Is Seattle Bitter About Bellevue’s $800 Stilettos?

Oh, and is that you Jeanna? Haha! That figures! You and I make up some of the most fashion-obsessed Seattleites around.

Part of the problem with the downtown Nordstrom getting Prada RTW would have been the proximity of other stores that carry Prada within two blocks. Namely, Mario's and Barneys pretty much have Seattleites covered in terms of their Prada needs. Mario's (just a block over) has carried Prada for quite some time, and their selection consists of several classic pieces that more conservative types like to wear, while Barneys (now across the street from Nordstrom) has a tightly-edited but more fashion-forward selection of Prada clothing. Between these two locations, there may not have been a need to oversaturate the two-block radius around downtown Nordstrom with even more Prada clothing. While there may be enough business to carry Prada shoes at all three of these places, the market for Prada RTW certainly requires a different kind of consumer.

as someone who loves fashion, i'm embarrassed and annoyed by the mentality that just because we live in seattle means we don't need, crave or want up-to-date and cutting edge fashion. cities are supposed to be about being progressive, not the suburbs. and while i'm a little less concerned with labels and that i own "prada something," i am concerned with being in style and getting all options for something cute. now, if i can't find prada in seattle, it's the one-less hot-shoe option that's killing me.

and really, katelyn's correct. there's A TON of money in seattle. who do you think can afford all those mansions throughout the city? or the waterfront property? or even the uber trendy and upscale condos? i say bring them to the flagship AND bellevue, and reap double the benefits.

PS... Of course their personal assistants do most of the shopping... So maybe everything I just said is null and void.

Au contraire. It may be that the twenty-somethings wear Sway&Cake in Seattle, but I work with the forty-, fifty-, and sixty-something female elite of the city and they certainly still sport the classic labels. The upper crust of Seattle lusts after Prada, for sure... I'm not talking about lower Capitol Hill, or Fremont, or Ballard. I'm talking about Montlake, Madison, Sand Point, and upper Capitol Hill! That's where the money consistently comes from. There's plenty of money in Bellevue too, God knows (the Nordstroms family straddles the lake), but in the eyes of my clients, losing the classic truly high-end labels to Bellevue is yet another sign of the sad decay of Seattle.

PS. "High-end restaurant chains" in downtown Bellevue linked to "high end clothing chains"?? Wait. Wait! Marketing would be sad to read that sentence. What we're looking at is the Prada/Vuitton/etc set who eat at Canlis. That's the old money that expects Seattle to be as classy and classic as always. Even the money in Bellevue does not eat at PF Changs; it dines at Calcutta Grill, in Newport, or Bis on Main. It's a different set entirely than at Z'Tejas, Ruth's Chris, or Luciano. If it MUST eat at the mall, real money with class goes to Nordstrom Grill for a salad break. The people who shop in earnest for $700 handbags don't eat at The Cheesecake Factory, unless they're young and slumming it.

It's possible this class is dying out, but I wouldn't underestimate their influence on the near future of Seattle/Bellevue economy. It's all very interesting to me; our city is still quite class-bound.