NEW ARRIVAL: BLACKBIRD VINTAGE LEATHER JACKETS

Blackbird now has a selection of hand-selected vintage motorcycle and aviator leather jackets for the outsider in us all. Broken in leather, beat-up patina, fierce attitude, and a sartorial swagger all rolled into one item. These jackets are sold as-is and a few of them have hand-sewn repair work, customized details, or flaws that are minimal and that, when compared to a new leather, simply add to the jacket's overall personality, not unlike a junk yard dog compared to a well-groomed poodle. All of the main zippers work and all are completely wearable and have quite a bit of life left in them.

Sizing varies and it is best to come in and try them on or call our store or web customer service to get accurate measurements.

The black leather jacket has always been the uniform of the bad, the rebellious and the outsider. The Hells Angels, the Black Panthers, punks, goths, metalheads, gay bar cruisers, and many of rock and roll's non-conformist icons all brandished, at one time or another, the black leather jacket. Whether for protective or fashionable reasons, the effect is as menacing as it is stylish.

BLACKBIRD VINTAGE

VINTAGE "EXCELLED" MC STYLE

in vintage black

$450

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BLACKBIRD VINTAGE

VINTAGE RUST 60'S BOMBER

in rust

$350

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BLACKBIRD VINTAGE

VINTAGE BROWN 60'S USN BOMBER

in vintage brown

$350

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BLACKBIRD VINTAGE

VINTAGE "REAL LEATHER" MC STYLE

in black

$375

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More to come! 

BLACKBIRD RECOMMENDS: DEAD

Today seemed like the right day to recommend a short drive down to the White River Valley Museum in Auburn to see the exhibition "Dead: Unearthing the Shifts in Funerary Practices from Home to Mortuary." From the slumber-beds for the recently deceased, tables for embalming, death-hair jewelry, and posthumous portraiture, this exhibit is a fascinating, disturbing and spine-tingling visual history of the American traditions regarding the "passing over" from one life to the next.

It may seem a bit off the beaten path, but this exhibit is well-worth the short trip south, and as a bonus, you can head around the corner to Big Daddy's Drive-in for a burger, fries and a shake. But hurry, the exhibit is only up for one more week!

WHAT: Dead: Unearthing the Shift in Funerary Practices from Home to Mortuary

WHERE: White River Valley Museum 

918 H Street SE
Auburn, WA 98002
253.288.7433

WHEN: Now through November 6th, Noon - 4pm

COST: $2

SIMPLE MATH: DZONGKHA BY L'ARTISAN PARFUMEUR

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L'ARTISAN PARFUMEUR - DZONGKHA
DETAILS: Dzongkha is the national language of the Bhutan. It is also a L'Artisan fragrance designed by Bertrand Duchaufour. With Dzongkha, Bertrand flawlessly presents the mystery, the intrigue, and the stillness of a hidden Buddhist shrine. Peony and a healthy dose of precious iris with lychee and cardamom compose a solemn array that shines through the fragrance like a white light. Dzongkha balances this light with smokey incense, green cypriol, and a masterful implementation of vetiver that starts more earthy, and becomes muskier in the dry down. This insightful scent is like a glimpse of enlightenment, and is a favorite of ours in the Apothecary.

$145
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FINAL DAY OF OUR 20% OFF SALE !

www.blackbirdballard.com

NORDIC FASHION BIENNALE FEATURED DESIGNER: BARBARA i GONGINI

Barbara i Gongini is a Faroese brand based in Denmark. The label aims to create Nordic clothing based on a conceptual approach to the process, where experiments with forms provide the setting for the visual motive in the design. A graduate of the prestigious Denmarks Designskol, Barbara i Gongini‘s latest AW/2011-12 namesake Collection is dark and mysterious — dominated by free flowing silhouettes of wool, cotton, and leather in black and charcoal.

The Nordic Fashion Biennale runs through the 13th of November, and comes highly recommended by Blackbird, and by everyone we know who has visited the exhibition. For more information, visit their website, or just head over to the Nordic Heritage Museum in Ballard.

