After an expected quiet post-holiday season, some fashion activity is back! At least, for designers. While most fashion designers are working on their spring season collections, others are entering competitions. Here are our top picks: more ›

Tomorrow 19 talented student designers will premier their 7-10 piece collection in front of an expected mass of 1,600 people. In between students stacking boxes and jumping over each other in event-mode frenzy, Kelly told us how this mass-production works:

Our show has a lot of energy and it’s fun. Students work really hard to produce the show but also they have to work their collection into seven themes. Three for fall and four themes for spring: bohemian, mystical, Savannah adventure, glitter, glam and pop, deconstruction, twisted effects (think gothic, Tim Burton style, netting, etc) and film noir,”.

The top six winners of yet another fashion competition--Seattle Magazine's Seamless in Seattle Contest--have been selected, and they're pretty familiar to us, here at Seattlest. You've seen, or should we say read about, some of them before in our previous coverage of the Art Institute and New York Fashion Academy spring fashion shows. Finalists presented their collections to a team scrutinizing judges organized by Seattle Magazine, and left one category open for viewers to decide online, won by Eunice Poon for her "I Dream in Cake." more ›

Seattlest's wine guy, Ronald, kicks off the weekend by hosting a $75, 5-course, 5-wine wine dinner Friday at Portfolio, the dining room of the Art Institute's culinary academy. (Note: 20 percent discount to Seattlest readers; call 206-239-2363 for reservations.) Saturday night will find him, Barolo in hand, at Mitchelli's for a farewell toast to the venerable "Trat," closing later this month after 32 years in Pioneer Square. more ›

Are you there Seattle art world? It's us, Seattlest. We're trying our best to talk up your First Thursday openings, but it looks like you've crapped out on us this month. We understand: you're on vacation or something, it's kinda hot out, the BLUE ANGELS are in the sky ... We've got posts to post, however, and damned if we won't find something to recommend from your namby-pamby Art Walk offerings. more ›