Wear What When

What’s Your Take On… Amazon Designer?

The locally based e-tailer has been doing fashion for almost ten years now, and people are finally starting to notice.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on May 15, 2012 at 06:30AM 2 Comments

Photo: Amazon Fashion Facebook

The emperors at Amazon have some new clothes, like current looks by Robert Rodriguez. But the South Lake Union–based mega-retailer is not new, per se, to selling them.

Everybody’s talking about Amazon these days. Of course, people talk about Amazon a lot; the local company is pretty good at giving them new developments, issues, and general scuttlebutt to chew on. But what’s different about the recent buzz is that they’re talking about Amazon and fashion.

It started, as many things do, with The New York Times. Their May 7 headline was “Amazon Leaps Into High End of the Fashion Pool.”

The caption under the image of a slightly uncomfortable Jeff Bezos not quite relaxing on a rolling rack of brightly colored women’s clothing pieces read, “Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive, says the company’s new effort is not about selling clothes at deep discounts but at prices that ensure ‘the designer brands are happy.’”

And really, that could’ve been enough to get us all talking. Ensuring designer brands are happy? What about ensuring that I’m happy? Seems like a ballsy statement, and yes, I’m aware that it’s very Seattle of me to read it that way.

But the piece wasn’t about customer service or the lack thereof. It was about Amazon going for fashion dollars, plain and simple. Or maybe not plain and simple but dressed-up, gilded, and dyed some right-now shade of day-glo orange.

And then what happened after that was sources like Forbes coming out with headlines such as “Amazon Now Selling High-End Fashion.”

The local tech-watchers at Geekwire followed up with a piece pitting Amazon and their ‘new’ channel against Nordstrom.

But wait a minute. Amazon was already selling high-end fashion, and competing with Nordstrom and a zillion other e-tailers. While most of the news reports made mention of the company’s sub-sites like myhabit.com as well as Amazon’s existing fashion channel, the general vibe was akin to a big new department store opening on Pike Street. (If you know anyone in Seattle who works in studio hair and makeup, styling, modeling, or photography, you know they started shooting online catalog and editorial fashion three or more years ago—largely with out-of-towners, though that’s been changing, and job opportunities, if not sight lines, seem to be growing.) Were these reporters and others having a sort of new age emperor’s-new-clothes moment—or just a slow fashion news day?

I spoke with a representative at the company—it took a while to connect; the style and PR crew was at the Met Gala and related good times in New York.

(Side note: Another reason a bunch of fashion hullabaloo has been stirred up recently: Amazon was a big sponsor of the Met stuff. Of that partnership, the Amazon rep I spoke with told me, “Amazon was talking with Vogue about online fashion in general and the idea of sponsoring the exhibition developed out of that conversation.” Side speculation: What was it like when Bezos sat down with Wintour??)

Of course, no one over in South Lake Union was going to give me anything like yeah, we don’t know why they just now noticed that we sell Robert Rodriguez… (they do offer a lot of Robert Rodriguez). The official position from the company’s reps is “Amazon has been in the fashion business since 2003 and we are continuing to add new fashion experiences—we’ve acquired and built new websites like MyHabit and ShopBop. And we’ve added hundreds of brands and new features and technologies that make shopping even easier and more enjoyable.”

A little more from Amazon HQ: “The marriage of content and technology is transforming the way people consume information about fashion—and how they shop for fashion. They want their size and their color preference to be in stock; they want it delivered directly to their doorstep; and they want the freedom and comfort to try their items on in their own homes, with other pieces in their closets.”

(Another side note: the morning after the thing in The New York Times, I got a press release about a study from The Luxury Institute which lead with, “Wealthy U.S. shoppers earning at least $150,000 a year rank Nordstrom highest among luxury retailers.” Maybe Geekwire reporter John Cook was on to something there with his crosstown rivalry angle.)

Bottom line: It may have felt like news, especially in light of all the Met Gala stuff, but there’s nothing really newsy going on in the company’s fashion offices.

Still, it gives us this opportunity to look at the local e-tailer in a new way, and consider how and if they’re changing how fashion looks, feels, and affects the Northwest.

