Wear What When

Fashion First

Get your tickets for Seattle’s fall fashion boutique event.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Aug 18, 2011 at 09:30AM 0 Comments

Photo: Fashion First

Tickets are on sale now for Fashion First on September 15 at Showbox Sodo.

It’s that time of year again.

Each fall, for eight years now, Fashion First gathers local shoppers and puts them in front of a runway decked out with newly arrived fall fashion from local boutiques and/or designers. At the same time, via ticket prices and an auction, the show raises money for worthwhile local charities. On the runway for 2011: La Ree, Baby and Co., Ragamoffyn’s, and more.

This year’s celebration is Thursday, September 15; doors open at the Showbox in SoDo at 7. Tickets start at $50 and can be purchased via the Fashion First website.

Here, three questions for Fashion First’s Joan Kelly.

WWW: What was your original goal in starting the show and how has it morphed into more or become exactly what you wanted it to be?

JK: The original goal was to create a marketing platform for independent retailers and designers. Since then it’s grown and we are able to offer the participants a ton of marketing with all the changes in the industry. Issaquah-based designer Lizzie Parker handles all the back-end. She is all over the boutique owner’s visions, making each set truly display the individual branding. She has a very sophisticated taste level and she is always pushing it to the next level. She brings a show that won’t disappoint. It is going to be the best we have ever seen in this area.

Helping make up the Fashion First crowd that Joan Kelly says is the best in Seattle and the Eastside, Sway and Cake owner Tamara Donaghy.

As the ultimate insider at FF, what’s your favorite part: Seeing things come together backstage? Watching the front row revelers? The after party?

Watching the crowd deliver. They can BRING IT. Not only their donations to Rise n’ Shine but also their outfits. The best crowd in Seattle—or the Eastside. It’s a party. As my Grandmother always said, “Eat before you drink.” Good words to live by.

Most importantly, what are you wearing?

There are so many great shops involved in Fashion First, I would have to change my outfit several times that night to showcase the best of them. So I’m still deciding. For now, just the YSL Tributes in olive brown (they rock, BTW ) and perhaps the robe I wear to water aerobics.

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Tags: Seattle Fashion Show, New for Fall, Baby and Co., Fall Fashion 2011

Trunk Show: 3.1 Phililp Lim at Nordstrom

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Aug 18, 2011 at 08:00AM 0 Comments

Photo: Nordstrom

Me, I woulda done a taupe-toned bootie with a little bit of sock showing, but no matter how you style it, this 3.1 Philip Lim dress is on-point.

Where: Downtown Nordstrom, Via C on the second floor.

What: 3.1 Philip Lim trunk show. Fall is upon us, and from this New York-based designer, it’s as elegantly restrained and quietly edgy as ever. Talk about wearable…

When: Check it out on Friday, August 19 from 12 to 3. Lunchtime shopping, anyone?

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Tags: Seattle Trunk Show, New for Fall, Nordstrom, Fall 2011

Just Landed: Fiorentini and Baker at A Mano

A favorite boot line shows up for fall.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Aug 04, 2011 at 02:00PM 0 Comments

Fall has arrived at A Mano, in the form of Italy’s Fiorentini and Baker.

Seattle women do like their boots. Many of us, I’d say, love our boots, and a perennial favorite is Italy’s Fiorentini and Baker.

Several styles just landed at A Mano, where fall arrivals mix it up with on-sale summer styles. The overall vibe is, as ever, handmade and earthy but not too casual, and as European as it is Northwest.

I remember that last fall a friend was socking away money for a tall, taupe neo-Victorian pair of lace-up Fiorentinis, but my favorite style from A Mano’s current edit is this softly studded biker. Picture it with a full-length everyday dress in some fall texture and weight, or with a pair of summer’s sharply hued denim and a big sweater.

And keep in mind the very Seattle, quite 90s autumn mood at the recent Nordstrom Designer Preview; combat boots with Missoni dresses, and quasi-industrial stompers with Chanel.

