Wear What When

New: In Commune on Capitol Hill

Sara Hoffman’s new new-to-you vintage store works for your whole family, and maybe even your larger community, too.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Jan 27, 2012 at 09:25AM0 Comments

SLIDESHOW: The new vintage (and more) shop on Capitol Hill, In Commune.

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SLIDESHOW: The new vintage (and more) shop on Capitol Hill, In Commune.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Owner Sara Hoffman studied apparel at Seattle Central before opening her 12th Avenue shop. If you didn’t know, you might guess she had studied fine arts, minimalist merchandising, Japanese textiles, or studio pottery. But don’t think that means the wardrobe are without a distinct point of view.

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Among the vintage and slightly used wardrobe options for men, women, and children: hand-knit sweaters, Pendleton wool shirts, wide-wale corduroys, ’60s shift dresses, linen trousers, tweed skirts, railroad-striped overalls, winter-white silk shirts, and plaids of every stripe.

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Some stores that deal vintage clothes and housewares have a magpie approach: get all you can get and crowd a small space with it. Hoffman’s version of presentation is much more minimal and spare. All her pieces are meticulously cleaned and pressed, and each one is given it’s due space for appreciation and contemplation. It’s a way of living, and of doing business, that will suit her well when she eventually expands and offers not just used items but new, local and up-and-coming designers and crafts.

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Hoffman’s aesthetic is recommended for Seattle shoppers who frequent Totokaelo, Blackbird, Les Amis, Bitters Co. and like-minded outlets. Here, a funny little made-in-Germany ’80s blouse for her, and …

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…it’s on-trend Americana mini-me.

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As a working mother, Hoffman’s on-task in terms of responding to the world we live in. She was ready for the recent snowstorm. Were you?

Inside a storefront that used to be an apartment, Sara Hofmann makes the ultimate peace with the space’s charmingly offbeat not-quite-this-not-quite-that nature with In Commune, a study of textures, textiles, and reused goods.

Hoffman collects vintage and gently used clothing for women, men, and small kids (figure on size 4T and under for the most part) as well as beautiful used and useful pottery, artful textiles, and the odd poetry book or letterpressed moon cycle calendar or two.

A table in the Danish modern tradition sits smack dab in the middle of the joint; you’re likely to find Hoffman’s son Asa there, quietly spooning after-school soup from a hand-thrown bowl, or just hanging out.

Ferns and fiber art hangs around, too. If all this new-to-you, handmade, nature-focused, richly tactile stuff weren’t such a growing trend—no, more like a spiritual need—within a certain design/lifestyle/fashion zeitgeist (the loosely configured community who regards the text Handcrafted Modern as a sort of bible, shops and sells at Object and, you know, makes their own kombucha), you’d feel like you had stepped into the ’60s.

Which is not to say all the vintage wardrobe pieces are ‘60s throwbacks. Or that the shop is a one-note nostalgia hut. They aren’t; it isn’t. Check out the slideshow here for more on the aesthetic and the offerings In Commune.

Tags: Seattle Vintage, Capitol Hill, Sustainable Such and Such