Shopping Around: February 2010’s Shopping Finds

Category: Shopping + Fashion Articles

 

The Field House may be the only Seattle store where you can walk out with a Filson jacket, a hand-knit vintage afghan and a fresh-from-the-market apple for the road. The brainchild of Blackbird/The Candy Shoppe owner Nicole Miller, the new Ballard shop opened in October and was inspired by Miller’s early childhood spent playing and working on her grandmother’s farm in rural south King County. Carefully edited American heritage fashions (Pendleton, Woolrich, Quoddy, Alden) mix with an old-school general-store vibe, where locals are welcome to grab some groceries (the House stocks milk and eggs from local farms), find a unique gift or shop for Steinbeck-era fashions. Miller’s spot also hosts free weekly classes on practical and old-school crafts such as churning butter, shining shoes, sewing buttons and hemming. Karen Johnson

It’s been a year since filming wrapped on season 6 of Project Runway, TV’s fashion design smackdown, and contestant Logan Neitzel is liberated. No longer under the shackles of strict assignment constraints (think garments made out of newspaper), the longtime Seattle resident—who designed accessories for Seattle’s Coal Headwear prior to Runway—finished in the top six and has found his design niche, ironically, with the tough and dramatic look that auf Wiedersehened him from the show on October 30 (a black-collared vest, chunky leather belt and textured skirt with crinoline overlay). His new line of edgy clothing includes leather, clever use of zippers and exaggerated silhouettes. The 26-year-old’s favorite muse is what he calls “rock ’n’ roll hipster meets creative avant-garde,” pairing the likes of tough-girl leather boots with inexplicably voluminous skirts and form-fitting jackets.
Neitzel, who recently moved to New York, is continuing to do custom work—including studded leather handbags to order via his Web site (loganneitzel.com)—while searching for that elusive breakthrough: designs that will put him among the ranks of his idols, Tom Ford and John Galliano. Kate Calamusa

Even if you aren’t an Olympic skier (alas), you can at least look the part with Portland-based ICEBREAKER’s salsa red Dash Zip merino wool body-fit top. The long-sleeved layering shirt is encoded with a “baacode” to identify the specific New Zealand farmer who raised wool for the shell (Icebreaker’s merino growers adhere to strict animal welfare rules for happy sheep), and is also lightweight and breathable, for maintaining the perfect internal temp while cruising down the slopes on your way to an (imaginary) gold medal win. $89.99 at icebreaker.com and REI (multiple locations, including South Lake Union, 222 Yale Ave. N; 206.223.1944; rei.com). K.C.