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Tags: Seattle Style, Shoes, New for Fall, Just Landed, Grunge

Just Landed: Sofie Olgaard

Catch the Danish-by-way-of-SF minimalist’s fall collection at Zebra Club, Canopy Blue, and Seduce.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Aug 30, 2010 at 08:00AM 0 Comments

Slideshow: San Francisco designer Sofie Olgaard’s fall collection in Seattle stores … soon

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Slideshow: San Francisco designer Sofie Olgaard’s fall collection in Seattle stores … soon

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A little quiet romance, not a lot of flash. Very Seattle.

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Not that there isn’t something very Seattle about a bit of a cut-out and a sweetly sexy surprise.

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The minimalist color palette feels purposeful instead of merely simple. (Not all pieces will be available at all three stores.)

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Finally, Olgaard’s version of the all-important LBD

Where: Zebra Club, Canopy Blue, and Seduce

What: Dark, minimal, a little goth, somewhat romantic, not-so-basic fall basics by San Francisco’s Sofie Olgaard. The Scandinavian native’s San Fran-angled sensibilities feel right at home in Seattle. Check the slideshow and see if you agree.

When: Zebra Club gets the first shipment on August 30, Canopy Blue gets its ruffled-shoulder, backless black blouses and other pieces in mid-September, and Seduce adds the line to their brand list in October.

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Tags: Eastside, New for Fall, Just Landed, New in Stores

Just Landed: Nicole Bridger

You’re in love, and a B.C. fashion designer is intent on reminding you

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Aug 13, 2010 at 08:00AM 1 Comments

Slideshow: Nicole Bridger’s soft, sustainability built line is available at Horseshoe in Ballard

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Slideshow: Nicole Bridger’s soft, sustainability built line is available at Horseshoe in Ballard

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Nicole Bridger’s Strength dress

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The Goddess skirt (who knew it was so easy?) by Nicole Bridger, available at Horseshoe in Ballard

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The Presence top by Nicole Bridger

Where: Horseshoe

What: Mindfully built organic cotton, hemp, bamboo, wool, and modal skirts, shirts, and dresses by Vancouver, B.C.‘s Nicole Bridger. The nearby designer, who worked with both Vivienne Westwood and Lululemon (how’s that for well-rounded?), sews a tag that reads “I am love” into each of her pieces as a way of passing on a good vibration or two each time you pull on an electric-teal jumper or a fantastically neutral, perfectly draped top.

When: Now. Preview the styles here then head to Ballard to see them for yourself.

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Tags: Ballard, New for Fall, Just Landed, New in Stores

Just Landed: Marni + Current/Elliott denim collaboration at Nordstrom

Hang on to your hat; fall’s on its way.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Aug 09, 2010 at 08:00AM 0 Comments

Photo: Marni/Current Elliot lookbook

The boyfriend jean of the moment, and this fall, goes both ways: Dressed up and dressed down.

The boyfriend jean is back. Or maybe it never left. One thing’s for sure: It’s never had such a fine pedigree.

Marni designer Consuelo Castiglioni teamed up with the Current/Elliott crew (those masters of ye olde old man jeans); their denim-only capsule collection includes a handful of roomy, hip-slung, pre-thrashed styles; of which Via C at the downtown Nordstrom has two. (If you’re lucky, Ms. Annie Sparrow, she of the much-missed Tulip – now of the iconic silvery-gray shopping bag, will be there when you go.)

Now, let’s be clear on this: Castiglioni could have teamed up with whomever is responsible for those Kirkland jeans at Costco and we’d be there to try them on. No one understands – or plays so nicely with – color, shape, femininity and asexuality like she does. And Current/Elliott definitely knows how to coax you out of upwards of $200 bucks for a pair of jeans.

Nordstrom got one drop at the beginning of the month and is getting another at the end of the month. Plot accordingly.

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Tags: New for Fall, Just Landed, New in Stores