This is Getting Absurd: Seattle is Now "Wrapped in Adolescent Anger," According to GQ

Here are some very fashionable actual Seattleites. No plaid here. Photo by hanna brooks olsen.

GQ has officially joined the ranks of national outlets who feel that Seattle is a ridiculous land of post-grunge sadness. In a recent article, they decided that we are terribly dressed, angry, and in desperate need of some therapy in order to get over the death of Kurt Cobain.

To which we at Seattlest say, "Come visit."

This blurb about our City is the sort of thing that people who are not from here, nor have ever visited here, write all the time:

The city that made plaid cool is somehow still wearing it, 20 years post-Nevermind. It makes sense: It's always cloudy there, often cool, and a good flannel shirt goes a long way. But when your city's whole identity is wrapped up in a few years of noisy, adolescent anger, you'd do well to let some of it die off with time, instead of pushing it onward, decade by decade, in a rainy haze of anti-fashion nostalgia. Quit damning the man for five minutes and get yourself a blazer.—Mark Byrne

Hey, Mark. Here's the thing about Seattle. A lot of us here work for the man.

Do you buy books on Amazon? Seattleites are processing your order. Do you use anything from the Google suite? You're so forward-thinking and trendy, you're surely on Google+, right? Seattleites are making that, too. We also make airplanes, software and super-corporate-the-Man-friendly coffee. And many of us do it while wearing fantastic, sensible for the "rainy haze" that we endure because we like it.

Yes, we tend to dress down, but my god, man. Stop buying the stereotypes and see for yourself what we're doing out here.

This goes for for all of the East Coast folks who think we still have wooden sidewalks and do our shorthand by oil lantern. We've all gotten over grunge. We've gotten over it so much that it is now in a museum.

Why can't you?

Readers: Do you have fashionable friends? Add their photos to the Flickr page, and we'll make a gallery of cute Seattleites to show GQ (and everyone else) what we really look like.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By hanna brooks olsen in Arts & Events on July 14, 2011 3:00 PM

Comments [rss]

Sam Feinson

Yup, we're all suffering from prolonged teen angst. Plus it rains all the time and it's too far to make day trips to San Francisco. Don't bother coming here, there's nothing to see.

Ryan

listen to 'The End' for 15 minutes and you will hear more grunge than you know what to do with. Seattle get over that you haven't gotten over it.

Sarah Anne Lloyd

The End goes through a format change about every two minutes.

Troy Morris

Who the hell listens to the radio?

By the way, if you want the real answer, about 18% of this region listens to that station according to Arbitron.

Troy Morris

They also bothered to fall in love with our fine cocktail making:

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com...

Troy Morris

I don't think they're actually talking about fashion, but a grip on a certain mentality that was needed to break the US from it's shiny 80's recession. So that was the late 80's/early 90's.

Then there was the cool stuff we did in the late 90's/early 2000's (e.g., Amazon and Expedia) and are doing now as well (Zillow, Big Fish, PopCap, Biotech firms I cannot pronounce, Gates Foundation, Vulcan)
Then there's the companies headquarter in other places that are opening offices in Seattle: Adobe, Hulu, Google, Apple, Getty all have offices here.

You know what, this list is really long including many start-ups which make Seattle the number 2 area in the US for start-ups (inbetween the Bay Area and New York), retail, biotech, e-commerce, transportation, games, manufacturing, music, movies, beer, publications, and more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...

MrBelvidere

The guy is right. If you go out at night I swear at least 50% of the people are wearing flannel. It's kind of funny. It doesn't bug me but its something I've noticed.

And I'd rather wear flannel than whatever those toolbags in your sample of what "fashionable" Seattle people are wearing. Looks like their on the way to a 50's murder mystery dinner or something.

Sarah Anne Lloyd

I have to disagree with my esteemed colleagues here. That picture chosen to go with the Seattle segment is atrocious! Also not really a Seattle cross-section. More Hot Topic circa 1999.

EDITING MY OWN COMMENT: Okay, realized he wasn't talking about the GQ picture. Yes, quite rude!

Alex Hudson

You may disagree with what they are wearing, but you gotta give them cred for at least putting some obvious effort into it. Which is more than you can say for most.