ARTIST TO ARTIST: HOPE VS. VASILY PEROV

Hailing from Sweden, HOPE creates products that stand on their own instead of firmly within a particular collection. The design stems from a masculine platform and inspiration derives from traditional men's work wear and vintage uniforms. We like a visible connection between the handcraft of tailoring and classic function. The clean silhouette is well fitted with innovated cut lines carefully placed, not to disturb the function, but to enlarge the product.

Solitary Guitarist, 1865

Vasily Perov (1834 - 1882) was one of the founders of Peredvizhniki (aka the Wanderers or Itinerants) a group of Russian realist painters who travelled with their exhibitions from town to town. His most famous works include "Troika" and "Hunters at Rest", and portraits of Nikolay Ostrovsky and Fyodor Dostoevsky. The artist received his first painting lessons at Alexander Stupin Art School in Arzamas. Afterwards he moved to Moscow and entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. In 1862 he went to Europe and visited Paris and a number of cities in Germany. In 1866 Vasily Perov got the academician’s degree, and in 1871 a position a professor at Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Approximately at the same time he joined the Itineraries and their traveling exhibitions. Perov’s teaching at Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture had a great influence on nurturing and upbringing of young artists. An entire galaxy of prominent Russian painters grew up under his direct guidance.

Wayfarer, 1873

HOPE - DOWN PARKA

in black

DETAILS: Surprisingly slim-fitting 65% cotton 35% nylon parka stuffed to gills with pockets of pillow-y down. Featuring a button-off hood, heavy-duty brassy YKK zipper closure with buttoning storm flap, a treasure trove of front pockets, and drawstring with brilliant silvery cord locks at bottom hem. The articulated sleeves feature a creamy 100% polyester lining that is cool to the touch and adjustable cuffs with buttoning pull tabs.

This jacket has been produced by Hope for several seasons. Hope, in partnership with Swedish non-profit, Stockholm Stadsmission, annually donates a number of these coats to those in desperate need, and a portion of the profits go to the prevention of homelessness.

$682

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BOO! WEEKEND SALE 20% OFF CONTINUES THROUGH MONDAY!

www.blackbirdballard.com

ARTIST TO ARTIST: RICK OWENS VS. STEPHEN GAMMELL

Born and raised in Southern California, Rick Owens studied pattern making at Otis College of Art and Design before dropping out to work for local companies. In 1994, he established his own label selling exclusively to a Los Angeles boutique before expanding to well known department stores. In 2002 he won the CFDA's Perry Ellis Award for Emerging Talent. He draws inspiration from old black and white Hollywood movies and is known for his architectural jackets, asymmetrical dresses, long and clingy t-shirts and embellished outerwear. Rick Owens once said "I try to make clothes the way Lou Reed does music, with minimal chord changes, and direct. It is sweet but kind of creepy. It's about giving everything I make a worn, softened feeling. It's about elegance being tinged with a bit of the barbaric, the sloppiness of something dragging and the luxury of not caring." Rick Owens currently lives and works in Paris.

Stephen Gammell (b. February 10, 1943) is an American illustrator of children's books. Gammell grew up in Iowa where his father, an art editor for a major magazine, brought home periodicals that gave Stephen early artistic inspiration. His parents also supplied him with lots of pencils, paper, and encouragement. He is self-taught. He started his career with commercial freelance work, before becoming interested in children's book illustration. He is particularly well-known for the surreal, unsettling illustrations he provided for Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series of horror short stories, still a favorite in adolescent fiction. Stephen and his wife, Linda, a photographer, live in St. Paul, Minnesota. He works daily in his studio, located over a restaurant.

RICK OWENS - SCIARPA
DETAILS: incredibly soft and luxurious 100% cotton scarf featuring a ribbed hem/border. The fabric has been treated with a stone wash which gives the scarf a vintage look and broken in feel. Made in Italy.