Does Bezos’s emphasis on pleasing the brand, not necessarily the shopper, feel a little hard to pull on? Could, on the other hand, there be positive ramifications—let’s call them designer in-stores, trunk shows, fashion shows—of designers having a reason to come to town and take a meeting with a Seattle mega-retailer? Are you not even concerned about all that, given ShopBop’s and Habit’s big-time discounts? And those in-stock, immediately deliverable options?

Does it feel unsexy to add summer brights to a shopping cart that contains the new John Irving novel and something really random and Amazon-y like a showerhead? Does convenience trump sexiness?

Do you care where you get the piece you want if you get the piece you want? How is the huge glut of online shopping shaking out in your world—and your wallet? Are you loyal to any one experience or brand? Do you consider shopping at Nordstrom or Amazon a “local” experience? Have you noticed that your favorite real-world boutiques are reacting to your click-to-buy habits?

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Tags: Online Shopping, What's Your Take On..., Retail News, Seattle Retail News, Amazon

Uniqlo Rumors Revisited

Well is it or isn’t it?

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on May 10, 2012 at 08:15AM 2 Comments

Is Uniqlo bringing dozens of polo shirts to Seattle, or not?

When I posted in March about the possibility of Uniqlo opening downtown the response was pretty clear: You’d really, really like the chance to shop the Japanese version of American Apparel.

So I continued poking around, trying to substantiate the rumor, and eventually spoke with a member of a prominent business association in the downtown neighborhood. My contact in turn chatted with her colleague, a real estate specialist, and came back to me with the news of no news. He could find no evidence of Uniqlo coming into Seattle.

But what about this, a re-post on Simply Hired for management trainees? (The Simply Hired post was what started all this speculation last winter.)

And then on Twitter via Yay Today, this popped up: “Made my day-the cashier at uniqlo in NYC just told me that 2 locations are coming to Seattle by early next year!”

Did Yay Today know something the downtown real estate specialist didn’t?

I followed up on the Tweet via a direct message, and heard back that, “Hi! I was at the soho store and asked the cashier I’d been talking to. No name :(. But he said it as if it was common knowledge & that …” (second message, character number restrictions and all…) “They’d be opening 2 stores by early 2013.”

And then I did something I probably ought to have done back in March, but didn’t because I just never trust email addresses listed on “about us” pages. (Do you?) I emailed the U.S. customer service alias and heard back in pretty short order.

The reply to Request ID :##30470## was, “We have received your email inquiry about new store information. We do not have any details about future store opening in Seattle. For future plan, please wait until we announce in our website.”

Where are we at with this, people? Do cashiers have information that customer service reps and downtown business specialists do not? Do cashiers just not know about embargoed news and the protocol of sharing it? Could it be, as my editor-in-chief suggests, that Uniqlo isn’t going into downtown but maybe U Village? Susie Plummer, general manager there, says nope. She’s talked to the Japanese retailers, and they’re doing their due diligence and checking us and our spaces out, but according to her, nothing is eminent.

Are we or aren’t we getting a Uniqlo?

I wish I knew.

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Tags: Seattle Retail News, Uniqlo

Velocity Speaks

It’s his side of the story; former modern design dealer John Tusher on the state of retail and the reality of losing it all.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Mar 20, 2012 at 10:15AM 9 Comments

One of my favorite pieces from Velocity Art and Design: modular dinnerware by Seleti.

Earlier this month I wrote about three local store closures, one of which was Velocity Art and Design. And then the emails began. Some of you left comments in the post’s comments field, but more of you sent me emails testifying to the woes I mentioned, and asking me to please, please let you know if I got in touch with former owner John Tusher.

Well, I’m letting you know: Tusher and I emailed yesterday after a mutual friend put us in touch.

