design: Sameunderneath. photo: Minh Tran
design: alula. photo: Minh Tran
Duchess suit. photo: Minh Tran
design: Lizzie Parker. photo: Minh Tran
design: Lizzie Parker. photo: Minh Tran
design: Lizzie Parker. photo: Minh Tran
The first look out of the gate on night two of Portland Fashion Week was sensational, a difficult to describe and impossible to forget cross between a batwing top and a cutaway cape slashed front and back in an ivory bamboo jersey. That it was layered over a t-shirt and knit pants was one of the stories of Lizzie Parker’s spring 08 collection, interesting layerings most often over leggings that were worn casually bunched up at the bottoms in a smart wabi sabi move on the part of whoever styled the runway looks. Another great piece was a short jersey skirt draped at each hip. There were odd bits too that we didn’t love (big white plastic buttons and short wide pants with a print band at the bottom), but still appreciated the designer’s daring to try something like a melon-colored gaucho fitted (very) through the upper thigh and getting busy with gathers below that. Parker’s best looks were in cotton and bamboo knits, kimono-sleeved fleece jackets, for example. Parker’s showstopper brought the feathered trend to the Left Coast with an ivory tube topped dress whose wide skirt was a cloud of feathered plumes.
design: Duchess. photo: Minh Tran
design: Duchess. photo: Minh Tran
design: Duchess. photo: Minh Tran
Oh my god, we loved Seyta Selter’s Duchess collection of men’s suits. The royal blue three-button sack suit, again with Thom Browne-length narrow pants…yum. Her gangster-lapeled suit in lavender and mustard stripe was so good, (actually so 60s London worn with ivory patent shoes!). And for the more conservative gentlemen, she did a fine brown three-piece suit and her opening number, a sleek black tone-on-tone stripe suit cut conservatively (relatively speaking) that was so very modern. We will not similarly exult over the the Western-style smokey purple corduroy suit with it heavy black piping that made Corey look like someone had outlined his suit in black marker (though the idea of a thin-wale corduroy suit is intriguing). Please wear these made-to-measure suits and help beautify Portland.
Surprise! Those were Dayna Pinkham’s smart men’s hats making Duchess’ men look even more brilliant that before. See Pinkham’s full collection Monday night. Pinkham, like Selter, trips through time and style with her statement-making hats.
design: Nike Considered at Portland Fashion Week. photo: Minh Tran
It was good to see Nike participating in PFW. Interestingly the Nike Considered story was told as much in the program as on the runway because Nike Considered is no longer a line, but a way of designing that heads toward sustainability being applied companywide. For men and women, the casual looks featured chevron pieced bodices in shirts and jackets. Notable pieces included wacky ivory jodphur-style pants that zipped up the sides of the calves and a very cool hoodie with a shirred hood that cutaway in back. Also notable, a pair of men’s shoes we’d seen earlier up close…its unlined leather upper was laced to the sole and cork insole, presumably so that it could be easily taken apart and repaired or recycled. A thinking man’s casual shoe. The woven backpacks were also really interesting and worth another look.
design: alula. photo: Minh Tran
design: alula. photo: Minh Tran
alula’s spring looks ranged from jersey dresses to seersucker suits. Very good looks included a dusty blue cotton jacket over their witty polished-up take on 70s running shorts, and the putty-colored shirt dress with odd swoopy pocket detail in the front (because its a dress one could do a lot with). As well, the little details were good like the tiny covered buttons on the grass green dress, a favorite of ours, and the paperbag waist on the yellow pleated skirt (the color of French’s mustard).
design: Sameunderneath. photo: Minh Tran
design: Sameunderneath. photo: Minh Tran
Sameunderneath’s Ryan Christensen, opened their post-intermission runway presentation with a lengthy theatrical introduction that explicated Sameunderneath’s philosophy with Ryan serving as teacher with a big digital blackboard to the students (models) at school desks on the runway. “What is Sameunderneath?”, models raise their hands, slideshow featuring MLK, celebrities in Sameunderneath clothes, candid shots of Same team, children in Africa that played (as did the entire collection) to a very friendly, very vocal crowd.
Unlike TOMS Shoes which has a specific plan of attack, donating one pair of TOMS shoes to a child in a developing nation for every pair sold, Sameunderneath’s suggestion of globally conscious action is more vague. If there are photos of children in Africa or Sameundernath logos on different countries in a world map, does it imply that Sameunderneath garments are manufactured or purchased in these locations, both? Neither? It will be interesting to see how Christensen’s very finely tuned message translates into action in the years to come, because this presentation seems to suggest that there is more going on here than the choice to use sustainable fabrics.
design: Sameunderneath. photo: Minh Tran
design: Sameunderneath. photo: Minh Tran
design: Sameunderneath. photo: Minh Tran
Sameunderneath showed a comprehensive collection of the casual staples their known for, t-shirt, hoodie, short pants and shorts for men and women in a palette of mustard, grey, black, green. The story here is one of fit which is trimmed up substantially for men following women’s lead. So the knee length shorts are cut strait and worn at the waist. And the fab detailed men’s track jacket with diagonal light blue piping was trim and slick. There were a number of trim jackets for women, from hoodies to light cotton jackets.
design: Sameunderneath. photo: Minh Tran
As in recent Sameunderneath collections, there were a number of higher end women’s looks (dresses and little suits) that stepped away from the t-shirt genesis of the line to the degree that they really deserve their own sub-label under the brand. (Men’s looks like the mod pattern-lined jacket are heading in that direction for the guys.) Designer Amy Christensen showed several good shorts suits, one a great zip-up, empire waist shortsleeve jacket suit with knickers.
design: Sameunderneath. photo: Minh Tran
Likes: the gentleman in the wine velvet sportcoat over the ivory turtleneck in the third row, daring, shipyards, ushers, the lovely crop-haired brunette downstage front row, men in suits, ships, the hardworking photographers, tall girls, elevated seating for good sight lines
Dislikes: intermissions, lines at bars, lines in general, that much makeup (you’re probably so pretty underneath it), developing PFW sub-theme: brown pants
On the fence about: jewel-y spectacles, winter woolie scarves worn as permanent indoor/outdoor neck accessories, alula’s runway music (good weird or bad weird)
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