Barbara Bates has spent four decades dressing Chicago in leathers, suedes, furs, brocades and snakeskin, and this Saturday she is throwing herself the kind of party that only a designer with that much history could pull off: a sold-out 40th anniversary career retrospective at the Barack Obama Presidential Center. The Garfield Park native built her name on luxury clothing for mature women who want something distinctive, including curvier women and larger sizes who often get overlooked by mainstream fashion.
The celebration, first detailed in a profile by Block Club Chicago, will run from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Obama Presidential Center, 6001 S. Stony Island Ave., according to Choose Chicago. The program includes a fashion show and a curated exhibition spanning four decades of Bates’ design work, with the venue’s listing describing a lineup of 40 models and five emerging designers. A separate account from the Austin Weekly News instead describes 40 models presenting Bates’ work alongside designs from four Columbia College designers, and Block Club Chicago reports Bates is collaborating with Columbia College design students for the show.
From a Bank Secretary Desk to Her Own Label
Bates worked a corporate bank job before fashion became her career, and it was while working as a secretary at First National Bank of Chicago that she became known for her personal style, per the Austin Weekly News. She has said her unconventional designs are what first got people asking to buy from her, and she left that corporate job at age 31 to open Bates Designs in 1986, the outlet reports. One client reportedly offered her $27,000 for half of her business in those early years, according to Block Club Chicago.
“I have definitely been authentic and true from ’86 until today,” Bates said, according to Block Club Chicago, adding that she has never chased fashion trends. She now runs her studio on the Near South Side, at 2031 South Indiana Ave., where Block Club Chicago photographed her workstation on September 22. To build her label, she hired several seamstresses from Poland and employed local Black youth as design and tailoring interns, per the same outlet.
A Client List That Includes Jordan, Houston and Tyson
Over the decades, Bates has dressed some of the biggest names to come through Chicago and beyond. Block Club Chicago reports she has styled Michael Jordan, Whitney Houston, Scottie Pippen, Mike Tyson and Deion Sanders, while the Austin Weekly News lists Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Harvey and Houston among her clients, and the Chicago Sun-Times adds Sinbad to that roster. That same self-taught eye for exotic fabrics and leather trim landed her among eight designers featured in the opening runway show of Chicago Fashion Week in 2024, the Sun-Times reported, an event held at the Chicago Cultural Center with tickets ranging from $75 to $250 as part of a citywide lineup of more than 50 fashion events.
A Cancer Diagnosis That Reshaped Her Mission
Bates was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009 and underwent two years of treatment before becoming cancer-free, according to Block Club Chicago. The experience turned her into a breast cancer awareness advocate, and she went on to hold a fashion show at Northwestern Hospital featuring breast cancer survivors, raising $50,000 before raising an additional $640,000 for Mount Sinai Hospital’s breast cancer work, per the same account. Mount Sinai Hospital named a breast cancer imaging center after her in October 2022, Block Club Chicago reports — though the Austin Weekly News describes the naming as happening in 2021, after Bates raised roughly $500,000 for the hospital over five years, and the timeline for the center’s exact founding remains unclear across accounts.
Fundraising totals tied to her advocacy vary by source and context. N’DIGO reported in 2017 that her foundation had raised $590,000 over five years for Sinai, while the Chicago Defender separately reported the foundation had donated more than $515,000 to Mount Sinai for breast cancer education efforts targeting women of color. Whatever the precise sum, the cause remains central to Saturday’s celebration: Choose Chicago says a large portion of the proceeds will go to Sinai Chicago’s Barbara Bates Imaging Center as part of a 40 for 40 Initiative meant to support early detection and provide mammograms, and Block Club Chicago confirms the event’s proceeds will benefit the same imaging center. The Barbara Bates Foundation also holds an annual fashion show supporting Mount Sinai Hospital, per Block Club Chicago.
Prom Dresses and What Comes Next
Bates’ community work extends beyond breast cancer. Her foundation, created in 1999 to continue an annual initiative, provides custom-made prom dresses to underprivileged or hard-to-fit young women from Chicago’s inner-city schools, according to the Sun-Times, and Block Club Chicago notes the foundation provides prom clothes to underprivileged high school seniors. The Austin Weekly News reports Bates estimates she has designed about 500 of those prom gowns over the years, with tickets to Saturday’s 40th anniversary show starting at $268.
Bates told Block Club Chicago that fashion should build confidence and give back to the community, a philosophy that has shaped both her business and her charitable work. She began planning Saturday’s anniversary event in December and had the Obama Presidential Center date locked in by the end of February, according to the outlet. Looking ahead, Bates is preparing two additional fashion shows later this year and plans to support a cancer research fundraiser with City of Hope, Block Club Chicago reports.
