CLARK HUMPHREY introduces a local designer with gumption
The Personal Touch

I've known Jenniffer Velasco for a decade. She's been devoted to fashion design her whole life. It's not been an easy life; she's had her share of fiscal and other ups and downs. But she's stuck at it. This month she's getting her first big out-of-town exposure, at the Push Emporium in Los Angeles.

Velasco's developed other interests over the years. She's become a painter (exhibiting at COCA and elsewhere), and more recently has fallen in lust with guitar playing and songwriting (she's currently getting a band together).

But her heart and loyalty have been dedicated to what she calls "creating ideas through cloth." She calls herself "among the crazy ones who want to get involved" in the designing and making of custom garments.

Her signature works don't easily fall into a market niche. They can be flashy and flamboyant; as she calls them, "magical clothes for the divas, superstars, super moms, and anyone in between." They can be unabashedly feminine (one of her past brand names was "Pretty Girlie Pink Room"). Yet they're several degrees above standard "club kid" or raver attire, in both sophistication and price point.

Nor does she make mere upscale office wear, meant for fitting in within an organization. Individualism and self-expression are her kicks. "It's not about the mere clothing. It's what the wearer has to say. It is its own language; it's communication. Beauty lies in freedom." "Making clothes is not easy or cheap," she insists; at least not if you want to do it right. "You must really want to construct apparel. It is labor intensive, and you must put in long hours into the garment for it to work. You get stabbed by needles, or scissors, or sewing machines, or burned by the iron. But at the end of the day, I'm best rewarded by a job well done."

Velasco has lived and worked in the now-razed Kalberer Hotel Supply lofts on Terry Avenue, as well as in Queen Anne, Pioneer Square, Capitol Hill, and most recently in Fremont. She says she finds inspiration in every person she sees or meets: "From old ladies in the buses, to dapper gentlemen going to church, to my teenage cousins in Renton, or the librarians of Fremont, to the sassy coffee-shop girls who make my coffee, to the short-order cooks in Dad Watson's, to just about anyone on the go."

Velasco has displayed her work at local fashion shows and consigned her designs in local stores over the years (including Belltown's Vain); but today she mostly takes custom business via jenniffervelasco.com. The site also sells more affordable, but still hand-made, items and accessories, including bracelets, bags, belts, scarves, "girlie tops," and "cutie hoods."

One of her long-running beefs has been that Seattle's fashion boutiques don't do more to support local designers, instead preferring to patronize the same old New York product suppliers.

"Seattle is emerging with many new indie designers," she insists. "I hope more boutique buyers will start taking chances on local designers. Save a plane ticket and hotels and give us a call."