While rain is inevitably making its way back to Portland, you can transport yourself to a sunnier time with Summerland's lookbook for Spring/ Summer 2013, The Secret Garden. This stunning lookbook, shot by Anja Verdugo, features easy breezy summer dresses and lots of florals and prints. I am particularly fond of the strawberry print blouse. Check out the whole lookbook here.

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It tends to keep a low profile, but never forget: Odessa is—and has been for longer than most—one of the most sophisticated boutiques in the city. They recently put together a lookbook for the spring season featuring stunning new pieces from Tsumori Chisato and Isabel Marant, modeled by their own Bree Goertzen.

And I must have this sweater:

• Nikki Fenix

Check out the whole thing on their tumblr.

As you may have heard, Portland continued its uncanny televised streak a couple weeks ago by having yet another apparel design representative win Project Runway, which—while there's no getting around the fact that it's reality TV, and all that comes with that—does necessitate an actual skill. Prior hometown winners have taken the money and run to New York to establish themselves in a bigger market, but I think it's interesting that Michelle Lesniak Franklin has chosen instead to invest her money in the local economy, with plans to hire in-house production workers and commitments to participate in at least three upcoming fashion shows in the next six months.

In this week's paper I interviewed Michelle about the mind tricks of reality TV (which she dealt with remarkably well) and plans for further design domination. You may not have heard of her prior to the show's season but get ready for her name to come up often.

• Barbara Nitke

In this week's Sold Out, I finally got to profile one of the Portland designers who originally got me interested in the independent apparel design scene here: Claire La Faye. Prominent at Seaplane and its events, La Faye's party dresses were the stuff of fantasy: romantic and unpredictable, feminine and just the right note of funky—not silly, but unexpected. She did a long stretch in Los Angeles shortly after I began covering the scene here, where she dressed a slew of celebrities for the red carpet, including a stint as Courtney Love's personal designer. Now back in Portland and concentrating exclusively on bridal wear, which takes her design signatures to next-level degrees of creative freedom, Haunt is hosting her on Saturday for a trunk show event, thus giving me the excuse to do the profile of her I've always wanted to. There's an itty bitty version in the print edition to make room for the photos, but check out the online extend-o version for the full scoop.

• Brianne Wills

Greetings from lovely Vancouver, British Columbia!

I'm here for the city's Eco Fashion Week, founded six seasons ago by Myriam Laroche with the goal of "informing and inspiring the fashion-conscious, and sustainable-minded, alike, in a way that harmonizes beauty and the environment. After all, innovation in fashion—the future of chic—is inextricably linked to innovation in, well, sustainability."

For as huge an industry as it is, apparel production is behind the curve in terms of having a unified blueprint for how it will evolve in response to the soundly proven evidence that its current state of consumption (mass produced fast fashion) and production (unethical labor practices, a huge carbon footprint) is on course for disaster. When the idea of "green fashion" had its big moment some years ago, it never quite beat its rap for being slightly uncool and faddish, but that's insane: An industry that bases its whole identity on being one step ahead of the game has a responsibility to innovate, and to make the way into the future attractive and desirable. It's the whole point.

• Vancouver designer Nicole Bridger kicked off Eco Fashion Week with an installation fashion show.

Portland, of course, is no stranger to this issue, and while Portland Fashion Week at one point set its goal as being a global destination for designers who were introducing sustainable methods, things got sidetracked and splintered off into the technology-emphasizing FASHIONxt and a rebooted Portland Fashion Week that's declared its intention to refocus on local designers and sustainability in its production if not necessarily on the runway. The jury's still out on that one; it will make its debut on Sept 12, with no participating designers having been announced yet.

In the meantime, as respective events hype themselves and the city's most experienced designers shy away from the whole fractious confusion, it makes one wonder where the original goal of making Portland known to the world as a center of sustainable design has gone. Just about everyone can agree that national and international exposure is a goal, but it's been slow to achieve.

• Pre-show at Eco Fashion Week's Robson Square digs.

PINO designer Crispin Argento, who has recently become ubiquitous on Portland's apparel scene, a human flurry of event organizing, champion networking, and men's accessory design, had the idea of cutting to the chase. Vancouver's Eco Fashion Week—so far as I've seen—is unabashed and unswerving in its emphasis on sustainable practices. And Vancouver, although smaller than its towering buildings would have you believe, is perhaps the most international of the Cascadian cities, and has a longstanding, consistent event in place. Why not join forces, with designers from Seattle, Portland, and the rest of the Pacific Northwest pooling their resources to represent the best of the best in the entire region?

