Prairie Underground
Its designers may have drawn inspiration from old-fashioned housedresses, but contemporary clothing line Prairie Underground has a modern and progressive sense of style.
“There used to be a whole tradition of dresses that women would make from patterns in their home and really wear them,” said Davora Lindner, co-founder of Seattle-based Prairie Underground. “They would be like work dresses. We’re totally inspired by that type of dressing and that type of approach to clothing.”
The designers and cofounders of Prairie Underground, Lindner and Camilla Eckersley, have been friends since their adolescent days in Nebraska in the 1980s, where they watched new wave music on MTV. Before establishing Prairie Underground, Lindner was a figurative sculpture artist in Minnesota for five years and Eckersley worked for a couple of years as a designer with the contemporary line Rebecca Beeson.
The two reunited two years ago to launch Prairie Underground, a line that aspires to be utilitarian wash-and-wear clothes—influenced by their Midwestern roots—but avant-garde in style.
The best pieces in the collection balance aesthetics such as dresses made with hemp/cotton jersey, original hand-painted cotton fabric and solid cotton fabric that is sewed together like a quilt. The dresses also feature adjustable drawstrings or buttons, which make them more artsy and voluminous in shape.
Melissa Ritchie, the owner and buyer of Atmosphere in the hip Los Feliz area of Los Angeles, has carried Prairie Underground’s organic fleece hoodie sweatshirts for several seasons.
“Unique and wearable is always a hard mix to master, but they do it really well,” Ritchie said.
She said customers are “impressed” to learn that the clothing is made from organic cotton or hemp, and that Prairie Underground’s prices are competitive with lines that do not use organic materials.
Environmentally friendly fabric is one of the ways that Prairie Underground attracts clients who share the same interests in ecology, music, art and design.
“We definitely have an underdog sort of the view of the world,” Lindner said.
Wholesale price points range from $24 for cropped leggings with ties that hit under the knees and up to $90 for a “diamond fox” dress with quilted detail and diamond-shaped pattern pieces.
For more information, call (503) 250-4719. —Rhea Cortado
