Wear What When

Where to Find It: Soho in Seattle

Fifth Avenue, too. Only with better prices. Introducing Karen’s Vintage.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Dec 22, 2009 at 09:00AM6 Comments

Slideshow: Karen’s Vintage, where your vintage and designer habits fund a better world

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Slideshow: Karen’s Vintage, where your vintage and designer habits fund a better world

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Supporters of Karen’s causes donate their well-cared for vintage, retro, and, in some cases, relatively new designer pieces like this Halston dress, YSL fur, and Gucci bag.

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… and then you come along to score this absolutely amazing Ungaro mini. By the way, if you needed some ideas for interpreting these looks for the current century, you’d have a lovely time chatting with Ben, Karen’s in-house stylist. A former Nordstrom designer and all-around thoughtful, stylish guy, he knows his way around the old-to-new aesthetic.

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Proceeds are funneled to social services and environmental non-profits.

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Karen is passionate about not just the non-profits, but the tax credits for patrons and great deals on bold, timeless prints and silhouettes like that of this Ungaro two-piece.

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Personally, I’m drawn to relics from the Studio 54 era, but lawyers, prim traditionalists, and lovers of classic designer cuts will find the most scores. (I loved that on my way out of the store, a gentleman came in asking for “Yohji and Miyake,” and Karen mentioned a friend whose Marni stocks she needs to raid … bring it on!)

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This velvet batwing Escada jacket is so NYE 2010. Ouch. It hurt to leave it behind.

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And check out the print on this great Lanvin shirtdress.

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Hmm.. the Chanel Mary Janes or the Valentino leopard print? Probably both; because sometimes you feel like an angel, and sometimes you don’t.

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Some of the furnishings in the lounge area outside the dressing rooms are from LIMN, the gorgeous home and lifestyle shop that would have been just a few doors down if it hadn’t gone out of business a few months ago.

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Another of Karen’s passions: Resurrecting the West Edge neighborhood with a high-end, industrial-chic fashion- and nightlife-angled vibe. So far, so good.

Remember when someone found Brooklyn out in Burien? There are those that say if you take a stroll down Western Ave around Yesler and Columbia, you may find Soho — or is that Fifth Avenue? — at Karen’s Vintage Couture.

Not that I necessarily advocate looking for New York in Seattle (you’re better off looking for Seattle in Seattle), but there are worse things, and really, when you consider the gorgeous historic buildings and lofty art spaces and the wave that’s brought shops like Goods, Jack Straw, Totokaelo, and Neodandi to join Far 4, A Mano, and all the great European design showrooms and create a compelling shopping district southwest of Downtown and north of Pio Square, well, the inclination is understandable.

And really, every retailer that’s come into the nabe known – at least in the eyes of the city – as West Edge has proclaimed it the new [insert name of cool, NYC shopping area here]. But if anyone can make it so, it’s Karen Mayers Gamoran.

Karen’s Vintage Couture is no regular vintage shop and no regular resale shop either. I doubt there’s anything like it even in Soho. Gamoran curates tax deductible donations of fine designer goods — most are vintage or retro — and retails them to benefit social service and environmental non-profits. So, it’s not a consignment shop, and it’s not exactly a high-end thrift shop, but something rarely if ever seen before that fits right in the middle.

Now, even a forward-thinking and innovative concept such as that can’t transform a neighborhood, but when she’s not coaxing Chanel jackets out of the closets of Seattle’s society doyennes, Gamoran is whispering in the ears of Senator Maria Cantwell, Howard Schultz, and Bill Gates. Allow me to refer you to her Linked In profile for more on her giant money-raising adventures and city- and state-focused great deeds.

What’s more, Gamoran’s the daughter of a hugely successful West Edge pioneer (her father started Ace Novelty inside the very building, the Polson, where she now runs her shop; he later moved the company to Bellevue and then sold it to a Texas corporation for enough scratch to keep you, me, and all of our friends in Chanel for some time to come) and a huge champion of the entrepreneurial stripe.

But don’t just sit back and wait Gamoran to change the world.

The whole Elliott Bay Books thing is a reminder that our favorite shops don’t operate in a vacuum. Especially in destination neighborhoods.

So, browse through my favorite finds in the slideshow here, remember the 3/50 initiative and, as you ready for holiday and New Year’s Eve celebrations, make yourself available to the brilliant scores waiting for you down in West Edge.

Tags: Seattle Vintage, Seattle Consignment, West Edge, Where to Find It, Liave