I used to feel like Laura Ingalls. Remember when the wilderness-dwelling
family of Little House on the Prairie made the arduous
journey to Mancato? Ma, Pa and the Ingalls girls would stock
up on enough flour, molasses, calico and other life-sustaining
goods to last through yet another brutal winter. (Palm Springs
had apparently not been discovered yet.) That's how it used
to be for me in Portland. Only instead of Mancato, the destination
was anywhere but here: L.A., San Francisco, New York. And
instead of calico, I'd replenish the larder with cutting-edge
apparel and footwear.
Though personal adornment is as old as the wheel, Portland
was long a city in which style was synonymous with intellectual
vacancy. Own more than a tube of Chap Stick and a pair of
Docs and you risked the ridicule of your peers. Prefer French
Vogue to Voltaire? Quel travesty! Local shops addressed
either the hemp-wearing hippie or the woman seeking the
added benefit of birth control in her clothing (read: ugly).
Well unhitch your wagon, baby, because all that's changing.
Portland is embracing style. And it's about time.
There seems to be a growing awareness in this city that
it's OK to look good. It's not only acceptable to wield
both a Saks and an REI card, but we're showing pride in
our rebellious, unpredictable approach to getting dressed.
That's why I started StyleSheet, a bimonthly fashion
newsletter in which I outlined key trends from Paris to
Portland. I suspected there was a place for personal style
in a city where black Gore-Tex passes as formal wear. I
was right. P-town residents were hungry to know what's hot
and where to get it. Willamette Week agreed and one
year later asked me to contribute a column to the paper.
The result: Self-Service, my weekly dish on all things stylish.
My goal is to bring you the scoop you need to help streamline
your look and your life--what to keep or toss, welcome or
avoid. Like your mother would, if your mother had taste.
Remember: Personal style is your inalienable right. That
calico skirt is not.
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Willamette Week | originally
published May 5, 1999
|
