LAKEVIEW — Tim Gunn might not be there, but fashion designers will still have a chance to "Make It Work" at a fashion fundraiser in September.
Competitors will design outfits made mostly from secondhand selections, with a $500 prize awarded to whichever design gets the most votes from the crowd.
"We have designers and models walk around the crowd and explain their rationale and what they were thinking," Lakeview Employment Group co-director Cari Henson said.
The "Make It Work" show will kick off at 8 p.m. Sept. 26 at Mini of Chicago, 1111 W. Diversey Ave. Contestants have until Sept. 2 to sign up.
Tickets to the event are $30, and Lakeview Employment Group is expecting about 120 people and hopes to raise $10,000 for its internship program. Last year, the group raised $9,000.
The "Project Runway"-inspired event started three years ago when Lakeview Employment Group began raising money to open a resale store in Avondale.
"Now we're up and running, so people can come to our store and choose the outfits, which is really fun," Henson said.
The fashion show will take place two months before Re-Do Chicago's first anniversary. The resale shop, 3051 N. Milwaukee Ave., offers style seminars along with secondhand clothes.
"We love the neighborhood. We've got a lot of regular shoppers, which we love, and we're just starting to get a younger crowd" from Logan Square, Henson said.
"I feel like we have a lot of clothes that are especially geared toward them."
The group creates internships for people facing employment challenges like homelessness or criminal backgrounds. The interns earn $10 per hour working at the Re-Do secondhand store, as parking attendants and maintaining planters for the Central Lakeview Merchants Association.
Lakeview Employment Group does not use grants or government money, but instead covers wages, Ventra passes for interns and other operating expenses through fundraisers, the resale shop and other work partnerships.
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