The designers behind the Pendleton Portland Collection were pillars of the city's design community even before that high profile gig came along. Two thirds of that team are Rachel Turk and Nathaniel Crissman (with John Blasioli rounding it out), whose previous line together is Church + State.

They never officially called it quits with it, but the last time it was seen was when they eked out a collection back in 2011, right after the first Portland Collection dropped. The pandemonium around that meant that they didn't really have time to promote that last collection—it was in stores but never got the runway treatment. Now that the Portland Collection is expanded to include spring collections in addition to fall, the future of Church + State is on hold due to time constraints (although Crissman hints that some secret collaborations are also in the works), so it's a rare opportunity indeed that they're offering with "99 Problems and a Dress Ain't One," a one-night-only "sample sale" of first production runs of that last, lost collection. (They're in size runs, not just sample size, so the term is a little misleading here. I wrote up a quickie column about the event, which happens tomorrow evening, in this week's paper, which also includes an art show, champagne, and the champagne of beers.

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  • Church + State