Portland Market is for buyers, retailers and wholesale accounts only.  It takes place:

March 3-5, 2012

Tigard Embassy Suites next to Washington Square

To register, hit this link.

See you there!

Thatcher wears Chicago Harper Knit Pique Jacket with Twist Neck T-shirt and Arch Shorts. Nicole wears StudioSKB Menjou Knit Top and Adolph Pants.

Weren’t able to attend Portland Fashion Week?  No problem!

You can now see the Spring 2012 lines designed by Sharon Blair and Joshua Buck by hitting this YouTube link:  StudioSKB/Chicago Harper

Not all the garments were shown at Portland Fashion Week.  We were limited to 8 looks.  For more, visit our StudioSKB product pages.

Enjoy!

Our friend, the talented and lovely Eden Dawn writes a blog called Shop Talk for Portland Monthly magazine.  She has this to say in today’s post on Chicago Harper’s showing at Portland Fashion Week on Wednesday:

“Chicago Harper
What I loved: This line Joshua Buck designed for Sharon Blair’s Studio SKB company featured impeccable tailoring. I have one word for the pants: amazing.
Hoping to be helpful: If the goal is to hit up the Portland market, I’m worried the innovation will be a tough sell, but simultaneously I don’t want discourage creativity. It’s a tough one.

With all that massive amount of thought, praise, suggestions and confusion in my head I went into the longest judging deliberation we’ve ever had for Catapult.With panel members ranging from educators, to other designers, writers and shop owners there were a lot of conflicting opinions. After it was all said and done, we agreed with the audience vote and chose Amanda Grisham and her Pendleton based coatdresses to be the next Emerging Designer. We also wanted to make a special acknowledgement of the innovation we saw Joshua Buck making with menswear.”

So here’s a question to you:  Did you attend PFW/Catapult on Weds, Oct 5?  What did you think?  Love to hear your thoughts.

And see you at PFW Market on Sunday, Oct 9, 2-4 pm (11 am-4 pm if you’re a buyer) at the Benson Hotel.  Let’s see if Chicago Harper can sell in Portland!

Michael wears the Epaulet Tank Top and Arch Pants in plaid from StudioSKB/Chicago Harper at PFW/Catapult Wednesday.

Despite strong reviews from audience members and judges, Chicago Harper lost Portland Fashion Week’s emerging designer competition to Grishley, a Pendleton-backed women’s wear line.

Judges liked the strong design, construction and fit, but as one observer noted, most of the voting audience members were women and “they are going to vote for what they understand and can wear.”

Chicago Harper also showed Spring 2012 garments, in line with what other nationwide fashion shows would offer.  Grishley’s garments were wool, more appropriate to the rainy and cold Fall weather on the day of show or “what the audience could wear today.”

But, as designer Joshua Buck said, “We’re proud to have honorable mention.  Menswear is a difficult market to enter and it shows we won attention.

“What’s more important is how well we do at Portland Fashion Week Market on Sunday.”  At the market, buyers can take a look at the runway and new, more ready-to-wear samples.  Chicago Harper will take orders for Spring 2012 delivery.

Or as I like to say, Chris Daughtry didn’t win American Idol and look how well he did.

For a wrap-up of the emerging designer show, here’s a link to Marjorie Skinner’s article for Mercury on Design.

Chicago Harper/StudioSKB Spring 2012 now available for wholesale orders.

October not only brings the Spring 2012 women’s ready-to-wear line from StudioSKB designed by Sharon Blair.  It marks the launch of a new line of menswear designed by local designer Joshua Buck.  The line is inspired by the 1930 Marlene Dietrich/Gary Cooper film, Morocco.

Buck describes his collection as “Tradition mixed with the new.  Engineered for fit.  Detailed fearlessly.”  Buck’s line will debut at the emerging designer competition at:

Portland Fashion Week/Catapult

Wednesday, Oct 5

Doors open at 6 pm, show starts at 8 pm

Vigor Industrial Shipyard. 5555 N. Channel Ave. Swan Island

Contact info@portlandsewing.com to get your 15% discount on tickets

Joshua Buck designs Chicago Harper menswear. Owner Sharon Blair designs StudioSKB.

Ace Hotel Portland, site of Content 2011 Fashion Event

Nearly 1,000 visitors crowded through the

StudioSKB/Chicago Harper room at the Oct 5 Content 2011 Fashion Event at Ace Hotel Portland.  They came to view owner/designer Sharon Blair’s Spring 2012 StudioSKB womenswear line and the launch of Joshua Buck’s Chicago Harper menswear line.

Models Abraham, Libby and Garrison served as living displays to show the fit and comfort of the clothes in a Morocco-themed venue.  Morocco — both the 1930 movie and the Moorish architecture of the country — served as inspiration for the 2012 line.

Visitors got to see 25 garments.  The ones getting the most attention:

Tied Blouse & Water Pocket Skirt from StudioSKB

StudioSKB’s tied blouse and water pocket skirt.

Floral Jacket from Chicago Harper

Chicago Harper’s floral jacket with wrapped shorts and arch pants in blue plaid.

Arch Pants w/ Epaulet Tank Top from Chicago Harper

Blair and Buck will next show the Spring 2012 line at Portland Fashion Week.  The show takes place Wednesday, Oct 5, 8 pm at the Vigor Industrial Shipyard on Swan Island.  Market takes place Sunday, Oct 9, 10 am-4 pm (for buyers) or 2-4 pm (for public) at the Benson Hotel.

For more pictures, visit the Portland Sewing Facebook page.