$594

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...more from the unrivalled Rick Owens

ARTIST TO ARTIST: HANSEN VS. M.C. ESCHER

HANSEN's vision is to make use of their Nordic cultural heritage and its craftsman traditions, in order to create viable clothing in noble materials with a refined finish. For the realization of a Hansen collection, Hansen collaborates with local producers of knitwear, weaving, trim and embroidery.

This cardigan is the result of a collaboration between HANSEN and Ole Strange. Ole’s great aspiration for quality and passion for knitting design is an inspiration. Ole loves his old knitting machines - the oldest in use being almost 100 years old. HANSEN is for the modern man, with a wish to signal simplicity, honesty and strength.

Three Intersecting Planes 1954

M.C. Escher was a Dutch graphic artist known for his often mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. These feature impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, architecture, and tessellations. Escher was often sick as a child and as a result was placed in a special school at the age of seven. In school, he not only excelled at drawing, but he also took carpentry and piano lessons until he was 13 years old. In 1919, Escher attended the Harlem School of Architecture and Decorative Arts. He briefly studied architecture, but he failed a number of subjects (partly due to a persistent skin infection) and switched to decorative arts. Here he studied under Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita, with whom he would remain friends for years.

In 1922, Escher left the school, having gained experience in drawing and making woodcuts. From there he moved about Europe with his family and continued to create works through different mediums. In his graphic art, he portrayed mathematical relationships among shapes, figures and space with the goal of telling a story every time. Additionally, he explored interlocking figures using black and white to enhance different dimensions. Integrated into his prints were mirror images of cones, spheres, cubes, rings and spirals.

Metamorphasis I 1937

Three Spheres 1945

HANSEN - HAMSUM

in black

DETAILS: this lovely cardigan is the result of collaboration between Hansen and Ole Strange of Jutland, Denmark. Ole still produces knitted fabrics on his collection of decades-old machinery. This particular pattern is referred to as "Hardanger" (after a place in the Norwegian fjord) shows a different side of Norwegian knitting than the typical snowflake patterns. Made from a thick 100% wool with horn buttons. Made in Denmark.

$672

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ARTIST COMPARISON: CREEP VS. EGON SCHIELE

Creep was founded in Osaka, Japan by Kiyofumi Awai in 1997. In 2008, Hiroshi Awai, Kiyofumi's brother based in Toronto, Canada, took over as Creep's men's Creative Director. Hiroshi combines beautiful textiles with innovative Japanese design and his passion for the simple beauty of functional American workwear. Awai describes his line as "complexity within simplicity".

Self-portrait with checkered shirt, 1917

Egon Schiele (1890-1918) was an Austrian Expressionist painter, draftsman, and printmaker noted for the eroticism of his figurative works. As a student at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts (1907–09), Schiele was strongly influenced by the Jugendstil movement, the German Art Nouveau. He met Gustav Klimt, leader of the Vienna Sezession group, and the linearity and subtlety of Schiele's work owe much to Klimt's decorative elegance. Schiele, however, emphasized expression over decoration, heightening the emotive power of line with a feverish tension. He concentrated from the beginning on the human figure, and his candid, agitated treatment of erotic themes caused a sensation. In 1909, he helped found the Neukunstgruppe (New Art Group) in Vienna. From 1911 onward he exhibited throughout Europe, and a special room was devoted to his work at a 1918 Sezessionist exhibit in Vienna, shortly before his death from Spanish influenza. Important works include “The Self Seer” (1911), “The Cardinal and Nun” (1912), and “Embrace” (1917). For a full biography of Schiele, click here.

Levitation, 1915

CREEP BY HIROSHI AWAI - COTTON CHECK BUTTON DOWN
in beige olive
DETAILS: heavyweight 100% cotton canvas shirt in a red, green and yellow plaid with a tan background. Featuring a two-point button down collar reinforced with sky blue chambray, seven button front closure, small chest pocket with squared-off buttoning flap at left hand side, double-stitched side and shoulder seams, and Western style rear yoke.

$199

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...shop our full Creep collection here