Wear What When

Shop Class

The Field House presents free Sunday workshops

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Mar 04, 2010 at 10:30AM 3 Comments

A felting class led by upcoming Blackbird instructress Ashley Halvey

While on a Sunday afternoon expedition aimed at procuring vintage flannels, American-made loafers, and rustic/now-wave housewares at Field House in Ballard, you might find yourself getting schooled.

Field House/Blackbird proprietress Nicole Miller is accepting students for four one-day workshops in the month of March.

Here’s a quick pass at what’s being offered; all courses are FREE and begin at 3p.

SUNDAY, MARCH 7
Wine of Piedmont, Italy: Culture and Tasting with Michael Teer of Pike and Western Wine Shop and western/

SUNDAY, MARCH 14
Bike Maintenance and Preparation with model employee Tyler Johnson

SUNDAY, MARCH 21
Age-Old Wet Felting Techniques with Ashley Halvey.

Here’s where (as far as I’m concerned, things really get good.) I met Halvey, a recent transplant from LA and SF who basically defines the nexus of art and style, via Totokaelo where her simple, elegant, of-the-earth necklaces are now sold.

Felted wall hanging by Seattle artist Ashley Helvey

Her line of sustainable, all-natural, traditionally produced felted rugs is called Danken. With these pieces, and with collaborations with ubercool Iko Iko in LA and Creatures of the Wind, Halvey’s craft goes beyond beauty to include global perspectives on history, culture, and the environment.

And then you gotta love the opportunity to sit around with some of Seattle’s sharpest style minds and apply elbow patches and tidy up old sweaters. Check out the last class in the March line-up:

SUNDAY, MARCH 28
Mend & Measure: Save money, save your favorite garment, consume less with Blackbird’s owner and resident needle-wielders Lauren Wang and Sue Weibler

As Miller points out, “in the old U.S. Navy, sailors had one day a month called ‘Mend & Measure’ where they were excused from their duties to launder and repair their clothes.” Let’s see Petraeus bring that one back.

Blackbird’s owner, who learned the art and craft of darning and repair work from her Grandmother, suggests you bring anything from* tattered socks to jeans and buttonless shirts.* The Blackbird team can help you figure out the best way to approach each repair job because really, the motivation and fuel for task completion is often found inside the group effort and community vibe. Attendees can bring mending supplies or share ones brought by the instructors.

Email info (at) blackbird.com for more information, or call 206-297-6093

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Tags: Locally Made, how to, heritage brands, Ballard, Workshops

Sweet Suggestion #3

How to get under the covers with that special someone

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Feb 04, 2010 at 12:30PM 0 Comments

Photo: Image from Blackbird's shopping pages

As far as helpful hints go, what better way to say, “Hey, I’d really like to get under the covers with you” than a rich, vivid, beautiful blanket.

The folks at Blackbird and their sibling shop Field House have an affinity for American and Northwest products, and they’re in love with (as are others in the fashion world) the Oregon-based heritage brand Pendleton.

Couldn’t you be in love with — or under — Pendleton’s Fremont blanket?

All the gorgeously historical and timeless Pendleton pieces in the Blackbird collection (or for that matter at the Downtown Pendleton store) — can be seen as the anti-lingerie. Not that there’s anything wrong with lingerie, but skimpy and strappy doesn’t work for everyone.

If cozy, warming, and private is your idea of sexy, well, you know what to do next.

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Tags: Hamburgers, Locally Made, Valentine's Day, heritage brands, home decor, gift guide, Pendleton

True Story

An open reply to the MN reader who sent me an email asking, “What should I wear when I’m in Seattle?”

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Jan 26, 2010 at 08:00AM 1 Comments

Photo: Melissa O'Hearn for Seattle Met Style Counsel page

Maresa Patterson, this month’s Style Counsel subject. On-trend, organic, and locally made. This is what Seattle looks like. Sometimes. Other times, it doesn’t look like this at all.