Tusher’s initial statement was “after 12 years of business, truly a business built on passion, and waiting out the last years of the recession by investing every last cent and I had into the company, and taking on extraordinary debt, we simply ran out of money in February and I was forced to close the doors and cease all operations practically overnight. My debt load was simply impossible to dig out of, and our plans of going online only were completely tanked by a terrible run of sales in 2011/2012. I tried everything to keep the doors open as long as possible, hoping, as always, to pull it out literally in the next week as I had done for years. When the money ran out, it forced my hand. We had no more funds to operate at all. I am in the process of declaring personal bankruptcy as I have nothing left. I sent out as many emails as possible to vendors, clients, etc before my email turned off, but we had to vacate our office immediately in order to satisfy that landlord. We liquidated everything we could to pay as many debts as possible, and sadly, everything else will be handled through my attorney in the bankruptcy.”

Velocity’s former owner says he “realizes that people will be upset, and angry. The personal attacks, however, are sad. If I had intentionally run a company to screw people, or gained a giant sack or money, or had sold the company, or were skipping town, or retiring early, I could understand being royally pissed off. Fact is, I’m having to start over from scratch in my entire life without a darn thing. I’ve told all vendors that they can reach me at this address, however I don’t know what to say to clients at this point other than to contact their credit card company for a refund. I don’t even have all of their information as the server that I was able to get from the office has a data corruption and it’s taking weeks to get any information pulled out of there that could even show me client information.”

In an effort to provide more closure on this issue, I submit the conversation that followed.

WWW: Were there other times in your design retail career that felt as scary as the last two years? Can you describe the change you saw in consumer behavior?
Tusher: The last three years have been terrifying. The entire world was flipped on its head. The model that we operated under from 1999 to mid-2008 was completely upended. What we created years ago was visionary. There were very, very few folks daring to sell home furnishings or artwork online. I had to really push to get vendors to even agree to let us sell online. Clients were also not as “connected” as they are now. Back then, if you wanted to look at home design, you read magazines, books, visited retail stores, and the few websites that were out there. Fast forward to the blog world and etsy, and the entire system changed. Magazines crashed, blogs took off, and all of a sudden everyone was launching a modern home furniture store online. It wasn’t clients’ expectations that changed, it was the entire landscape. You had online-only stores (pre-recession) that were grabbing vendors as fast as possible to drop-ship product without the overhead of a warehouse or store. I always loved the store so much because we could allow people to see and feel the products. Interacting with clients was critical to my enjoyment of Velocity.

Consumers however, decided (and rightly so in some cases) that things were overpriced, and started haggling over prices, demanding discounts, and not supporting the retail storefront as much. They wanted it for the cheapest price, in the shortest amount of time. That helped fuel the push for most all of our vendors to develop a sales stream direct to the customers through their own websites. If I had a company like that, I probably would have done the same thing. It was interesting how many of them over the years said that they never wanted to compete with their retailers, but in the end did just that. I’m not blaming them, as that is simply the nature of changing business. Many of our vendors also started to embrace the flash sale sites, thus discounting their products for a limited time up to 80 percent off retail. Again, I’m not blaming anyone, but rather pointing out that the retail scene has changed considerably in the last five years.

Have you seen how many small independent retailers have gone out of business in Seattle? It’s still a very difficult market out there. The arrival of West Elm and future arrival of Room & Board will also continue to change the landscape for home design in Seattle. The biggest player that came strong on the home furnishings scene was Amazon. They really hit a home run by allowing other folks to sell on their site. It was a brilliant business move, and brought so many of our vendors to much greater exposure. When we would hear people say that they saw it in our store or site, and then ordered it on Amazon, we knew that the landscape had forever changed.

So that it’s clear to the designers I’ve heard from: when you filed for bankruptcy, you lost the store and more or less everything in it? You were not able to take any of the goods with you, in order to return them to their original sources?
When the doors closed and in the weeks that followed, we liquidated as much as possible to pay as many folks as possible. I pretty much lost the whole enchilada. As debts to vendors go, according to what I have heard from other vendors and retailers over the last few years, our payments to them were nowhere near as old as others in the industry, but I’m not trying to diminish anything. A $50 bill to someone or a $5,000 bill carries the same weight to me. We did our very best over the last month to really tighten up and sell through all of our inventory and pay folks to make a go of it online only. The filing for bankruptcy should be official in the next two weeks as I still have a lot of paperwork to complete. The business doesn’t exist, so this is a chapter seven personal bankruptcy. Even though we were a corporation, I had to personally guarantee everything. Anyone that thinks that I got off just closing the biz is sadly mistaken.

