Seattle Style: For Better or Worse?

The Seattle Times recently featured an interesting article about Seattle fashion sense, which asked whether Seattle is one of the country’s worst dressed cities. Interestingly enough, the results of the featured study showed that Seattle ladies represent pretty well, coming in as fourth-best dressed after San Francisco, New York and D.C. The dudes are dragging us down though, as Seattle men ranked 31st among 77 U.S. metropolitan cities in the fashion category. Come on guys!

To any Seattle native or transplant, this comes as no surprise. Birkenstocks, corduroys, Crocs, and the ever-present North Face, all make it into the “business casual” wardrobe even though they have no business being there.

Is the legal community immune to this fashion crisis? Absolutely not. I can count the number of times I’ve worn my black power suit and heels in my last three years of practice without even using up all my fingers. It just seems excessive in Seattle.

While I aspire to look polished and professional, it can be tough in the face of serial casualness around you. I’ll never forget arriving at my first deposition (one of the few times the power suit made an appearance), only to find the witness in jeans and the other guy not even wearing a tie. Your wardrobe should be sending the right message, but that day, it was screaming: “Newbie! First Deposition!” I felt like a law student getting dressed up for a mock trial.

Seattle style, for better or worse, is what it is. Maybe it’s a west coast/east coast thing, maybe it’s that we just don’t care, or maybe it’s that buying designer shoes just doesn’t make sense when they will be soggy for three-quarters of the year.

What do you think? Love it? Hate it? Seen some poor ill-dressed colleague get chewed out by a judge? Share your stories in the comments.