Considering that upscale downtown retailers are reporting a decline in sales of 20 to 30 percent, you’d think it wouldn’t be long before Seattleites’ duds became nothing more than threadbare clothing hanging off skeletal frames standing aloof in gluten-free bread lines. But this city’s most stylish are still buying—they’re just buying in more selective, accent-oriented ways.

At Baby and Co, manager Jill Donnelly is selling the edgiest European street wear (asymmetrical skirts, architectural vests). Elsewhere the überchic—crashing stock market and rising joblessness be damned—are darkening the door of Eric Akines’s Belltown boutique, Polite Society, and, says Akines, nabbing dresses from local designer Madina Vadache’s high-priced, hand-ruffled, high-necked, hot pink-and-mustard yellow ready-to-wear collection.

Over in Fremont, Angie Sorensen has spent recent weeks sitting inside her shoe shop, Lamb’s Ear, watching plucky shoppers sashay away atop hand-carved, sculptural heels by Belgian designer Ellen Verbeek. Sorensen sold out of three models in as many weeks; none cost less than $500 a pair. At Nordstrom, there’s been a run on floral Uggs.

So yes, economic collapse is upon us, but some Seattleites are lifting their—and our—spirits with embellished collars, shocking colors, and big, balloon-shaped skirts. Most. Stylish. Recession. Ever.