Wear What When

Slideshow: Inside Punctuation’s shop-in-shop with Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes and Matt Noren

Punctuation by Tarboo shirts are cut and sewn in classic silhouettes, in classic plaids and solids. You’ll find small, smart, subtle details — bias fabric line the cuffs, a light silvery blue thread joins red wool and gray cotton — and lean, modern cuts, but there’s absolutely nothing fussy or overwrought about Noren’s design or his execution. Which is exactly why your grandson will be wearing your shirts when you’re done with them.

Referencing a less common design, and the Northwest’s off-the-land past, the cotton-and-wool hunting shirt presents a collar-less, elbow-patched option.

Noren, who is trained as a fine artist and printmaker and has explored garment sourcing, engineering, and fabrication, is teaching Alley-Barnes the process of putting together a garment from start to finish, by hand. Noren himself learned the trade by spending late nights in a small apparel factory in New York.

Until recently, Noren was doing bespoke tailoring and construction, and while it’s still possible to have shirts and other objects custom made via Punctuation, the emphasis is on making use of the small portfolio of designs, the modern set of sizes, and the available fabrics.

The custom element is strong, regardless; Alley-Barnes and Noren like being able to offer things like vintage buttons. This underscores the personal, life-long nature of the shirts.

I love that “Seattle” gets biggest billing on the Punctuation by Tarboo label. The sense of place is integral to what’s on offer at the shop.

When it comes to the vintage items on offer, preference is shown to those garments that are originally from the Northwest. There are perfectly aged Mackinaw jackets by Filson and coats from Littler, a now-gone Seattle shop for gentlemen.

Whether the rest of the winter in one of Punctuation’s vintage varsity jackets.

Not all the items at Punctuation are Northwest-made however — nor are they all for men. How could they resist bringing in this woman’s I Magnin fur baseball jacket, or …

these Gucci sneakers?