If you knew then what you know now … anything you can share with us under the ‘what I would have done differently’ category?
That’s a pretty hard question to answer at this point. There is so much that I would have done differently, and it probably revolves around not having a physical store at all. I loved having a store. Really did. But it cost me big time. I could have also reduced my costs considerably by reducing my staff, only drop-shipping, etc. None of which would have been the company that I wanted to run. Also, simply deciding in 2007 to keep the business going might not have been the best decision? It’s all so hard to say in hindsight. There were things I could have acted on faster, or changed up knowing what I know now. No one could have predicted though that the lights were going to be turned out in October 2008 with the start of the biggest recession we will probably ever see in our lifetime.

Do you foresee a time when you’ll want to try to get back into the design, lifestyle, and retail realm?
I would love to get back into that realm as soon as possible. I loved and still love everything about art, design, style, fashion, and retail. That passion is impossible to snuff out overnight with something like a business failure. It’s time to simply reinvent myself and offer my services up to another company. I’d like to work for an online e-commerce company (Amazon would be a great fit; frankly in their home department—maybe I could make a modern home style division?), or consult with small business, or clients on their interiors, or lifestyle, or to just help them follow their dreams. For 12 years, I ran a company with a spotless reputation among vendors, the BBB, press, and most clients (you can’t please everyone). If I choose to define my life for the failure of the last three months due to economic conditions and loss then I’m really out of whack. It was a dream come true to start and run my own business—through the ups and downs. I learned that as much as I was Velocity, that Velocity sadly was just a business and it doesn’t define me completely. What defines me is the way that I have conducted myself with people over the years, supported artists, designers, staff members, family, friends, my ex-wife, and most importantly my son. It’s truly the greatest sadness that he will not inherit Velocity, but that will bring me to tears if I think about that right now. I have tried my best to live a life that is authentic, and unfortunately some folks are confusing the crash of Velocity with my intentions. That’s a sad connection to make, but people are entitled to their own opinions. I can only thank the countless amazing people that I met and worked with over the last 12 years: vendors, press, and clients alike, and say that I’m truly sorry for the way that it ended.

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Tags: Velocity Art and Design, Seattle Retail News

Uniqlo in Seattle?

We have reason to believe the Japanese fast-fashion company might be coming to Seattle.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Mar 19, 2012 at 04:55PM 7 Comments

Uniqlo is like a lot of other big-box fast-fashion retailers, but it’s also not like any of them at all.

About a week ago, a friend sent me a listing from simplyhired.com in which Seattle-based retail management candidates are asked to submit resumes to Uniqlo, which is more or less the Japanese version of American Apparel. Only more cult-ish, and, considering there are no half-naked coeds in Uniqlo ads, more tasteful. And, considering the string of collaborations with Jil Sander, just way cooler in general.

I made a few calls—no one knew anything and we all wondered what building they’d move into (is there an empty one?)—and sort of forgot about the almost-news until earlier today when I saw another friend post something on Facebook about how Uniqlo’s new site has no e-commerce. (Her equally annoyed and disgruntled friends posted comments about trying to unlike the post.)

Well, it might no longer matter that you can’t order the perfect stripey sweater from Uniqlo’s nearly useless site, because the retail chain might be rolling into town some time soon, hiring some fashion nerds, and setting up shop. Which, by Uniqlo standards, isn’t an easy thing to do. Whether you’re a fan of the brand or brand new to it, you should find 20 minutes to read the venerable New York Magazine’s Uniqlones, in which writer Bryant Urstadt explores how “seemingly out of nowhere, their cheap, skinny rainbow-colored basics became a kind of New York uniform” and asks “just how did the Japanese discount brand become the hottest retailer in the city?”

Make time also for this short Associated Press via Seattle Times piece that mentions that Uniqlo head Tadashi Yanai is Japan’s richest person, and quotes him as saying that Japanese companies are doomed if they don’t go global.