That's what I'm here to investigate.

• A look from last night's Value VIllage-sponsored thrift challenge, in which Sandy Joe Karpetz reworked salvaged items.

• Designer Kim Cathers produced a full collection using only thrifted menswear.

For the past couple years Portland's been churning out bitchin' accessories (bags galore) and even a bumper crop of exciting lingerie designers, but the wave of new names in straight-up apparel design has appeared to slightly ebb, with a few notable exceptions. One such is Crazy Wind, which released its first small collection of pieces in Japanese kasuri last month. Produced by the Portland Garment Factory, it sailed right into local stores like Frances May and Table of Contents.

Kasuri is a Japanese ikat technique of dyeing and weaving to create blurry, abstract patterns. Traditionally, the dye process looks like this:

• Facebook

Designed by Chiyo Takahashi with support of her mother Hatsuyo Takahashi, they source this material directly from Japan and have turned it into a carefree batch of lightweight pieces perfect for romping around in all summer. A couple faves:

• Crazy Wind

• Crazy Wind

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Quick! Frances May and Tomboy Style are running an Instagram giveaway for these amazeballs MM6 shoes:

• Tomboy Style

The winner will be chosen tonight, so get on it NOW.

TOC continually sets the standard for curated design in Portland and their spring arrivals do not disappoint. Their seasonal theme, "A Piece of Cloth", is taken from Issey Miyake and focuses on "an explorationby of what can be achieved by starting with a basic unit of material and manipulating it as little as possible".

This translates as clean, crisp pieces from minimalist lines like Comme des Garçons, Building Block and HOPE.

These pieces align with my approach to spring cleaning: pare down the garish prints and poly in your closet and streamline with a simple, structured piece like one of these:

• Table of Contents
• HOPE boots

• Table of Contents
• Building Block

The latest collection from Portland designer Tiffany Bean has dropped!

• Mabel and Zora

You probably know Bean first as the owner of Mabel and Zora, which is also gearing up to celebrate its seven-year anniversary party on April 12 (3-8 pm), with mini-makeovers from Sephora, personal style tips from Gina Crowder, A Yen for Chocolate... chocolate, and the official debut of this collection as well as that of ASA Jewelry.

• Mabel and Zora

• Mabel and Zora

I love that Bean is making dresses that suit a wide variety of tastes and body types, all while keeping production local and prices reasonable ($74-248, with most dresses in the $150-180 range—it's not chump change, but it's on par with, say, a celebrity designer collaboration at H&M, and of way better quality). Its one of the instances I keep seeing more of that prove that local fashion doesn't have to only be super expensive or only occasion-wear, with more and more solid, go-to staple items, too. The more people see buying local as an everyday alternative to mass-produced or imported clothing, the more long-term success it will see.

Oh Georgina! Although I’m not surprised by couture lines pairing up with mass big box retailers like Target, JC Penny, and H&M anymore, I shed a small tear upon finding out that my dream wedding dress designer Marchesa had become “one of those.” Now you, too, can own a (albeit cheaply made) piece of Marchesa. The Pearl collection features the silhouettes and layers of dreamy tulle that Marchesa is known for with a playful, young vibe. With prices ranging from $50-$250, Pearl is definitely affordable, but I’d rather hold out for the real thang. Check out the entire collection here.

Last week's Fade to Light fashion show went off without a hitch (we think) to a packed crowd at the Crystal Ballroom, where we were treated to new collections from lines like M. Wood, Emit, and Charlie Harper, augmented by short video presentations introducing each, providing a peek into the inspirations and moods behind the clothes.

Studio SKB was first out with a collection inspired by Edie Sedgwick, whose face, via footage from a Warhol test, loomed out over the proceedings. The models came out all at once, shoulders shrouded with scarves, to have their faces powdered for a moment below the screen. Unlit as they were, it was the first of several confusing moments for the audience, unsure as to whether the show had begun. But, soon enough the scarves were shrugged off and the lights came up on the runway, where models displayed a dark palette of designer Sharon Blair's dresses and separates that employed an almost Fair Isle-looking print, unexpected stripe paneling, and a reverse seam here and there. Highlights were a floaty paisley blouse, pretty lace overlays, and a sporty striped top.

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