Wear What When

Color Theory #1

New blog series gets Style Counselors talking color trends

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Jul 26, 2010 at 01:00PM 0 Comments

Slideshow: Avocado and Aqua, because “neighboring hues are good partners”

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Slideshow: Avocado and Aqua, because “neighboring hues are good partners”

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These images are from Better Homes and Garden … circa before you were born

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Cepress says, “Color relationship is a powerful tool that we should all explore.”

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A vintage Mikasa set in a similar colorway

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Cepress’s reversible avocado and aqua vests are for sale at Velouria on the Hill

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Cepress’s pieces are always impeccable; they feel artisan-made in the best way

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Cepress’s workroom, where color theories get put to the test

Color Theory #1 asks local menswear designer Michael Cepress to tell us what shades and hues he’s currently obsessed with. And, as is often the case here, it’s all about the slideshow. To hear from more Seattle Met Style Counsel subjects, stay tuned.

Michael Cepress: While any number of things inspire me and the work I create, one of the most critical and essential components is indeed color. In our lives today a host of elements can collide in an aesthetic experience – cultural references, patterns, textures, histories, traditions…and this is very much the case in my work as a designer. Every garment I design comes to reference a heap of different times and places (in my own mind as designer, at least!) and in the end it is COLOR that ties the entire experience together. While attitudes and styling and combinations change, it is often color that we rely on to help make an entire look “make sense.”

One particular color experience I have been obsessing over lately is the pairing of turquoise and olive…or as the interior design trend forecasters of the 1960s called it: “Aqua and Avocado”. In smarty-pants art school lingo we’d label this an analagous color scheme, as the chosen colors sit beside one another on the color wheel. True colorists would use an even more complex description, but I won’t go there! Upon chatting up my artist friend Emily Pothast about this subject, I came to learn that she has not only been featured on this style blog….but was also wearing the very color scheme I’m focusing on today! Serendipity!

This particular pairing is a good one, and one that has been on my mind for years. I remembered – and revisited – a copy of a 1960 issue of Better Homes and Gardens Decorating Ideas (see the slideshow for more) that featured a host of glorious interiors from the period that favored this very scheme. In my personal life I live with this scheme by way of our bathroom towels (a gift from my dear friend and Seattle composer Byron Au Yong) as well as a wonderful set of Mikasa brand dishes in which I prepare my morning coffee.

I’ve gathered these little moments of inspiration and poured them into one particular fabric that continues to inspire me and is featured in some of my newest spring designs. The plaid fabric I speak of blends the handsome aqua and avocado scheme into a range of blacks and greys that make the fabric even more suited to the wardrobe of most any man. We all know guys have closets full of blue, black, and grey, so why not bring in an exciting accent?

A new series of vests made of the fabric are now on the racks at Velouria here on Capitol Hill, the hub for MC ready to wear. And these particular vests offer some “two-for-one” appeal as they are entirely reversible. One side features the plaid I love so much; the other side showcases a solid color in your choice of olive, navy or black, backed with a very fun and sophisticated black and grey stripe. These price at $118 and they’re available right now!

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Tags: Locally Made, Style Counsel, Locally Designed, Menswear, Color Theory

Sale of the Week: Velouria

Tes de Luna’s indie enterprise turns sweet six, celebrates from July 5-11

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Jul 02, 2010 at 09:30AM 0 Comments

Tes de Luna is celebrating six years and two locations of Velouria by extending a 20 percent savings to you

When folks ask, as they do, about defining Seattle style, someone usually brings up Velouria. First in her Ballard location and then, not six months ago on Capitol Hill, Tes de Luna created a place for local and otherwise independent designers to connect with shoppers looking for small batch style.

Let’s examine that word “first” up there. Before tattooed chefs were hip-ifying seasonal and local, before a farmers market in every neighborhood gave Seattleites a weekly opportunity to reflect on the virtues of small, close, and sustainable – six years ago this month in 2004 de Luna put her all into the notion that this is a city that values the maker, the craftperson, the artisan, the needle and the thread.