Going global = opening in Seattle? I’ve only got one piece of evidence that says it might be true. What have you got?

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Tags: Seattle Retail News, Uniqlo

Headlines: Filson Hires Richard Chai

Now the local brand is really in fashion.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Feb 09, 2012 at 08:05AM 8 Comments

The guy who designed this, Richard Chai, now has his hands in Seattle’s 115-year old pride and joy, Filson. Hunting, fishing, and blue runway lipstick? We can’t wait to see what comes of it.

A short list of people attending New York Fashion Week while you and I order double espressos in the rain: Anna Wintour, Kanye West, local photographer and Seattle Met contributor Alvin Nguyen, and the dude from Filson.

Seattle-based CEO and president Mark Korros is previewing the fall ‘12 shows and mingling with editors, stylists, and buyers because, as Style.com recently reported, his brand new coworker is a big player in the week’s events. Hot young American designer Richard Chai has been named Filson’s new creative director. This is no contract gig or one-off collaboration. Chai’s on staff.

Sure, our beloved SoDo-based retailer of all things rugged and hipster-approved has been in fashion for the last few years, but this new partnership means they’re really in fashion.

When Chai shows later today, his models will be sporting gear inspired and informed by Filson sport gear. The New York–based designer, a longtime Filson fan, worked with the Seattle company last year to negotiate this; it was during these collaboration conversations that Chai was offered a position with the company.

I exchanged emails with Korros just after he touched down in NYC yesterday; next up (fingers crossed), I’ll be able to chat with Chai when he comes into town. Korros says Chai is “very anxious to experience the brand in its environment.” Is it just me? I can’t help compiling a mental list of restaurant recommendations and shopping stops for him.

Check back tomorrow for images from Chai’s show; for now, read my dialog with the Filson boss.

WWW: Filson’s collaborations with fashion brands of late have been really exciting—I’m thinking of the Levis x Filson thing. I imagine these kinds of projects will only get more interesting if Chai is encouraged to bring in other exciting young designers.
Korros: We will continue to work with Iconic American brands on a select basis to bring new and exciting products to market. Richard’s influence will be focused on helping us build out our “Rugged Casual Apparel" offerings as we work to provide our customers great Filson apparel and accessories to fit their everyday needs.

I know it’s always been important for the company to stay loyal to outdoorsmen and those who don’t necessarily have fashion on their compass. At the same time, a new customer is finding Filson every minute … and looking for fashion pieces. Presumably, Chai will offer more for the latter than the former—do you foresee him having a hand with utilitarian duck hunting vests, too?
It is as important that we maintain our commitment to function as our commitment to building high quality everyday apparel with a focus on Filson classic styling and comfort. Our customers can enjoy both from Filson, but they do not need to be the same.

Should we expect radical changes and new product lines from Chai as creative head?
We do not see this as change as much as expanding upon the heritage we have enjoyed for 115 years. Richard shares in our passion of Filson’s classic design. Together, we will continue to build approachable, timeless styles from the best materials and combine craftsmanship that is built to last the test of time.

Some Filson pieces are now being produced in China; are there any plans to move all manufacturing back to the U.S.—back to Seattle? Does Chai have an interest in domestically produced goods?
Over 70 percent of what we sell today comes from our Filson Seattle-based factory. We employ 95 people here with several who have decades of experience crafting our apparel, luggage, and accessories. [Seattle] is very important as it relates to the core of our brand. We would choose to produce everything here in Seattle if possible. Resource limitations we’ve faced have forced us to source elsewhere in the U.S.A. and other countries around the world. Made in the U.S.A. is very important and is part of what the Filson Brand is; we are looking to keep producing [Chai’s] designs in our [Seattle] factory or with our other authorized sewing partners in the U.S.A.

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Tags: Filson, Retail News, Seattle Retail News, New York Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2012, Richard Chai

New Store: West Elm

New store’s creative director says it’s all about the mix.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Oct 03, 2011 at 09:29AM 1 Comments

New West Elm store opens in South Lake Union on Thursday October 6 at 10.

On Thursday October 6, a new but well-known home furnishings brand will debut in South Lake Union.

