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Contributed by Sarah Elizabeth Caples
Two weeks ago I attended back-to-back fashion shows at The Fairmont Olympic Hotelin the Spanish Ballroom, directed by Eduardo Khawam. The first was Project Red Dress to benefit The American Heart Association, created by Monir Zandghorieshi of Fashion Group International. The contestants were given $200 for red fabric and 16 hours to complete a formal red dress. Students were chosen from 12 local fashion academies. The project was a brilliant way to cultivate a viable, local culture of designers as well as a community in the practical sense. This is exactly the kind of thing that Seattle needs to grow beyond its polar fleece.
Stepping out and stepping it up
The shows were filled with Seattleites dressed better than ever. You know it's good when the men look more stylish than the women. Project Runway's Nick Verreos was on hand to judge the show, as were designer Luly Yang, PR consultant Rose Dennis—one of the best dressed women around—and Seattle Metropolitan publisher Nicole Vogel. I got to mingle with my favorite people, including lavish event designer Count Kody.
I immediately became aware that my attempt at day-to-night attire had fallen short, and I wished that I had risked being late to put on something more formal, less bohemian—something RED. Still, I found myself happy knowing that people are more than ever trying to look their best, and I can no longer get away with my parlor tricks. Still, I did receive a very flattering compliment from Seattle fashionista Nicole Vogel, who was wearing an over-the-top MOD look with a sequined dress and black boots. Looking back, I could have been more gracious but instead, I confessed my awkwardness about the whole day-to-night thing. I love that Ms.Vogel always brings it when it comes to her style, starting with her blunt bob. I regret that I didn't get to go to some fabulous club with her after just so we could be a spectacle on the dance floor. Ironically, the MC of Project Red Dress, Poison Water, asked Nicole if she thought a woman could successfully do day-to-evening, to which Nicole replied, "We were just talking about this. Yes, I think she can." Bless her. Being a fashion stylist, I can't help but feel challenged and inspired by this sentiment, so, using Nicole as my muse, I came up with these looks for Polyvore.com, click the arrow to see the next look or click the link to see each item up close:
As for the show itself, I enjoyed seeing the community come together to support the endeavors of the young designers. We are new at "fashion" in Seatttle, which can be awkward, but it seems that with every show we grow a little more as an audience.
The documentary The September Issue, about Vogue, largely covering editor Anna Wintour and creative director Grace Coddington, pursued the subject of the influence that celebrity culture has had on fashion in American culture. Even Vogue has had to ride the wave of celebrity buzz to keep itself selling. It's no mystery that having names associated with Reality TV shows, especifically, Project Runway, is a great way to generate a buzz. When it comes to fundraising, buzz is critical to the success of an event, let alone a fashion event, which in our city is still hard to grasp. The proceeds were raised for The American Heart Association and a $3,000 scholarship was awarded to the winner, Rebecca Beesley (pictured here with her model and garment), who will also have three-month internship with Luly Yang. Her dress will be displayed in a highly visible window in the Luly Yang showroom at The Fairmont Hotel. Visit Brick House Photography to see more photos of the event.
The next show,
Forbidden, was a lingerie show, again with a fabulous reception outside of the Spanish Ballroom. And again, I had a great time mingling with my friends. I bumped into designer
Fransisco Hernandez, who has created an amazing tuxedo shirt in his
Built For Man line that I got to use in a photo shoot at a penthouse in
Escala. However, due to the skimpy nature of the
Forbidden show, his models (who were INSANELY hot) were not exactly wearing much of anything.
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Although, he is not a lingerie designer, Hernandez has created knits in the way of head coverings and armlets that are clever for the Pacific Northwest man. They are stylish items that can be worn as layering pieces, easy to take on and off with the changing weather. Inspired by our nordic culture, using premium fabrics and gorgeous alpaca, I found myself wanting these pieces for myself. For the men of the
Subterfuge scene, his tuxedo shirts and corvatts make a perfect transition from the opera or ballet to a rock'n'roll show, club or cocktail party. They can be worn with trousers for formality or with jeans. Either way, it would be hard not to be the most appealing guy in the room in these pieces.
I followed the show up with a midnight snack at
Barolo with friends, super handsome and coy
Blaine Reed who has just started his own personal service business,
Steven and
Galina Peterson who looked so vampy hot with her husband, and two of my favorite partiers, the stylish and dear
Joanne and
Bruce Glant. We discussed the shows at length, ate to our heart's content, and a gentlemanly Blaine walked me back to my Belltown apartment. It felt like a summer evening was almost happening. It's amazing what moderately warm weather and good friends can do for a night. It seems that we can have fun anywhere...
Seattle fashion at present
The longer I live in Seattle, the more relentlessly I'm hammered on by one thing, and it's not the rain: It is the fact that we are not a fashion center. AND it will take a lot of cultivation before we become one. After seeing how SIFF has blossomed over time, I'm convinced that our grassroots approach to the arts has the potential to take us anywhere. In the last six years that I've lived here I have noticed that, when it comes to fashion, Seattleites are like little kids imitating reality shows and it looks a little silly. Yes, I said it. I am sorry, too, because I don't like hurting well meaning peoples' feelings. However, I can't continue down this road in the community and NOT say anything. The fact is, fashion is not yet fully understood as an art form in Seattle. We've recently come to embrace food and architecture in this manner, but still seem to have a disconnect with the history and artisanal aspect of garment making.
