful public records through publications, research projects, interviews, and other forms of historical storytelling.
What IFH does
Projects may include books, organizational histories, oral histories, articles, exhibitions, events and other research-driven work that makes Illinois fashion history more visible and accessible.
About Jess Crane
Illinois Fashion History is led by Jess Crane, a multidisciplinary artist, designer, and business owner whose background includes fashion design, apparel development, and creative research. The project is housed under Jess Crane Design LLC.
Current focus
Current work includes the AIBI 40th Anniversary Book, an in-progress publication about Apparel Industry Board, Inc. Chicago and its role in the city’s apparel and sewn-products community.