Although the 15,000 sq foot 2201 Westlake Ave location (the retail-specialists at Callison served as architects) is West Elm’s first and only brick-and-mortar in town, some Seattleites are already familiar with the web- and catalog-based lifestyle brand. And some others aren’t.

We chatted with Vanessa Holden, West Elm’s creative director (and, we might as well mention, the former Editor in Chief of Martha Stewart Living), about the high/low mixed/matched approach to home decor.

WWW: If you had to sum up the West Elm look in five words, which would you use?
Holden: Soulful, Eclectic, Global, Functional, Approachable

In Seattle, we have lots of Craftsmen homes, lots of mid-century homes, and—like the building in which the new store will sit—lots of new construction condos. Can you share with us the West Elm philosophy on mixing genres, eras, and design periods? What design periods does West Elm draw from and what is your personal approach to including varied references in one’s home?
Varied references are what make a home exciting, personal, and meaningful. Really it’s you who should dictate your home’s décor, not necessarily the stylings of your environment or a specific era or design style. We’re of the belief that if you surround yourself with products you love, regardless of whether they are defined as “modern” or “mid-century” or “traditional” they will have a point of view, and that point of view is you. We try to offer a mix of styles, materials, textures, colors, prints, patterns, and silhouettes, so that the customer can work among, and with, our product to discover their personal style. For us, it’s all about the mix.

Why Seattle, and why now? Tell us a little about why West Elm is coming to town.
We’ve been looking for the perfect location in Seattle for a while. We have loyal customers through our catalog and website who have been telling us they want a store! Now we have the opportunity to service these customers in a new way, and introduce new customers to our brand. South Lake Union seems to be emerging as a design hub for the city and we are thrilled to be a part of that.

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Tags: South Lake Union, Seattle Retail News

Headlines: Portland Collection in Elle

Our sister city is in the national fashion mag this month.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Sep 30, 2011 at 02:00PM 0 Comments

Elle features Pendleton’s Portland Collection and takes a page from the Northwest look in this month’s issue.

We’ve talked about Pendleton’s Portland Collection under the rubric Headlines before, and you’ve seen our edit of the pieces in New West; I want to make sure you don’t miss page 218 in the October issue of Elle magazine, either. Told ya there’d be buzz.

(If you want to see the pieces in person, I’d suggest a trip to Les Amis, where they mix in beautifully with lines by Rachel Comey and Isabel Marant.)

With the subhead, “With the high-end Portland Collection, Pendleton Woolen Mills lays claim to a fashion-savvy, youthful customer,” the national mag piece tells the story of Pendleton’s president, his light bulb moment (summed up: young cool people like us!), and the look, feel, and street cred of the men’s and women’s looks created by Nathaniel Crissman, Rachel Turk, and John Blasioli.

Word from a reliable PDX source has it that Pendleton didn’t commission the designers to do a spring collection because they wanted to see how fall sold. Because the current season is selling so well, Crissman, Turk, and Blasioli are sketching and cutting as we speak, hard at work on Fall 2012.

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Tags: Seattle Retail News, Seattle Style Headlines

Just Landed: Filson x Blackbird

Could this bag be any more local?

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Jul 28, 2011 at 10:00AM 0 Comments

Photo: Blackbird

Blackbird found the only way to improve on Filson; they got them to make a bag in black.

Props to Blackbird in Ballard for knowing that the only thing you could to make Filson bags cooler is to make one in black.

And then another round of props to the menswear pioneers for actually getting the iconic Seattle-based brand to do it.

For sale now at the shop and on blackbirdballard.com: the Filson Medium Field Bag in Blackbird Black. Don’t sleep on it, though. Only 66 of these things were produced, (as in historic Route 66) and each comes with a harmonica, a copy of the sheet music for Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land,” and a railroad striped bandana.

Authentic Americana, by way of Seattle, for $265.

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Tags: Accessories, Seattle Style, Filson, Seattle Retail News, Blackbird

New! Kuka Pradel

Locally made—by way of Bolivia—silver jewelry near Luly Yang and Clutch.

