What makes Duchess different?
Communication is our secret to success. Our approach has always been to sit with the client and listen to their preferences, observe their personal style, and ask the right questions. The advantage we have is that most retailers view apparel as either masculine or feminine, rather than appreciating the subtle nuances that exist within and between these two ends of the gender binary. Our mission is to ensure that each client – from those who walk in not knowing what they want to those with particular taste and needs – feels comfortable, confident, and celebrated throughout the entire process.
Each individual has a unique style, and our designs are simply a starting point for a larger conversation with the client. Every detail will be lovingly and painstakingly gone over during the consultation process, including the choice of fabric, stylistic details, fit preferences, and body measurements.
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Duchess Clothier believes that each unique individual deserves to feel beautiful and confident in their clothing. Our team shares a deep and collective commitment to facilitate thoughtful, kind and empowering experiences through custom garmentry. We believe that the unique process fosters creativity, self-love, body positivity and validation. We are dedicated to respectful, ethical production, and roundly reject the idea of the gender-binary. With our extensive and wide-ranging tailoring experience, we make folks feel confident being exactly themselves.
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Our goal is to positively reflect & affect and serve our clients, community, families and environment. We hope that our contribution will lend itself to the momentum of the un-doing of the gender binary and the dismantling of the gatekeeping in fashion. In this way, we hope to assist in building a world where all people belong.
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Duchess is a friendly and inviting space to talk about clothes and fashion, for everyone. We will continue to work every day to provide a safe place for individuals to dream up their sartorial delights.
We will unabashedly support your suit vision and give honest, thoughtful guidance.
We will always stand up for the underdog; we strongly believe in treating all people with respect and kindness, no matter the situation.
We believe in building relationships among diverse groups and across disciplines. We believe in sharing knowledge, resources and support.
We believe in advocating for fair working conditions for our manufacturers and fair wages for our employees.
What We Believe
The suit has remained virtually unchanged for two hundred years, and for good reason. A well made, properly fitting suit is comfortable, attractive, and commanding. When a person dons a suit that is made specifically and especially for them, they experience a higher sense of self-esteem, dapperness, dash, and pride that is generally lacking in our present era of casualness.
Duchess Clothier finds the concept of people in suits rather exciting and is here to help every person find and embrace their best look. Today, there is more flexibility in how a person chooses to dress and express themselves - and that sometimes runs contrary to society's expectations. Duchess strives to provide the stylish human with whatever type of clothing suits their fancy and best expresses their authentic self.
Meet Our Team
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Katie
GENERAL MANAGER & LEAD CONSULTANT
Katie (she/her) has been part of Duchess Clothier for almost 15 years, where she finds joy in helping clients bring their dream garments to life, designing new creations, and occasionally indulging in some office supply organization. Before joining Duchess, she owned and operated a vintage and handmade shop in her hometown in Florida. With professional experience in art education, apparel production, manufacturing, and design, Katie feels incredibly lucky to be part of a team that not only excels creatively but is also deeply aligned ethically. Working with such a talented and purpose-driven group makes every project more fulfilling and meaningful. What she loves most is creating suits that help people feel confident, comfortable, and totally themselves. She has a soft spot for Donegal tweeds, soft pretzels, horror movies, and pugs.
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Baili
CONSULTANT & ALTERATIONS ASSISTANT
Baili (she/her) is never one to turn down a pastel suit, or a 10-button cuff for that matter. She is all about the details, the colors, the cheeky monograms...anything that can transform "a suit" to "YOUR suit." When Baili isn't pouring over the newest collar felt options, you can find her living out her cottagecore dreams in her vegetable garden or her reading nook with her cat, Baby. Baili particularly enjoys artisanal pickles, ABBA, British TV, "hygge" anything, Thomas Hardy, and a spicy bloody mary on a rainy Sunday morning.
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Foley
SHOWROOM MANAGER
Foley (they/them) is a long-time Duchess client who, when presented with the opportunity, jumped at the chance to work with the team. They bring a long history in customer service in all kinds of custom goods… as well as a background in theatre, fine art, and woodworking. When they’re not out in their workshop building beautiful, useful things, or in their studio making art, they are probably relaxing at home watching cartoons with their too-many cats, Robin, Toby, Birdie, and Rue. Foley is a huge nerd for history, science, sharks, and TTRPGs. They are also a champion hugger. Just an FYI.
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Erin
HEAD OF ALTERATIONS / DESIGNER
At any given moment, Erin (she/her) is likely thinking about a piece of clothing. How was it constructed? What does the fabric feel like? What mood or era does it evoke? Her passion for apparel became a career path when she completed the Apparel Design certificate program at the Portland Fashion Institute. Altering garments at Portland's finest clothier is a dream come true for Erin. She hopes to continue this line of work for many years to come. If you know Erin, you know that she hates spiders! You might not know that one of her favorite types of duck is the Common Merganser--alias, "Goosander"--because of its crazy hairdo and its tendency to make like a submarine.
