Founder and President
Crescendo Apparel
After a decade-long career as a successful financial analyst, Kathryn McKechnie traded in her
spreadsheets for fashion spreads with the launch of Crescendo Apparel, a fashion label for
women who struggle to find high-fashion clothes that fit off the rack. In Fall 2009, she unveiled
her first collection of pants, skirts and wraps, catering to women with small waists and fuller
hips.
As far back as she can remember, McKechnie has been a high-fashion enthusiast, poring over
the pages of Vogue. The problem, however, was that most clothing lines failed to
accommodate her curvy figure, while the labels that did fell far short of her sense of style. Through her adult life, she had to alter pants and skirts that were too big for her waist because
there was no other option. Even then, the fits weren’t great.
She knew she wasn’t alone. The most fashionable, contemporary design houses produce
clothing for what some in the industry have come to call “the ideal figure.” In order to fit that
body type, designers work with straighter, less forgiving cuts than most women require.
“I couldn’t help but wonder,” says McKechnie. “ ‘Ideal’ according to who?” When she dug into
the industry stats, she learned that 64 percent of women fit the technical description of a
classic pear-shape figure, according to a 2003 survey by SizeUSA. That means their waists are
10 or more inches smaller than their hips. By contrast, 4 percent of women have the
measurements of the “ideal” figure.
“I’ve always been a math person,” says McKechnie, who graduated with high honors in finance
from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, “but you don’t need to be a statistician to
see that the multi-billion dollar fashion industry was ignoring a solid majority of women—at
the expense of its own bottom line.”
That was all the inspiration she needed. “I knew that my financial and business acumen would
help me create a successful offering for a previously ignored segment of women,” says
McKechnie. “But it’s my personal experience as one of those women that’s really driving this
company.”
Featured in Today’s Chicago Women as a model for any woman who dreams of changing
careers in pursuit of her passions, McKechnie earned a second degree—this one in Fashion
Marketing and Management—from the Illinois Institute of Art in September 2007.
McKechnie is a member of The Apparel Industry Board. Inc. (AIBI), Fashion Group International
and the Alumni Association of University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. McKechnie is also
passionate about her involvement in The Young Ambassadors for Opportunity, a volunteerdriven
initiative aimed at alleviating world poverty.
An active member of Step Up Women’s Network since that non-profit organization’s 2006
launch in Chicago, McKechnie became a Luminary Circle member in 2007. Since then, she’s
chaired Step Up’s Teen Programs Empowerment Committee.