Phlox’s Barbara Seipp writes in to answer my request for perspectives on what 2007 was and what we hope 2008 can be:

I think the highlight of ’07 has been the performance of Portland’s local designers. Since arriving in Portland, I have watched the scene develop and I am impressed with Portland’s ability to cultivate and attract talent. Along with that, Portland women are definitely becoming more adventurous, a little bit more sophisticated in their fashion sense. We are moving away from the Patagonia-clad or hipster-uniformed look.

The best trend of 2007 really started in ’06, but didn’t catch until this
year – The Return of the Waist! Love, love it. All the belted shirts and
sweaters combined with the high-waist pants couldn’t make me more happy.
I hope this casual glamour, Katherine Hepburn look lingers for awhile.

I think the best emerging designer is Agnieszka Zoltowski. Her jewelry is
amazing! She walked into my store and showed her work – I was blown away
and thrilled to have it at Phlox. You can visit her site,
appleseed-designs.com, to see a small (her collection is huge) sample of
her work or you can come into Phlox to see some of it in person.

In the new year, I will be re-launching my line! I am very excited about
this, I have been away from it for too long. Expect new designs toward
the end of February.

Bad trend – the mis-use (over-use) of “eco-friendly” or “green” as
associated with apparel. Sustainable practices are very important to our
future and I think that these words have become very diluted in the
apparel industry. On my last buying trip it seemed that *everyone* was
using this type of language to promote their use of organic fibers in
their lines – many made in Asia. Organic fibers are good, but we need to
also think about where this stuff is produced, it takes a lot of fossil
fuel to truck those organic fibers from China. It is nice to see the
Portland fashion scene setting standards and keeping the “sustainability”
dialogue at the forefront.