In honor of her sixth anniversary, and the fact that yes, Seattle does shop local and small – even in a recession – you can take 20 percent off any regularly priced item in the store between July 5 and July 11.

A couple of trunkshows are also in the mix: Brooklyn, NY jewelry designer Jene Despain will debut her summer jewelry line on Thursday July 8 from 5-8 during the Capitol Hill Artwalk. She’ll pop up out in Ballard on Saturday July 10 from 3-7.

Also, local Seattle menswear designer, Michael Cepress shows off his summer clothing line on Thursday July 8, 5-8, also during the Capitol Hill artwalk.

You’ll also catch Capitol Hill artist Elizabeth Soule’s polaroid portraits of animals and sealife and Seattleite Birgida Swanson’s Victorian-era inspired art prints.

Something tells me there might be Eastern Washington wine and Cascade Mountain raspberries – or something literally close enough – around, too.

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Tags: Locally Made, Capitol Hill, Ballard, Melrose Market, Spring/Summer sale 2010

Thaw II

This one’s for the kids; Vitamin Water Social Club on July 10

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Jun 28, 2010 at 11:00AM 0 Comments

Dapper now comes in size 2T; a Seattle-made look by featured Thaw designer Littlecrow

‘Since starting the Annual thaw Fashion Show for HDSA, friends, family and strangers have told me that I should also put on a kids version of that event,’ says Liz Weber. You’re reading this now because she listened to them.

Thaw Collective’s Indie Kids Fashion Show for Huntington’s Disease Society of America is July 10 at 11 at the Vitamin Water Social Club on Capitol Hill. Tickets are available from Brown Paper Tickets.

As with the adult version of Thaw, the kids’ show puts Seattle designers on display. Expect tiny style from lines like eight3one and Littlecrow Collection.

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Tags: Locally Made, Locally Designed, Fashion Show, Kids' style, Fundraiser, Thaw

Jersey Girls

Take 20-50 percent off Prairie Underground June 24 – 27 at Clementine in West Seattle

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Jun 14, 2010 at 01:30PM 0 Comments

Photo: Clementine Shoes

Rompers: Prairie Underground, shoes: Clementine, you: there next weekend

Camilla Eckersley and Davora Lindner were making jersey a viable, stylish option before this whole elegantly draped tee-shirt thing became such a thing so it’s certainly no surprise to that their locally designed, locally sewn line Prairie Underground continues popping up in the best little boutiques around the country and here at home.

To get your hands on the best of the summer collection – including the excellent little romper pictured here – head to Clementine between Thursday June 24 and Sunday June 27.

Prairie Underground’s signature hoodies, wear-everyday leggings, and perfect-summer tank dresses will be 20-50 percent off during the weekend-long trunk show extravaganza.

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Tags: Locally Made, Locally Designed, Spring/Summer sale 2010

Where to Find It: Happiest Place on Earth

Planet Happy, where socially responsible, mom-owned, and otherwise green play stuff is a good time

Posted by: Charlotte Chen on May 28, 2010 at 08:00AM 3 Comments

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Hello parents and concerned friends-of-small humans, still scarred from all those toxic toys incidents? Planet Happy to the rescue.

Find safer, organic alternatives to mass-produced plastic toys for your little ones at this Ravenna store (find the store itself tucked behind the University Village) – stuff like Max’s Mud, a non-toxic, gluten-free rice flour-based sculpting dough exclusive to Planet Happy and produced by a Seattle-based mom-owned business, backyard tree swings, and Reusies; dishwasher-proof lunch bags. Check the slideshow for images.

And check this out: Each product in the store comes with a seven criteria tag listing whether the item and its manufacturer are fair-traded, organic, socially responsible, recycled, mom-owned, green, and natural.

Now how’s this for mom-friendly: Planet Happy offers after school activities like eco-friendly science projects and drum circles. If you can’t catch one of the scheduled events, don’t worry, the fun station is always open. (And the store pet, a hedgehog called Little Foot, is always around.) Little ones can make magnets or mirrors using the button machine, and a natural beauty bar makes it easy and fun to cook up lotion, bath salts, and fragrances using essential oils, all natural lotion bases, and the shop’s special house-ground flower petals.

