Art Stars of Local Fashion

Fashion isn’t about slavishly following design dictums anymore. The current trend is dressing that allows for personal invention.

High fashion has been demystified as top-tier designers launch inexpensive collections for the street: Alexander McQueen for Target and Stella McCartney for H&M. EBay offers prime pickings for vintage; Akashi Murakami creates iconic handbags for Louis Vuitton.

Yet, as Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell tells us, the best ideas often emerge by word of mouth. Lately, Tacoma’s been buzzing about Shannon Eakins and Daniel Blue, Tacoma artists who have created a new high-low style with two very different and evolving visions.

With the aid of her laptop and Baby Lock sewing machine, Eakins is redefining the art of embroidery. Using found garments as a canvas, in her unconventional, beautifully stitched vignettes she makes references to nature (death fights between African game animals), literature (a florid “A” embellished on an army shirt transplants Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter to the present) and pop culture (a homely gingham-style blouse adorned with a tractor pays homage to the American heartland).

Blue not only designs clothing but serves as stylist and art director for his band, Motopony. Performance is a critical element in the captivating music/fashion bacchanals he stages — for example, a fashion show in which the models stripped naked. High-low style comes instinctively to the soft-spoken artist, creator of the Loyalty brand of deconstructed jackets and knitwear for men and women. Admirers hail Blue as “the new black,” bringing the drama of rock concerts to everyday threads.

Both exemplify, through their work, the value and pleasure inherent in making considered clothing choices.

Photography by Michael de Leon

At the age of twenty-three, Daniel Blue (above) began making clothes with a sewing machine he inherited from his mother. His first design was the “swoodie,” a sweater/hoodie hybrid pieced together from vintage knits unearthed in a rural Washington thrift shop. Imagining the stories embedded in the castoff garments fueled his creativity, and sewing soon became an extension of his “natural playground.” He sold more than four hundred swoodies. His modern 253 Heart T-shirt — featuring a clean-lined graphic of the Tacoma phone prefix angled into the form of a heart — was another instant classic.

Blue is currently experimenting with men’s outerwear: a cut-off, vintage trench coat with splashy painted back yoke, and a casual blazer revamped with a full-front zipper and the 253 Heart logo hand-painted on the chest ($200 - $300). A bit of music, art, poetry and style goes into the shaping of each jacket. You’re onstage whether you know it or not — every street is a de facto fashion runway. So why not put on a show they’ll remember?

For more information see loyalty253.com.

“I thought embroidery would be the closest thing to my midwestern roots,” Shannon Eakins (above) says. “I came from quilting circles.” Her modesty belies the art’s technical sophistication. Eakins’ design process begins with a sketch, which she scans directly into her laptop or draws on a computer sketchpad, then downloads onto the sewing machine. She edits on the Baby Lock’s touch screen, inputting the number of colors for each image and the type and density of stitching (a typical four-by-five-inch image might require ten colors and thirty thousand stitches).   

Then she flips a switch and the machine goes to work. Though her designs are virtually all one-offs, often hand-finished, she acknowledges the printmaking ability of the machine. Like physical signage, a garment can be a walking billboard. “By putting it on your body, you can really push an agenda.” She works in various art forms, including glass, and she says embroidery is a crucial part of her studio practice. To get her art into your wardrobe, contact shannoneakins@hotmail.com. She designs original embroidery, starting at $100.