Sunday, July 8, 2007

Duchess Clothier

The spouse is excited because while we're in Portland we're picking up a bunch of shirts from Seyta at Duchess Clothier.

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Seyta's space is right next to Audio Cinema, under the Hawthorne Bridge.

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It looks cool inside. I've never been to an event here, but I'm looking forward to the original rock opera that a friend will be performing in here this fall.

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OK, back to the business at hand.

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Nice shirt!

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Seyta and her partner make custom (or "bespoke," as the kids like to say these days) shirts and suits.

She does amazing work. You can pick designs from the '30s, '40s, '50s, or '60s, and choose all the details (open collar, French cuffs, number of buttons, placket width) -- OK, please excuse me, I really don't know suiting terminology.

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Plus, you get to choose from hundreds of fabrics in her swatch books.

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The girl's just really into men's clothes. It's her personal mission to get the men of the Northwest to take a little more pride in their appearance. She tells about a friend of hers who's recently instituted optional "Formal Fridays" at his office. My husband, a preening fop, would love that.

I am crazy about this suit. I wish my husband's tastes were a little more Western like this.

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7 comments:

chuck b. said...

Bespoke? Wha? It's like we have to learn a new language to keep up. I know if I can do that.

This does make me want to go shopping somewhere cool tho'.

JvA said...

"Bespoke" is one of those words that's come back into popular use lately. It's like what "segue" was in the '90s. The word itself is from Middle English, and its "hand-tailored" definition is from the mid-1700s, apparently.

chuck b. said...

Just today I saw an online database describe its "bespoke consultancy services" (last sentence of the first paragraph).

And turns out the word has it has its own Wikipedia entry.

(I might have known.)

Mark me down as a hater.

JvA said...

I'm sorry to have alerted you to the existence of that word. Because now that you know what it is, you're going to start seeing it everywhere.

chuck b. said...

Well, so far, so good. And I should thank you for prepping me for the inevitable, I guess.

Anonymous said...

I am glad I came across your blog! I ordered a suit and two shirts from Seyta at the end of July. I'm really looking forward to them.

The Goods:

A dark navy blue flannel cut similar to what you might see on Frank Sinatra.

A plain point dress shirt made of a very unique oxford cloth -not royal,pinpoint or pima.

A plain point dress shirt of pale blue stripes on white broadcloth.

JvA said...

Hurray! Thanks for sharing your good news. Hope you love your new clothes. I'm happy to have been able to help.