Posted by: Katie Ormsby on Mar 21, 2011 at 12:00AM 4 Comments

Photo: Lucas Anderson

SLIDESHOW: Kuka Pradel is a sleek addition to the shops around the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, which include Luly Yang Couture and Clutch.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

SLIDESHOW: Kuka Pradel is a sleek addition to the shops around the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, which include Luly Yang Couture and Clutch.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

Kuka Pradel’s spring collection includes pieces like this orchid ring that Prado finishes with a white glaze.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

It’s possible to spend less than $20 and more than $200 at KP.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

The shop also carries a small selection of home accessories, including these rosewood bowls with silver accents.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

Prado’s mother taught her how to make jewelry as a young girl. The shop shares her mother’s name.

Luly Yang Couture and Clutch have a new neighbor. The boutique on Fourth Ave is called Kuka Pradel but you can just call it KP for short, or to avoid tongue twistings.

Owner Bianca Prado is all about silver jewelry, and she makes much of it herself. The rings, necklaces, bracelets, and other pieces cover a surprisingly large range of price points—from $10 to $300—and styles. Some pieces are chunky, some delicate. Prado experiments with rosewood accents, mother of pearl, and stones like garnet and turquoise. And she makes custom pieces.

The shop also has a small selection of home decor: silver photo frames, bowls, and serving dishes.

Back to the difficult to pronounce moniker: Prado’s originally from Bolivia and started making jewelry as a young girl. ‘My mother taught me,’ she explains—and Kuka Pradel is her name.

Click through our slideshow for an inside look at the new shop.

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Tags: Locally Made, Jewelry, Locally Designed, Seattle Retail News, Downtown Seattle Shopping, New Seattle Boutiques

New! Butter Home at Melrose Market

Small in space, but big in nostalgic charm.

Posted by: Katie Ormsby on Mar 15, 2011 at 08:00AM 0 Comments

Photo: Lucas Anderson

SLIDESHOW: Climb the stairs inside Melrose Market to find Butter Home.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

SLIDESHOW: Climb the stairs inside Melrose Market to find Butter Home.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

The grandma’s attic feeling perfectly suits the overall vibe at Melrose Market, where it’s all about earthy riches and regional, relatively simple charms.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson
View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson
View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

From Butter Home, you can look down at the rest of the Melrose Market.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

Butter Home sells decorative flowers and heart-shaped magnets made out of scrap metal.

Just above the Calf and Kid there’s a new cozy little home decor shop in the Melrose Market — Butter Home. It’s tiny and feels like you’re walking around your grandma’s attic, which in this case is a good thing.

The 366-square-feet of this in-the-rafters boutique offer a surprising array of woodsy furniture, tasteful dishware, vintage-inspired glassware, and funky knickknacks like scrap-metal flowers and decorative twine balls made from recycled newspaper. Owner Claire Corley tries to stock as many sustainable, local, handmade, and vintage pieces as the space allows.

Her love for all things old started early; her grandparents owned the San Francisco auction house Butterfields (now known as Bonhams & Butterfields) when she was growing up. In fact, that’s part of what inspired the name Butter Home.

The other part? ‘Well butter’s the best food,’ Corley explains with a smile. Get a peak around the shop as you click through the slideshow here.

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Tags: Capitol Hill, Home Decor, Melrose Market, Seattle Retail News, New Seattle Boutiques

Slideshow: Swink Style Bar

Seattle’s original blow dry bar is set to open in U Village early this spring; here’s what they do.

Posted by: Sarah Hirsch on Feb 11, 2011 at 07:00AM 0 Comments

Photo: Featherlocks

Slideshow: What’s a swink? Celebrity inspiration and real-world salon images illustrate the work. Here: feather extensions, the latest thing from the trend machine.

View Slideshow » Photo: Featherlocks

Slideshow: What’s a swink? Celebrity inspiration and real-world salon images illustrate the work. Here: feather extensions, the latest thing from the trend machine.

View Slideshow » Photo: Mandy Arroyo

“The Swink”
The house blow-out; whatever that may mean to you: straight, wavy, curly, or otherwise perfectly face-framing.

