Rio Wrenn. Murder at Leadbetter and A Lump In Her Throat. 2007. detail.
What’s the lineup for the Mercury’s Spring Fashion Show look like? A few surprises, a few unknowns, a few repeat customers, and a couple of designers who have been in the trenches for some time now. As in years past there is an all-over-the-placeness, recall the disparity between sophisticated designs by Daniel McCall and plastic purses incorporating condoms. So who do we have here? Rachel Gorenstein’s chic and highly-evolved line Rachel Mara available at her boutique Moule in the Pearl District is as un-Mercury as McCall was. Both Janeane McSpadden and Gretchen Jones have shown in past Mercury events. Here’s McSpadden again, with sweet dresses from her line In Love & Memory and Jones (whose line of dresses and feathered headpieces is available at Seaplane) collaborating with Melody Geer on a line called Freyja.
Rio Wrenn does hand-dyed fabrics, often using rust as the dye, that she’s made into visual art in recent past. It will be interesting to see the garments she shapes from her fabrics. Anisa Makhoul has said of her line Makool that she almost never uses prints because she silkscreens her own prints on her women’s sportswear (she also runs the online boutique Makool Loves You).
Accessories and jewelry will be represented by Jess McCloskey’s Paper Treasure (available at Olio United and Motokitty) and ElizaBeth Rohloff who does hats, bags, and apparel.
The list is rounded out by Dust by Julia Blackburn, Elizabeth Spencer, Allison Covington’s Amai Unmei who showed at Portland Fashion Week and recently at a Nicolle Shops Portland event, and Chelsea Erhart’s line Erhart (available at Foundation Garments) recently seen on the runway at DT5. Ruth Waddy is an artist who also does costume design and did the Junk to Funk trashion show.
The event goes down April 20 at the fashion show central, the Wonder Ballroom .
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