A Guide to Seattle

I've spent the last five(ish) days in the Pacific Northwest, visiting a friend who lives in Seattle during my much-needed spring break. This is my third time on the West coast (San Francisco and L.A. being my first two times) and my first official time in the PNW. How ~exotic~! Now I'm currently on the plane back to East, realizing that being born and raised in the Southeast and then only moving a bit north on the same coast to D.C. for college categorizes myself into an East coast baby, where time automatically moves at a quicker rate and selfish tendencies are only out of self-preservation, not snobbishness. I've let this persona identify me throughout my entire life, telling myself that I would only live on the East coast for the rest of my life, unless I were to leave the country entirely. The West never enticed me; California seems like they're too into themselves and states North of that were just completely foreign to me. Places that are either a) the same temp year round or b) perpetually covered in rain clouds and aren't associated with humidity are other worldly to me--as much as I despise my hometown of the Atlanta suburbs, its erratic seasons and sweltering, humid summers are weirdly comforting to me. My move to the nation's capital still carried that same, East coast climate; the only shift was political, a complete transition to 95% conservative to 95% liberal. But Seattle is the complete opposite of my home! The liberal shift does take place, but so does the weather, so does the attitude, so does the fashion. An almost overwhelming shift, but it was actually a shift in the right direction, something I would have never imagined. Let's see if I did the PNW right, a question I always seem to ask myself after I travel (like my last time in NYC):

Top by Monogram. Jeans and belt by Madewell. Neck scarf by J. Crew. Boots by Topshop.

I got a feel for Seattle fashion by walking around local neighborhoods, and planned my outfits both according to what this city dresses like but also according to what I want to dress like (as always). The combination of laid-back, grungy, and quirky style, which usually consists of 90% thrifted materials, told me to pair my newest pair of Madewell perfect summer jeans, or what I like to call "flattering mom jeans," with a graphic tee that's meant to look vintage but is really brand new from this L.A. based company that is 100% sustainable, made in the U.S., and is made of homemade fabrics (this combo seems very Seattle to me). To make this relaxed look my own, I tied a neck scarf around my neck, an art that feels like second nature to me by now, and slipped on my gold heeled ankle boots, ready for day one.

I drove around for almost two hours, just trying to find parking, then finally found a place next to Pike Place Market, ready to be a tourist for the day. Walked around the shops, took an obnoxious amount of photos of my friends, bought a few snacks (I'm already missing that curry beef-stuffed bun).

Continued to pass out at 10 pm--time zones are no fun.

~~~

Entered my first ever Seattle thrift shop, an experience that needed to be documented but unfortunately was not. Bought a vintage pair of Levi's shorts that will be DIYed very soon, along with a bandana, for the price of one meal in D.C. Continued to ask myself why this was my first time purchasing items from a second-hand shop (excluding Goodwill), and swore off of non-thrifted items for the rest of my life, which will probably be broken once I visit the new & Other Stories shop in Georgetown next week.

Took obligatory photos of view, of my friends with the view, and of my friends and I with the view (ft. my Madewell overalls and Zara ruffle sweater/pirate top).

Orange tank by Urban Outfitters. Navy top by Topshop. Pants by Zara. Fishnets by Asos. Shoes by Vans.

For my other ~officially documented~ Seattle lewk, I opted for the edgy route and paired business-casual cropped trousers with items that are the exact opposite--a cropped orange tank over a navy ribbed crop top, fishnets, and my (newest) pair of Old Skool Vans (also peep my new Glossier cloud paint!). How skater girl of me!!

I walked around Capitol Hill in this 'fit (which, by the way, is completely different than the Capitol Hill of D.C.; it's more similar to the Castro of SF), which consisted of more thrifting, attending a hip coffee shop that is actually owned by Starbucks but tries to act like it's not because its customers are too much of coffee snobs to actually buy coffee from an actual Starbucks, and spending too much money on Thai food and records.

Dogs were an extremely important aspect of this trip, btw.

I spent my last day going to Bainbridge Island (where my friend is a nanny for a few kids), and on the ferry ride there (and back), I realized that this ride was a crucial part of many kids' childhoods. Overlap occurred when I looked back onto those ferry rides to Bald Head Island, an East coast beach town that filled my summers and winters as a child. Maybe Seattle isn't so different than my neck of the woods after all.

Photos of me shot by Julia, all other photos shot by me.

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