Dear Visitor,

Thank you for your kind note regarding the dress code of our city. Your inquiry shows a kind of humble respect that I sometimes fear American travelers have abandoned. You know, the kinds of travelers who venture to seaside South American cities without learning simple phrases like, “Me gustaría pagar con tarjeta de crédito.” So kudos to you, Visitor, for asking.

People around here do like to question the nature of Seattle style. I suppose every city has its version of this topic. Maybe. But maybe not. Do they, in New York, trouble over the essential nature of their civic wardrobe? I guess I kinda think not. But then, that’s one of the luxuries of being a New Yorker. Cool comes with the area codes.

The simple fact is that, for seven or eight months out of the year, rain and drizzle come with our area code, and that pervasive dampness does color our collective look. And — and I appreciate this — our out-of-the-way station allows us freedom from playing the sartorial hero. What I mean is: As a rule, Seattleites don’t twist their ankles stepping around mud puddles in high suede heels or delicate calfskin oxfords in January. We wear solid but beautiful European-made boots and classic Red Wings. We pretty much live in boots, all made for walking. (If you think San Fran is hilly, call me after you’ve given us a try.)

And the thing is this, Visitor: They wear the sensible look in Italy, too. The whole heritage brand thing? Tough-to-impossible to pull off without a key piece or two from Filson, the timeless gear and clothing company of pioneering Seattle hipstsers since 1850.

So, you know, did we take it from them or did they take it from us? I mean, really. People around here get annoyed when you invoke the G word too often, so I will, for the most part, leave that topic where it last leapt up and demanded to be noticed, but let’s just say that we’ve already been co-opted at least once.

Still, what you’ve heard about fleece, Gortex, and Birkenstocks is true. Socks and sandals. Guilty. I mean—not personally, but it happens. Boy does it happen. Even at this time of year. On a recent sunny but sharp, bitter-cold post-holiday afternoon, I saw a mailman in short pants, socks (the kind they make those monkeys out of), and Teva sandals. Not a proud moment. Or one I could wrap my head around.

Sometimes bad things — or at least really … different things happen to good people. Even in Seattle. And sometimes, as Adam Sinding of Le 21eme Arrondissement is fond of documenting, Seattleites do show up in studded stilleto boots, cuffed, cropped pants, and directional trenches.

It’s important that you know that we don’t walk around in yellow slickers underneath umbrellas all the time. In fact, it’s almost as if the degree to which we really feel we’re O.G. Seattle, we wear layers and layers of knits and biker jackets instead of Outdoor Research rain gear. Cashmere, wool, and cotton knits work for four-seasons in Seattle, so you’ll see a lot of them.

Then again, the archetypes don’t exist for nothing. Seattle-based sportswear company Eddie Bauer calls their guy the casual sportsman and you will see him and his female equivalent all over town.

It’s not for nothing that Bauer and other sportswear companies are based here in the Northwest, But neither do high-end, locally owned department stores like Butch Blum and Mario’s as well as smart, innovative, globally bookmarked online boutiques exist in some vacuum without us locals.

I suppose the question isn’t very easy to answer. Or so it would seem by this long-winded, back and forth reply. We are very much a city of contradictions. In a good way.

Geographically isolated, yes, to some degree, but our population is anything but homogeneous. We love that certain elements of our culture - our approach to food, wine, and dining for one, our cutting edge technology for another - give us Big City cred all over the world, but we cherish the small-town vibe of our neighborhoods and we fight to protect the integrity of the greenbelts and waterways that surround us.

Yes. Contradictions. Imports working on the casual software campuses in our suburbs wear Marni, and when our indie rock exports appear on late night television variety shows, they wear whatever they’ve been wearing for the last eleven days. We hold fast to ripped denim, old cowboy shirts, and eclecticism even as global luxury brands come to town and set up shop. We do sometimes wear jeans to the ballet, but only sometimes.

I like how Maresa Patterson, a local dress designer and style-maker featured in our February issue, puts it.

“There’s a willingness in Seattle to be casual and to combine things in quirky ways,” she told me. “I respond to that.”

I do, too, and I hope, Visitor, that you will also.

