Tomorrow evening is part one of a two-part conversation series I'm co-moderating with Portland Monthly's Eden Dawn at the Portland Art Museum. It's part of the programming set up to give a local context to their current major exhibition Italian Style: Fashion Since 1945 (on view through May 3).

For Part I: A Look Back, we've drawn together a panel of Portland-industry representatives to help give an overview of this city's rather long history of participation in the apparel world—you could even say that the region was founded on it, since the fur trade was thing one in these parts. We'll be talking with Vivian McInerny, longtime fashion editor for the Oregonian, who witnessed and recorded the city's early inroads to being a nexus for independent apparel design in the '70s and '80s; Holly Stalder, co-founder of the legendary Seaplane boutique, which truly brought Portland's fashion scene as we know it to the fore at the turn of this century, and current owner of Haunt; and Nathaniel Crissman and Rachel Turk, who have roots in the indie scene as the designers of Church + State, as well as experience collaborating with some of the city's long-established heritage brands—they were two of the three designers tapped for Pendleton's the Portland Collection, and Crissman is also currently working with Dehen.

Tickets to the event are $20, but I've got a fistful of pairs give away—four pairs in fact. Have at it, and maybe I'll see you tomorrow evening (6 pm at the Museum's sunken ballroom!).

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