While in Hong Kong in the middle of a modeling contract, Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart had an epiphany. She was browsing the Internet when she came across the same question over and over on blogs.

People were looking for luxurious vegan coats that wouldn’t hinder their high-end fashion style, but would align with their personal beliefs.

Hilgart had a business plan she had been working on for two years. She started doing research and a couple of months later, in September, she launched the brand Vaute Couture. Now it’s one of the few haute couture brands specializing in vegan coats and based in Chicago.

Her love for animals and Earth began at the age of 10, when she became a vegetarian. At 17, Hilgart chose to become vegan, and has been for nine years now.

“I think it’s important to be conscientious and care about animals,” Hilgart said. “It doesn’t have to conflict with being fashionable, it doesn’t have to be one or the other. You can be fabulous and fashionable and wear things that speak to your heart and show that you care how things are made and how animals are treated.”

Hilgart was born and raised in Chicago, and when she was deciding what city to base the brand in, she had no doubts. She said Chicago was the perfect city to launch the vegan coat line because of the cold winter weather.

“The vegan options for winter coats are impossible to find, and they didn’t exist,” she said. “In the summer, I found websites where other people were looking for fabulous vegan winter coats, and I said, ‘This has to be me.'”

With her MBA in entrepreneurship from DePaul University, Hilgart had the business side covered, but she lacked artists and fashion designers to make it happen.

Hilgart came up with the idea to have a contest, calling for artists to submit illustrations for vegan winter coats. Later, she had more than 8,000 voters judge the 20 finalists through votes on her website. Out of those 20, the final three selected were the Vaute coat, El coat and the Awe coat.

“I have always had a thing for emerging artists and showcasing them, since I am not a designer,” she said. “I thought it would be a lot of fun to see what designs people came up with from around the world.”

Dallas Shaw, a full-time fashion illustrator, created the El coat, a fitted, “Chicago” feminine coat. It has vintage buttons on the sleeves and a large scoop collar that covers the shoulders.

After hearing about the contest online, Shaw submitted various illustrations. What took only an hour to illustrate ended up winning, even though it was her first time participating in a project like this and designing a coat.

“It wasn’t difficult because I have always done fashion, but it was special for me because fashion has always influenced my art,” Shaw said.

The Awe coat-the only coat being sold right now-is priced at $1,500 because of the time it takes to make it and the materials used.

It takes one couturier 20-30 hours to complete. The fabric used for the coat is a special velvet made from bamboo and organic cotton grown without pesticides.

Once the illustration is completed, an interpreter takes over the job. Catherine Furio was selected to interpret the Awe coat after meeting with Hilgart.

She took the front and back illustration of the coat and converted it to a 3-D model to make into a garment.

“The fabrics were given to me to work with,” Furio said. “I basically took that, and [Hilgart] gave me a lot of freedom in doing the rest.”

Right now, the only way to order one of the coats is through VauteCouture.com. The brand sells wholesale to boutiques stateside and overseas.

“Vaute Couture is high-fashion haute couture; the ‘V’ is for vegan, but it also is pronounced like ‘vote,’ which is what one does or what one wears and how one wants the world to be,” Hilgart said.

Hilgart plans to open a showroom in the spring to launch the first line of ready-to-wear coats, which she said would be more affordable, and an art gallery of chic animal-loving artwork.