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Chicago Fashion Designer, Valerie Wilson Reed of Valcooks, LLC

http://www.examiner.com/fashion-designers-in-chicago/chicago-fashion-designer-valerie-wilson-reed-of-valcooks-llc

Elegantly entertain in style with a chic hostess apron from Valcooks. These flirty, sexy hostess aprons are not the aprons your granny wore. Valerie Wilson Reed of Valcooks, LLC is the designer behind the Valcooks brand, and she creates hostess aprons for women and a masculine line of aprons for men, as seen below. She creates her beautiful luxe brand of hostess aprons by using organza, satins and cotton.

The Valcooks collection consists of the half apron “belle” line featuring aprons with luscious names like Red Velvet Cake and Strawberry Shortcake. They are made of sparkling organza skirts in bold colors, with billowing wrap-around, sultry satin sashes and bold ribbon trims. They can be lined in satin or sheer.

The full apron line consists of aprons for both women and men. All aprons are made of the highest quality cotton, adjustable neck straps and are lined to provide an upscale finish. The women’ s apron pockets and hem are trimmed in luscious satin, and the satin sashes (72″) provide an adorable bow no matter what your size. The bottom of the women’s apron consist of a sassy tulle signature to the Valcooks line.

Valerie Wilson Reed is a 53-year-old, married woman with a daughter in college. She is a 1979 alumna of Marquette University College of Communications, and current President of Marquette University Alumni Association’s National Board of Directors. Valerie is a native Floridian, but has lived in the Chicago (Hinsdale) area since 1990.

Proving once again that age is not a factor, In 2008, at age 50, while planning a Valentine’s day party, Valerie wanted something special to wear to host the occasion, and to serve her famous appetizers, favorite dishes and desserts, so she designed a couple of hostess aprons. And, of course, all the guests loved them. She continued creating her high-end hostess aprons and within a couple of years, two of the Valcooks hostess aprons were featured exclusively on HSN. Valerie says, “The rest is history!” She describes her line as chic with a modern twist to a retro item, and says, “Fashion repeats, but it should be kept current and timeless.”

Valerie credits the AIBI (Apparel Industry Board, Inc. of Chicago) as being a great source of information and guidance that helped her take her business to the next level. And, she also gives credit to her project manager, Lea Moore Beulah, for seeing her vision and continuing to work with her today. 

Creativity, effective money management, a never give up attitude, thinking outside of the box, and marketing skills, are all traits needed to survive as a fashion designer, according to Valerie. But of course, being resourceful is also an invaluable tool, as Valerie recounts here: “The warehouse I had been purchasing my fabric from ran out of the fabric of my number one seller, and didn’t have the source of the textile company. I gave the remaining fabric to my main seamstress to make whatever number of aprons she could make off the bolt. While doing so, a friend of her husband’s came from out of town to visit. He walks in while she’s sewing and exclaims, “I know that fabric! I do the photography for the textile company that makes it.” Problem solved, and that particular apron went on to be the main one chosen for the exclusive line for HSN.”

Valerie says she is determined to keep producing her products in the U.S.A., and particularly in the Chicago area. She says, “We lose too many manufacturing jobs out of the country.” Because Valerie does not sew, she does a good job of communicating her design direction to her seamstresses in order to achieve exactly what she has in mind.

Valcooks is on Facebook and Twitter and her own website at .

You may purchase her beautiful hostess aprons online, and at HSN. Prices range between $49 and $79. Special orders are done upon request, and priced accordingly.

Valerie has begun to expand her line to include mens, children and doll aprons, and she plans to include dishware, and table accessories. Valerie has future plans to expand to a large retail market and diversify the brand.

She would love to design for Raven-Symonébecause Raven is known to be a great cook and loves to entertain. Valerie confides that if she was not designing her beautiful hostess aprons, she would be a talk show host, or have her own cooking show. 

Valerie Wilson Reed has been featured as a new Chicago designer on nationwide syndicated show First Look, on NBC and numerous magazines, newspapers and online blogs.

She was a runner-up for NAWBA’s New Entrepreneur award.

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Aarik Wilson – Men’s Triple Jump USA Olympic Track Trials

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