It is and has been an art since people started wearing clothes within any kind of class structure. When we do find a worthwhile local designer, that individual doesn't seem to have people around him or her who can support the level of quality needed to be taken seriously. For example, on a runway the hair, makeup and models are consistently out of synch. I'm pleasantly surprised when the shoes actually make sense with the clothes, or when the model is the right archetype for the attire. Because networking is so pervasive in Seattle, all of the events tend to feel like a corporate function rather than an actual "show." At least at The Fairmont Hotel the chandeliers, carpet, seating, moldings, and paint colors are all telling the same story. It's my hope that someday the elements of a given show will do the same. With the exception of Luly Yang's show, I don't think I've ever been to fashion show here where there wasn't too much talking and self-conscious goofiness.
What Seattle fashion needs
Stay with me here, I'm not an asshole, really. I do offer a solution, and that is the support of good
creative directors. Designers, photographers and marketing entities need to understand what these people do and utilize them once and for all. Certain people must admit that they don't know what they don't know because it is the only way that they will make room for the
Grace Coddingtons—the geniuses who understand fashion and style as more than just a cute little game that allows the consumer to lead. The consumers should not lead in the case of fashion. They should be lead. It works as a business when the leader is on the top of the Zeitgeist foodchain. I don't use the word genius lightly here either. To be well versed in fashion periods, to know when to keep and break the rules of fashion, to understand iconic imagery, and archetypal language, non verbal communication, the architecture of a garment as it relates to the body and the environment, to be intuitively aware of all of these dynamics on such a level as to produce an
influential image in a photo or video, along with introducing a show to the public that has these elements within its choreography, does in fact require multi-layered intelligence.
That said, I want to express the flip side. What I see in our young city is enthusiasm. I see people who want to be involved and who are sincerely ready to cultivate themselves and the community. It is in this cultivation that being intellectual, politically savvy and artistically inclined become the inherent traits of the Seattleite. Thus, we have the fertile bed for a decent sensibility regarding fashion. Cultivated individuals understand that fashion is the art form that allows one to express individual style. Style is meaningful, and it is important to grasp its relevance because it is the way in which the individual establishes power in the larger society. Not understanding this is a form of social ineptitude if not social suicide outright. We haven't fully made the transition from the 90s anti-materialistic ethic (which was our heyday, thanks to Grunge, REI, Microsoft and Starbucks), to the idea of embracing lifestyle as an art form. However, I do feel a sense of weariness from the habit of needing to react against something, if not everything. We were effective in those days and our style said as much. Our style told the world what we were NOT about. On to better things. At some point the teenagers grow up and realize that it's more effective to define oneself in the positive.
The potential of Seattle fashion
Despite a slumping national economy, Seattleites still value a good lifestyle—we want to do the right things, be conscientious consumers, eat organic food, take care of our environment, support artists and entrepreneurs, etc. It follows that those values will lead us to being mindful of how we adorn ourselves as well, and that self adornment will be a reflection of our self actualization. We are still caught up in being politically correct for fear of being on the wrong side of things. As liberal as we think we are, we have actually made a fundamentalism out of liberalism. I sense this habit is about to run its course. I meet people who more and more, just want to be who they are. They want to enjoy themselves and each other without all the snarky, rain-soaked self-righteousness.
We are seeing a culture of Seattlelites emerging that take the advice of their life coaches putting serious thought into their image, not just for self-improvement reasons, but for the sake of philosophical and artistic expression, too. I imagine, optimistically, that as we become more academic in our approach to fashion, the shows that we produce will as well. Perhaps, in the not so distant future, we can look to the high fashion runway shows of New York and Paris to lead us as opposed to reality shows. But for now, it's the reality shows that speak to the everyday person, who is still learning the lexicon of fashion, and it's the reality shows indoctrinating us. However, should one find the need to delve deeper—yes,
deeper—Style.com. has every noteworthy runway show available for immediate viewing. Chanel or Balenciaga anyone? I wouldn't put it passed the overly educated Seattle citizenry to enjoy a higher form of academic fashion tutorial vs. reality show antics.
This Red Dress designed by Jason Arrington, 2nd runner-up, has zeigeist leader written all over it.
True cultural leaders will not be satisfied with anything less. Making a scene, creating a fad, or being socially relevant are not merely about being astute observers, but about understanding the era that one is a part of because one is cocreating it. Seattle was, not so long ago, the definition of America for this reason. It was quintessentially the modern day person's place to be. I can't help but think that today, we have it in us to do better than merely immitate what we see on TV. For now I will continue to encourage the local fashion community to keep on keeping on. I will see the well-meaning people through. As we define our future by being the home of one the world's largest independent film communities, an art community that continuously surprises, amazingly good food, passionately dedicated to the health of the environment, with an aesthetic sensibility which reflects all of these things in who we are, who we are becoming...as we cultivate all of this we must shake off the recent past, and learn to embrace those who will give us cultural gravitas for posterity. Seattle is home to of some of the greatest rock'n'roll legends of all time, as well as innovators in technology. I know something amazing has yet to come. Perhaps, another worthy fashion moment beyond "grunge" and "geek chic." There is much for us to discover about ourselves as we continue to experiment with who we are, as we develop a culture made up of extremely smart people from all over the world, people who have yet to evolve from the latest hipster movement into something self-possessed, knowing and refined. Our day will come.