Sincerely,

Laura

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Tags: Seattle style, street style, Style Counsel, reader mail, Filson, heritage brands

Field of American Dreams

Blackbird celebrates in-country style with a new Ballard pop-up shop

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Nov 02, 2009 at 07:00AM 3 Comments

Slideshow: The new Field House in Ballard

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Slideshow: The new Field House in Ballard

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Think of it as an extension of Blackbird and Brigitta — and the Sunday farmers market

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Mens heritage brands, some local, are given new, super stylish life

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Not all brands are American; some, like Australia’s Karen Walker (check the camel-colored pea coats) in the womens collection, just feel homegrown.

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The selection of vintage plaid, woolen, and denim shirts can be seen as unisex

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For men, there are Red Wing boots (many a muck-shucking farm hand has no idea how fashionable he is right about now…) as well as Alden loafers and ankle boots, and I love that shoe care kits are offered, too. Along with an appreciation for these brands — and our hard earned dollars — comes an appreciation and respect for taking good care of what we have.

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I need to go back for this lavender chambray pocket square …

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Get inside this Navajo-inspired 80s revamp Ralph Lauren jacket

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Field House isn’t just about fashion, it’s about housewares, necessities, and niceties for homesteaders; no wonder older folks from the nearby retirement homes like the shop as much as the hipsters do

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I bought a couple of these soaps from Port Townsend – the “woods of Washington” bar will make it into someone’s holiday gift

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Has Stanley always made a flask? They do now. Kinda genius.

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Caramel sauce, old-time candies, gorgeous candles … You do sort of expect Nellie Olsen to pop up from behind the counter.

Almost a year to the day after the New York Times ran this piece about finding sartorial bliss while shopping heritage brands and the hardware store, the team behind Blackbird continues its Ballard domination by opening Field House, where the country store (nuts, bolts, provisions) meets Americana style (mens, womens, and home).

“This store has all the Americana, where Blackbird and Brigitta have the Euro-cana, and Japan-acana,” quipped the shopkeep on duty when I visited on Friday. Field House also has the Seattle-acana: Great thermoses and flasks by the locally based Stanley company (they make so much sense and are so perfectly positioned for a comeback — and holiday gift-giving); quietly chic and extremely sensible jackets, shirts, bags, and accessories by SoDo’s CC Filson Co.; and, along with local and organic produce, soaps, and food stuffs, Pendleton shirts and blankets.

(I only wish the Pendleton collection at Field House included pieces from the Opening Ceremony tie-in - alas, not yet.)

For now, the shop, which is directly behind Blackbird on Leary Way next to the chai joint, is a pop-up, meaning it’s temporary … but something tells me the homegrown specialties are here to stay. With American soul records played on a turntable, rough concrete floors, and rustic skylights, there’s an authenticity at Field House, and its team was smart enough to open at a time when there is an authentic need for the goods (rain boots, wool shirts) carried here.

‘Course, Field House doesn’t just carry Northwest Brands. Even back when great-great-grandfather the stylingest dude at the hitching post, goods were shipped and received from around the territories. I was psyched to see, for example, an old nearly rusty iron bedframe laid out with Ralph Lauren gear; I absolutely love the denim-and-dust-bowl look of the spring 2010 line and hope we’ll see more of it at Field House come February or so.

See also: Woolrich. That iconic black-and-red buffalo plaid has been hanging on the backs of the best dressed for some time now, and recently, the heirloom Pennsylvania brand hired Daiki Suzuki, founder of Engineered Garments, to recut their barn coats and really take the look from heritage to haute couture.

It’s great to see the zeitgeist return to quality, well-made American brands, and it’s great Blackbird, long an arbiter of men’s style in this town, leading the way.

Check the slideshow here, start positioning guys like Carthartt-clad Ruben Toledo as your new style go-to’s, bookmark the PacNW blog Archival Clothing for further inspiration, and then get to Field House to put it all into action.

^{^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^}^^

What else is new? River Song in Madison Valley.

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Tags: heritage brands, Ballard