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K.L. Cullom
ALTERATIONS ASSISTANT
KL (she/her) is a life-long learner, craftsperson & artisan, a true “Jade of all trades”. She’s acquired a wide variety of skills over her life, many of which were self-taught via YouTube. From knitting to single-handedly building, hand carving and painting a 7ft wall out of concrete. Her deep passion is learning how things are made and then figuring out how to do it herself. So naturally, when the opportunity arose to learn how to alter fine suiting here at Duchess, she jumped at the chance. She’s always wanted to know how to alter her own clothes and is a dedicated participant in the Slow Fashion movement. She’s been thrilled to learn from such a patient and knowledgeable teacher in Erin, and has loved working with this incredible team of humans.
If you know KL, you know she’s spent most of her life making theater, even receiving an MFA in Directing from the New School for Drama. What you may not know, is that her first turn as a lead in a stage production was at the age of 5, and she wrote and directed her first short play in 10th grade, “The Pink Flamingo” - inspired by the song Follow the Music, on Harry Connick Jr.’s 1994 album “She”. If you’re not familiar, she strongly recommends giving it a listen.
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Rue
EMOTIONAL SUPPORT CAT
A former stray and teen mom, Rue (she/her) occasionally visits our alterations department for moral support and to stress test our break room sofa with her flopping. She is the nosiest girl who ever lived, and enjoys finding the highest perch possible in any given space. Her hobbies include shoutily looking for Foley when they are not in the room, and taking attacks of opportunity on any passing legs.
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Seyta Selter
FOUNDING DUCHESS
The founding Duchess was born in a forest of evergreens at twilight in Washington state. Duchess began as a vintage reproduction shop for the people of Portland, but metamorphosized when Seyta wished more people would wear dapper suits. If Duchess then, is a dream made real, it was dreamed a long time ago by a young, feisty Leo with a penchant for subtle brilliance and an abiding connection to nature. Seyta will always be present with the Duchess dream, but her focus is on her private practice in depth psychology and ancestral healing. (Innerlands.org)
Our Garment Manufacturer
Duchess Clothier has partnered with an industry-leading manufacturer in Hong Kong to bring you our offering of fine tailored, custom-made garments. Those of you familiar with Duchess will remember that our company started by designing suits that drew inspiration from past eras (the Edwardian age and the 1960s being our favorites). As the Portland fashion market evolved over the last decade, we realized that a growing number of our customers were embracing more current suiting and styling trends.
We needed a manufacturing partner that could meet the diverse style and design needs of our clientele, as well as meet our high standards for quality and reliability. The decision to work with tailors in Hong Kong was an easy one. Hong Kong has a long tradition of outstanding tailoring. The reasons for this are a fascinating chapter in the history of the apparel industry.
In the late nineteenth century, Britain’s trade and colonization efforts resulted in the First Opium War and the occupation of Shanghai. British merchants and expatriates moved to Shanghai, resulting in a demand for the high-end tailored garments that they missed from their beloved Savile Row establishments. Talented British tailors emigrated to Shanghai and by the time of the Second World War, the industry was booming.
In 1941, the Shanghai Cutting and Tailoring College was established to meet the demand for training new talent. The availability of comprehensive training in the trade further advanced Shanghai as a flourishing center of tailoring.
During the Chinese Revolution in the late 1940s, many of the Shanghai tailors fled to Hong Kong (a British colony at the time). Although there was a long-standing tradition of tailoring in Hong Kong already, the new tailors brought their specific manufacturing techniques that were heavily based on the British tailoring tradition and therefore well suited to meeting the demands of the British citizens and expats residing in Hong Kong.
Throughout the twentieth century, tailoring in Hong Kong continued to thrive and adapt to changing trends in the industry. The result was a distinctly modern approach to tailoring that allowed for speed, consistency, and scalability. With the advent of computer-aided pattern drafting and specialized machinery, fine custom tailoring became an accessible luxury for a wider market than ever before.
Today, as many are rediscovering the cachet of wearing a well-fitting and stylish suit, it is interesting to pause and reflect on the evolution of suit manufacturing. If you are considering the investment in a fine suit, you can rest assured that years of industry experience have gone into ensuring a garment of long-lasting value and enjoyment. We are looking forward to helping you design something special so that you can experience the skill and craftsmanship of our overseas partners.
Find us in the historic Ford Building
2505 SE 11th Ave, Suite 102
Portland, OR 97202
Hours
Tues - Sat By Appointment Only
Call or Text
503-281-6648