Sweety 3 Lovely: OUT 993--FEATURE BITZ--CHITOWN's CHAD LEON's POP ART FASHION SHOW

CHAD LEON

‘Pop’ On the Run(way)

By Ma’at Atkins

For young, trend setting fashion designer ChadLeon to create a mental vision on the runway it comes natural to him as it is to thread a needle to a piece of fabric. The Chicago native is set to “sew” both stage and designs together as he preps for his upcoming summer fashion show POP ART that will be held in his hometown. It will be his final curtain call there for awhile at least before heading to the East Coast next year to tackle the Big Apple in New York City.

POP ART, that will take place August 27 (Venue TBD), will highlight his trademarked, custom-made, hand-sewn designs for his avant guard clothing line, Cleons Clothing Co. (established in 2005) based out of the Windy City with flagship lines in L.A. and NYC. For his show, he held an open call recently for male and female models in Chitown where close to 150 hopefuls from various cities across the country attended just to be “branded” by and associated with one of his extravagant fashion shows.

“I’m excited about this upcoming show,” said ChadLeon in a video on his YouTube page. “This showcase is a totally different path. I’m producing energy art.”

Themed 1980s, New York, “subway kid,” ChadLeon said he promises his designs in POP ART will feature a more freer style with lots of color, patterns, graffiti and texture.

As far as the models who will walk, stop and pose, he chose 20 (10 ladies, 10 gents) from the audition crop who met his strict qualifications. Those criteria included over the top presence and edgy femininity for the ladies and masculine confidence with “speech in their eyes” for the gents. Some of the models who were chosen include Kate Ellis, Megan Graveline, Sesamir Yearby and Willow Star of Chicago, Juan Gabriel of NYC, Angel Martinez of New Jersey, Skye Amelia and Tyrus Johnson of Wisconsin and Carl Weatherspoon, Jr. and Tristan Conner of Indiana.