Seattle Blog Fashion

A curious collection of hats and handbags framed in tiny black squares lined the floors of the Museum of Flight like a trail of breadcrumbs. The tiles offer a subtle but intriguing invitation, asking visitors to stray off the main hallway’s path and follow them through an unassuming barn door. There, the full picture is revealed in a welcoming floor decal bearing those very same accessories: “R\\R | Runway to Runway.” The exhibit, I came to find, was a fascinating crossover between the evolution of flight attendant fashion and the hidden social justice symbol that each uniform stood for. 

When I entered the room tucked away at the end of the Red barn, the exhibit seemed rather small at first glance. It consisted of only two rooms, and everything seemed to be visible from the doorway. As I made my way around the glass displays and wound through the carefully constructed layout, I began to realize there was more to discover than meets the eye.A flight attendant uniform worn during Alaska Airline’s Golden Nugget Service. The hat was a part of a special promotion, not a typical element of the uniform. Credit: The Museum of Flight/Sean Mobley

The High Fashion High show at Seattle’s 2023 Bumbershoot was thoughtfully designed, curated, and inspired. Ellie Fein, the curator, gathered young people from around the greater Seattle area to share their love of fashion and teach like-minded peers about the design process. If you’re familiar with Project Runway, Fein played the role of Tim Gunn, helping to acquire material, talk through designs, and give feedback. Fein assisted her designers while reaching out to different studios and planning the logistics of the show itself.

Fein’s vision began with stained glass windows and puffer coats and gave a theme to each of the designs. The young designers, accompanied by Fein, went to a puffer coat manufacturer in SODO, Seattle, where they learned about the construction of puffer coats to further understand their inspiration. In our interview, Fein mentioned the puffer coat facility showed them past designs worn by Lady Gaga—and if Gaga doesn’t scream high fashion, I don’t know what does. Fein also organized for the designers to participate in a stained glass workshop to understand the physics and geometry of stained glass and how each piece must be thoughtfully shaped to fit the window. As there are limits piecing glass together, there are similar boundaries with how different fabrics can be joined. After learning more about their themes, the designers were ready to create and Fein ready to take on the role of the designer’s supporter.

Fast fashion is an increasingly relevant issue in society today. The introduction of social media into mainstream pop culture has led to more world-connectedness making the newest fashion trends cycle faster and faster. The ever-changing popularity of outfits might not seem like such a big deal at first—after all, trying new styles is fun—but then, you start to wonder… How can companies produce new clothing so fast, yet sell it for so cheap?

The answer, unfortunately, is a complete disregard for ethics. The cheap and readily available clothing that fits the newest trends is so convenient, especially for teenagers, that there’s an astounding lack of awareness regarding the harm of fast fashion. From sweatshops to poorly made clothing that falls apart after five washes, fast fashion is extremely hurtful and wasteful. After the clothing is made, worn, and soon after, torn, the quality makes it unsalvageable, leading to a majority of clothing being thrown into the garbage. Fast fashion creates much larger harm to both humans and the environment than it seems on the surface.