German-born Katrin Schnabl launched her signature collection in 2002. She has been presenting original collections under the label Miche.Kimsa since the late 1990s, following a career as a professional modern dancer. It was her natural next step of designing dancers’ performance garments that led her into the world of fashion. She graduated summa cum laude from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and worked in the ateliers of several noted fashion designers before branching out on her own. Her work has been featured in WWD, Wired, GapD, the Village Voice, The New York Times, Chicago Magazine, the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times, and has sold in boutiques across the U.S., in Canada and in Japan. Her designs were selected as finalists in the Sportswear and Eveningwear categories in the GenArt Styles 2000 International competition. She came to Chicago in 2004 at the invitation of the School of the Art Institute’s Fashion Department, where she currently teaches beginning and advanced studio courses. Previously, she taught at Parsons School of Design in New York.