View Slideshow » Photo: Mandy Arroyo

“The Cosmo”
A “Euro-chic ponytail” – harder to do than it sounds, you can customize with perfectly straightened ends, curls, or a little flip.

View Slideshow » Photo: Getty Images

“The Fifth Avenue”
Think straight, smooth hair on a classic uptown girl, like Kate Bosworth’s Park Ave princess locks.

View Slideshow » Photo: Getty Images

“The English Rose”
A sweep of an updo with twists of hair and falling tendrils, like Kristen Stewart’s artfully undone look.

View Slideshow » Photo: Mandy Arroyo

“The English Rose”
Swink’s take on old romanticism with plenty of pintucked curls.

View Slideshow » Photo: Getty Images

“The Knockout”
Half-up, half-down; Lucy Liu went curly but you have your choice of curls or straightened tresses.

View Slideshow » Photo: Mandy Arroyo

“The Knock Out”
But it’s more like a mix between the “Knock Out” and the “5th Ave,” right? Super straight, and half pulled back.

View Slideshow » Photo: Getty Images

“The French Connection”
Courtney Cox rocks the modern chignon: low on the head, smooth, neatly tucked.

View Slideshow » Photo: Getty Images

“Belle du Jour”
You can go for a more Victoria’s Secret-style bedhead look like Leighton Meester, or something a little more shampoo commercial perfect.

View Slideshow » Photo: Mandy Arroyo

“Belle du Jour”
Like the aforementioned shampoo commercial perfection of well-done, smooth curls.

Downtown’s Swink Style Bar is getting a sister salon in University Village. The new store will open early this spring.

Swink makes its business on quickie blow-outs and hairstyle makeovers; they don’t even offer time consuming cuts and colors. Hairdryers, curling rods, and straightening irons sub in for scissors and shears, and most styles are priced around $30 and take about 30 minutes.

Owners Natalie Angelillo and Jacquie Byrne opened their downtown location November 2009 and, for a certain set of girls, quickly established themselves as the place to go post-work, post-gym, post-bad hair day, and "pre-prom or graduation,":/blogs/wear-what-when/michelle-moore-swink-senior-portraits-070210/ pre-wedding, pre-party, pre-date.

They’ve since added eyelash extensions, full makeup application, facial waxing, and their latest: feather and tinsel hair extensions.

‘We’ve been looking for a second location for some time and University Village was a natural fit for Swink,’ said Natalie Angelillio. ’As one of the top ten malls in the country, it attracts a wide demographic, and is ideal for our array of services. We appeal to the college gal who wants to add feathers to a style for a party [see the slideshow if you have no idea what she’s talking about. -eds] and the mother-of-the-bride who wants to get makeup and a blowout for her daughter’s wedding.’ Angelillo also added, ‘We are actively working on opening a salon in Bellevue by the end of the year.’

Assuming there are three or four of you who haven’t been blown-out, feathered, or otherwise up-done we asked Angelillo and Byrne to help us illustrate the Swinky possibilities with a slideshow of salon images and celebrity inspiration.

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Tags: Seattle Style, Seattle Retail News, Seattle Hair Salon

Retail News: Blackbird Expands

Ballard’s essential menswear shop is opening a second location slightly south…in Portland.

Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Feb 10, 2011 at 07:00AM 0 Comments

Photo: Blackbirdballard.com

Portland residents can expect to see pieces like this one from Blackbird’s in-house line when the new, 600 square foot shop opens this summer.

Word went out yesterday morning that Blackbird owner Nicole Miller will be opening an outpost of her essential, edgy menswear store in Portland.

The shop will open this summer just two blocks from the Ace Hotel (holy hipster heaven) on W Burnside and NW 13th Ave.

As to what’ll be for sale at the new shop? Tell your bike-riding BFs in Portland not to expect woolly plaid shirts and the like. Miller says, ‘To me Portland doesn’t need another Pendleton outlet, so you can expect a lot of our own Blackbird label and our more seriously design-driven brands like Robert Geller and Rick Owens.’

I like it.

Portland, Blackbird’s gonna look good on you.

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Tags: Seattle Style, Seattle Menswear, Ballard, Seattle Retail News, Blackbird