Check Planet Happy’s June calendar for after-school and weekend activities.

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Tags: Locally Made, Locally Designed, Sustainable Such and Such, Kids' style, Where to Find It

Meet the Shopkeeper: Retail Therapy

New series begins with Wazhma Samizay at Retail Therapy

Posted by: Kelly Robinson on May 25, 2010 at 09:00AM 0 Comments

Wazhma Samizay, owner of Retail Therapy

Dear Jess Voelker, Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Signed, Wear What When

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I’m happy to introduce Meet the Shopkeeper, in which we do just that. Style intern Kelly Robinson, a shopkeeper herself — so she oughtta know, will be conversating with folks behind registers all over town this summer. To start things off, we meet Wazhma Samizay from Retail Therapy. -Laura

WWW: What’s your personal spin on the ubiquitous “How can I help you?” question?

Wazhma: I am more interested in finding out how people are doing. I love my job because of the people that walk in, I want to know about them and that naturally helps me find what is going to make a difference for them. Sometimes it is a gift or an outfit, sometimes it is connecting them with someone else.

WWW: What is your favorite thing in the store right now?

Wazhma: Our Skunkfunk zipper dress. It is hot, innovative, and carbon neutral! And the perfect summer dress. I love how you can change the look in an instant. I also love our bacon pajama pants and underwear for the boys!

WWW: Where do you shop when you’re not at Retail Therapy?

Wazhma: Alhambra, Edies Shoes, Retrofit Home and City People’s.

WWW: What’s the most random or non-shopping related thing that has ever happened in your store?

Wazhma: I have a Polaroid wall of my favorite clients and have had people ask me to set them up on dates with various people.

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Tags: Locally Made, Capitol Hill, Locally Designed, Meet the Shopkeeper

Spring Cleaning II: Clean Slate

Locally made and nontoxic cleaning solutions and more at Goods for the Planet.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on May 13, 2010 at 06:00AM 2 Comments

Slideshow: The goods at Goods for the Planet; here, Usta-Bees 80s-sweater-turned-Swiffer cover

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Slideshow: The goods at Goods for the Planet; here, Usta-Bees 80s-sweater-turned-Swiffer cover

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Do they work? Only one way to know, but you don’t have to spend too much time around Goods for the Planet owner/buyer Suzanne O’Shea to get the feeling that she doesn’t really abide by too much uselessness.

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Swiffers, sure, I guess so, but for most jobs, a good old-fashioned broom does the trick. At Goods for the Planet, they’re sustainably built, and attractive.

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Considering what’s in some of the stuff that you use for the heavy duty duties, this thing seems worth a shot.

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Suzanne pointed out that Country Save (you’ve seen it at the grocery store) is a local product, made in Arlington. Really interesting story, actually.

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In addition to a few somewhat esoteric and niche products, Goods offers a great selection of natural, non-harmful all-purpose cleaning supplies — without the toxins, waste, and excess baggage.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a product that makes as much sense as the Swiffer replacements by Usta-Bees. The local woman who created them uses old sweaters to fashion washable, reusable covers for Swiffer-brand mops that save money, resources, and landfill space. You can get them at Goods for the Planet, along with stuff like Soap Nuts and good old-fashioned push brooms built with sustainable materials by at-risk communities.

Spring cleaning has just never felt this good. Usually the sense of tidying one’s life is somewhat clouded by the fact that, well, you could be napping or hiking or playing the piano and instead you’re tidying your life. But there’s something so gratifying about stocking up on non-toxic materials and supporting smart, innovative entrepreneurs. I won’t say it makes cleaning fun, but it makes it less terrible. See the slideshow here for more.

And then there’s this: Goods for the Planet is also a recycling center for hard-to-get-rid-of items like outdated CPUs, junky TVs, empty ink cartridges, and broken printers. Florescent bulbs, too. The shop’s website has more info on all that, but think about it: The more you clear out, the more room you have to bring new stuff in.

