In this industry, ever-obsessed with the new and the next, staying power can be an elusive quality — just ask Chicago native Maria Pinto.
This year, the designer is celebrating her 25th anniversary in fashion. “It’s hard to believe it’s been that long,” she laughs, over the phone, as she cabs it between appointments on a recent afternoon. But her ride hasn’t always been so smooth.
After graduating from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and spending her post-college years as an assistant to Geoffrey Beene, Pinto returned to her hometown where she started a small business out of her apartment. Concentrating on a line of handmade scarves and wraps, her goods were sold —and then sold out — in stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, and Barneys New York. She added evening wear into her line and soon, she was known among Chicago’s elite, dressing the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama.
After meeting Pinto in 2004, Mrs. Obama became a regular customer, wearing several of the designer’s dresses, including on the campaign trail and at the Democratic National Convention in 2008. But while Pinto had a bump from the First Lady, she also had the recession to contend with. Despite strong consumer and editorial buzz, Pinto’s small business couldn’t weather the economic turmoil and she shuttered her namesake label in 2010.
Three years later, however, the designer was back in action with a sleeker, less evening wear-driven label called M2057. “It was very different,” Pinto says of making the change to ready-to-wear. “I launched a very accessible concept in terms of price and functionality.”
Through it all, the designer has done her best to maintain a cool head — relatively speaking. “Don’t get so anxious. Enjoy the ride,” she says when asked what advice she would give herself at the start of her 25-year journey. “Slow your roll!”
Pinto is marking her milestone with an anniversary capsule, Collection 25, which launched this fall on www.m2057.com. Inspired by tough rock ’n’ rollers like Patti Smith and Joan Jett, the line combines the designer’s minimal vibe with her eye for detailed construction. Additionally, a retrospective exhibition of her work opened in September at City Gallery in Chicago’s Historic Water Tower. (It runs through January 8, 2017.)
“It was so cool going through the archives,” she says of selecting items for the exhibition. “Everyone kept asking, ‘When was that from? I’d wear that now,’ and it would be a piece from 1991, from my first collection — the one that Bergdorf’s and Barneys bought and started it all. I didn’t realize how there’s this timeless quality to my work.”
