floored by Leanimal on the final night of Portland Fashion Week
design: Leanimal. photo: Pete Springer.
What a treat to see something on the last night of Portland Fashion Week (Friday) that makes you lean forward in your chair to drink in every detail…precise pleating, quilted straps, pleated ivory jersey strips as lazy ruffles at yokes and straps. Leanne Marshall’s line, Leanimal, was that collection, a line of inventive, detailed, wearable looks that were surprising and sharp. She used a mustard cotton brocade for dresses like an empire a-line with curved patch pockets and a tiny pleated inset at the v-neck, as well as shorts, and another dress with a long pleated peplum over a lightly bubbled skirt. On a night that also featured vinyl dresses and bikinis suitable for unsuitable activities (stripping?), Leanimal was a breath of fresh air.
design: Leanimal. photo: Pete Springer.
design: Leanimal. photo (left): Pete Springer. (right): Nina Sage.
Marshall did a couple of dresses in red cotton sateen and this extraordinary vest with a pleated yoke and stand-up collar. We caught up with Marshall —whose show bio includes the fact that this grad of FIDM in San Francisco won the Levi’s Fashion Designer of Tomorrow award—backstage and discovered that her line is available only at Foundation Garments (2712 NE Alberta) and Lingo in New York.
design: Leanimal. photo: Pete Springer.
Magali Corzo did some interesting dresses in a spraypaint striped aqua silk, playing with the cut to take advantage of the print. Notable dresses were done in a smokey deep rose/red, one with little fabric paillettes on the bodice and another dramatically shirred and draped. In contrast, her opening look, also good, was a very modern one-shoulder, shape in ivory and taupe.
design: Urban Girl NW. photo: Pete Springer.
Urban Girl NW’s lingerie collection had two witty pieces, a baby doll in triple-layered pink chiffon and a lovely white column (that evoked both toga-meets-bridal gown) with a cape/train. Adriana Couture showed a jewel-toned chinoiserie group—dresses and coats—and notably two looks in an ivory/yellow brocade, a strapless sheath with beaded hem and metallic shawl over a brocade mini. Eden Dawn moved away from printed t-shirts, showing primarily full gathered above-the-knee skirts with crinolines, but the shape looked best when it could relax in jersey…a yellow skirt with matching tube top was very cute. Her best look was a turquoise empire-waist dress trimmed with a purple ribbon.
–photos: Pete Springer and Nina Sage
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