Flourish fashion show. photo: Pete Springer
It wasn’t a dark and stormy night, but it is getting dark earlier and it did drizzle on the Flourish fashion show last night at the corners of N Beech and N Mississippi. We’d feared earlier in the week that we’d be standing on a baking hot parking lot watching the show so the rain-ette was a relief…although it did keep one woman busy mopping up the runway between models.
from Amalee. photo: Pete Springer
A boutique fashion show (this one featured seven on N Mississippi) does two things. One, it gives you a sense of how the boutique is defining itself (if you have six looks to show, which will they be?) and it lets us get a bead on how fall is going to look in Portland. One never knows how the runway and nationwide trends will play out in Portland. But as many will be buying from the wealth of smaller boutiques we have, we caught a glimpse of the palette from which local women and men will be able to choose as they build fall looks.
from Phlox. photo: Pete Springer
from Amalee. photo: Pete Springer
The dominant look for women is the dress, most often the dress that hangs away from the body, an empire waist with fuller skirt or a trapeze shape. We’re still seeing the kimono influence though it’s just a tail of the comet phenomenon (a metaphor we’ve used half a dozen times in the last week). And while there will be plenty of greys mirroring the NY/Paris runways, there are also mustards and dirty blues and big, fabulous prints. Great looks included the white tie with plaid shirt combo on one of Blue’s male models, the pleated collar coat from Phlox, print dresses from Amalee, Phlox, and Gypsy Chic, a cream evening dress set off with a band of silver sequins, as well as a caution-light yellow swing cardigan from Pin Me.
from Blue. photo: Pete Springer
from Gypsy Chic. photo: Pete Springer
Oh, and the tiny models from Black Wagon killed us. The best look was the little girl in a pumpkin jumper over a black long-sleeve t with her stripey socks and smart black hat, but you’d have to have a cold, dead heart not to appreciate all of the tiny kids shyly hitting their marks at each of the three uplights (we called them “fright lights”…remember holding a flashlight to your chin to scare your sister?) on the stage.
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