Yes She Can

There may remain among us those who yet harbor doubts as to whether or not Ikram Goldman can indeed do anything she sets her mind to. The matter will surely be settled June 12, however, when the fashion maven joins cross-genre ensemble Pink Martini onstage at Symphony Center. It would be a big date for anyone, but Ikram (and yes, she is, like Common or Michael, a Chicagoan for whom one name suffices) seems unfazed. “Because I am with people all day at my store, it is easier for me to get up on stage in front of an audience,” she says. “It’s how I might talk to someone one-on-one in a dressing room. I have no inhibitions in that way.” Though this will be a Chicago debut, Ikram has already performed her song “Al Bint Al Shalabiya,” a tune made famous by iconic Lebanese singer Fairuz, in public in Paris and at the Royal Albert Hall in London. (She appears also on Pink Martini’s Je dis oui! album, which released late last year.)

This concert is a fundraiser for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, among the city’s most glamorous cultural evenings. So how does she plan to dazzle us, stylewise? “I don’t think like that about clothes,” she says. “There are certain things I will wear for certain events because they are proper,” she says. “But in my hometown, I get to wear whatever I want. But the pressure is definitely on!” 7:30pm, dinner and concert package $300