Then again that’s how you got in this mess to begin with.

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Tags: Locally Made, Locally Designed, Sustainable Such and Such, Spring Cleaning

Details, Details

Do them a favor: Townsend Bay Soaps

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on May 12, 2010 at 06:45AM 1 Comments

Slideshow: Townsend Bay Soap makes great guest favors

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Slideshow: Townsend Bay Soap makes great guest favors

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You could finish these guys for almost nothing; some inexpensive, earthy string or twine, and a few sprigs plucked from backyard trees.

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Something to keep in mind: Present soaps and other scented favors somewhere other than the dinner table. Or, if you want to give favors out along with whatever meal you’re having, make sure they are wrapped or bagged. Try Packaging Specialties for cellophane bags or a similar solution.

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If the twine or string feels a tad too earthy, experiment with dressing up the soaps with ribbons and other accoutrement.

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As with anything you choose as a guest gift, it’s all in the presentation

With wedding season about to march down the aisle, many of you are in the T minus X days zone, meaning the Big Event is drawing near and every waking moment is about crossing off final chores and duties and making last minute acquisitions. To help, we’re going to throw lots of deals, details, and specifics your way this spring and summer. Today: a pitch perfect, cleanly designed favor for Northwest-y celebrations.

The folks at Townsend Bay Soap Company are carrying on a generations-old tradition home-making small-batch house goods. The great thing about their handcrafted, all-natural, totally-elegant-but-perfectly-simple, wonderful smelling Woods of Washington soap is that hip, mindful, DIY twenty-somethings will appreciate it as much as wise older folks will. And as much as visitors to our peaceable kingdom will be psyched to carry a piece of our evergreens home with them, lifers like us appreciate the home-grown sentiment as well.

I first encountered the soaps at Field House; they are also carried at Blackbird. Check out this write-up of the company on that shop’s blog.

While I happen to think that the Woods of Washington would make a perfect guest gift, I’d be remiss not to mention that Townsend Bay also offers a Townsend Bay Rum soap. Serving mojitos at your reception? So perfect. There are actually about twenty different soaps in Townsend Bay’s arsenal; maybe Sea Mist or or Blue Sage works better for your big day.

Keep in mind that these little guys are made by hand and it may be difficult to source 200 or so of any one variety. Sometimes, even in the final hours, you’ll have to plan ahead.

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Tags: Locally Made, Party Favors, Gift Guide, Locally Designed, Wedding Details, Wedding Favors

100 Mile Registry

Local gift-picking site offers Seattle-blown glassware, not big-box goblets

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on May 05, 2010 at 07:00AM 3 Comments

Getting married? You can request these locally made rice bowls by Heidi’s Pottery on the Sound Trading Co. registry site.

Local dinner menu served right off the land? Check. Fresh flowers straight from the farm? Yep. Locally built suit, locally made gown… You two are all over the 100 mile wedding. Make sure your friends and family can participate too by registering at Sound Trading Company.

Lilah Steece, a Seattleite with a background in development and event planning for non-profits, co-founded the company when she realized that there were no options for a gift registry that benefited the environment and the community. Putting to work her ability to bring folks together and procure goods and services from local artisans, she created one. (Sound Trading also offers baby and general gift registration.) She still hasn’t heard of anything else like her site, so if the Seattle model takes off, perhaps Steece will, as they say, spread the love.

Though you can’t sign up for blenders or bath towels at Sound Trading, there are some nice options for dinner and serving ware made right around the corner, not to mention eco-travel packages and some smart local services. My favorite: Tiny’s Organic CSA box. Perfect gift for the couple who has everything, including a dedication to sustainable living.

Obviously, Sound Trading is an add-on, alternative registry. Do your department, home, and tabletop stores to cover your bases and ensure that Aunt Ida doesn’t freak out over how weird and alterna you’ve become, but then consider others like this one, as well as charity organizations and outdoor marts. Chances are good that your guests will appreciate the options, and anyway, it’s the modern, and very Northwest, thing to do.

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Tags: Weddings, Locally Made, Locally Designed, Registry

Working it for the Weekend

Where, when, what, and how to see, shop, and learn this weekend

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Apr 09, 2010 at 09:15AM 0 Comments

This piece by Dixie Darling is included in the show Accumulation at Fancy

See what I mean about that soft-sculpture accessories trend? A new show at Fancy in Belltown opens tonight; in it, hard and soft non-trad mixed-media pieces by local artists Rachel Rader, Sarah Loertscher, and Dixie Darling, whose work we featured here.

Nice people like you are welcome at the opening reception from 6-9p tonight, April 9. The pieces will be up through May 7.

In other stylish-goings-on-around-town, Field House announced the April schedule for those great (and *free*) DIY, live well, expand your mind, get stuff done, Sunday afternoon classes and events that began in March.

Check it out:

Sunday April 11 at 3p
Matinee Movie: ALONE IN THE WILDERNESS
From the Field House folks: Come celebrate the life of Dick Proenneke, as The Field House shows the first of more-to-come movies! Dick Proenneke retired at age 50 in 1967 and decided to build his own cabin on the shore of Twin Lakes. The first summer he scouted for the best cabin site, and cut and peeled the logs he would need for his cabin. Dick Proenneke returned the next summer to finish the cabin where he lived for over 30 years. Dick filmed his adventures, and Bob Swerer later turned the film into a video so we can all watch this amazing man build his cabin by hand.

Sunday April 18th at 3p
Get Your Spring/Summer Garden Going
Urban Pantry author Amy Pennington dispenses gardening tips so you can grow your own.

Sunday April 25 at 3p
Matinee Movie: YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU
Best picture winner from 1938, a “quirky story of love vs social class and property.” Oughtta be apropos of something.

The Field House folk want you to drop them a line at thefieldhouse (@) blackbirdballard.com to RSVP

So, that’s Friday and Sunday … what about Saturday you ask? Don’t forget, you’ve got a date with the new “It” bag.

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Tags: Openings, Belltown, Locally Made, Locally Designed, Ballard

Big in Japan

Filson sets up shop in Osaka, Japan

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Mar 18, 2010 at 08:15AM 2 Comments

Photo: Filson

Fiilson’s Yukon Wool Shooting Clays Coat: Watch for it this fall on the streets of Osaka

There’s one in SoDo. There’s one in Portland. There was one in Denver, but it didn’t work out so well. And as of March 9, there’s a Filson store in Osaka, Japan.

Japan has long had a hipster population that couldn’t get enough of Americana. Remember the 90s? Everyone knew someone who, after learning a few key Japanese phrases, got rich selling old Levis over the fledgling internet.

The trend lives on. The heritage brand thing is big at home, yeah, but, with a twelve-year history of great distribution via other retailers, Filson is huge in Japan.

I recently spoke with the company’s CEO, Bill Kulczycki, about the brand’s fashion ascendancy, its Gold Rush roots, and its first international store.

Foremost on my mind was how the Seattle-based company hopes to balance its growing number of Brooklyn-n-Ballard cool-kid type fans with its legion of hip wader-wearing hunting and fishing followers.

I figured I’d just go ahead and ask if the brand’s execs had found themselves sitting around a board room going, ‘Well, what should we do about these hipsters?’

“The minute you start to say you’re cool, you’re not, so we’re not going there,” Kulczycki told me.

So that’s a no, they’re not going to pull a Woolrich and hire an avant-garde Japanese designer to recut their clothes. But, he allows, they may continue to ‘adapt’ some of their looks not just for currency, but for younger, transitional clients beginning this fall.

It’s all part of what the ex-Patagonia exec and four-year Filson head calls a balancing act; remaining true to the outdoorsy types who use the product line to survive the elements while allowing the brand’s narrative to reach a larger, fashion-oriented audience. Both of whom, he wants to point out, place a premium on durability and quality goods.

Kulczycki is well aware that the story is getting out thanks, in large part, to two Seattle retailers with cult-like internet-based international followings. Both Totokaelo and Blackbird have been front runners in mixing field jackets with edgy, arty style.

Will they team up with, say, J.Crew to reach an even broader demographic?

Grandpa brands are big with the national style chains these days; Urban Outfitters sells Red Wing chukas and J.Crew serves as a rather unnecessary middleman between you Quoddy, the super-niche handmade, heirloom moccasin makers in Maine. Kulczycki won’t really say whether we can expect to see his company’s packer coats replacing Crew’s lookalikes, but concedes that if there is a customer who can’t otherwise access their product, those kinds of conversations may develop.

Something in the prideful, we-were-here-before-you-decided-we-were-cool region of my brain just doesn’t want to see Filson in that catalog (and if I catch you buying the brand via a national instead of a local, we’ll have to have words), but I’m not proud of it and it’s not necessarily a healthy, hometown-spirit attitude.

Sixty-five percent of Filson’s manufacturing is still done here in Seattle, (the Totokaelo link above illustrates that) and Kulczycki calls that made-in-Seattle mindset a core value of his company. Actually, he says the fabrication probably couldn’t be done elsewhere. His factory works with super-heavy materials and specialty hardware, and many of his employees have been at it for 15 or 20 years. It just wouldn’t make sense to pick up and start over somewhere new.

Photo: Filson

Inside Osaka’s Filson shop

So what’s good for the J.Crew customer, and the Japanese raw-denim and shooting shirt- wearing hipster, is good for Seattle’s economy.

Win and win.

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Tags: Locally Made, Accessories, Heritage Brands, Locally Designed, Menswear

Where to Find It: Made in the Shade

Dawn Bassett wants to cover your light bulbs with something non-toxic, traditionally built, and fabulous

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Mar 16, 2010 at 07:45AM 0 Comments

Slideshow: Dawn Bassett’s inspiring home decor and lamp shade boutique

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Slideshow: Dawn Bassett’s inspiring home decor and lamp shade boutique

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There aren’t a lot of artisans working in this old world style, and I’m not sure there are any as fun to learn from as Bassett.

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I love this: Dawn printed a bird-cage image inside this lamp so that it’s visible from the other side when the light shines through.

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this image borrowed from a Re-Nest blog post about Lit Shades

View Slideshow » Photo: Re-Nest

this image borrowed from a Re-Nest blog post

Not to rain on your daylight savings time parade, but I’d like to point out that we do lean quite heavily on artificial light around here. Consider lamps, then, the shoes of your home’s outfit.

Lamps and shades.

At Lit Shades on Capitol Hill, Dawn Bassett fashions lamp coverings out of rich papers and designer fabrics using old-world methods and non-toxic adhesives. If you think a light bulb’s dressing gown can’t create much of a style statement, take a pass through the slideshow here, and start noticing the lamps and shades in your world … Saggy, browned, and boring? You’d be surprised how little it costs to give your light sources a makeover.

(And if the lamps and couture shades look familiar, it may be that you’re a Revival Home shopper. Bassett’s work is offered and on display at the eat-your-heart-out-Kelley-Wearstler Cap Hill home store.)

The shop functions as a boutique, (Grace Gow earrings, gorgeous letterpress stationery from Bremelo Press) a showroom and meeting space for her clients, and a studio/workroom, and if you aren’t charmed by the chic proprietress rewiring vintage lamp bases and reworking antique wire frames in her Madmen-esque heels-n-skirts while her pet papillon pup scampers around, you probably can’t be charmed.

Bassett reports that a new shipment of old bases is arriving this week; though she does specialize and concentrate on shades, she scores vintage and estate lamps from time to time and is then able to sell you the whole kit-and-kaboodle. If you’ve got a dark corner or a dreary room, you owe yourself a trip to her sweet, stylish, and inspiring space.

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Want more illumination? Read What a Turn On and find out where else you can shop for period and designer lighting options.

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Tags: Locally Made, Capitol Hill, Home Decor, Where to Find It