It isn’t often that I dream of living in Seattle. Anytime I’m up there I feel like I’m caught in a squall without a trenchcoat—literally, and sometimes metaphorically. Say what you will about L.A., but our non-existent rates of Season Affectivity Disorder are nothing to sneeze at.

But increasingly, the men’s fashion does transcend a post-grunge “nod to the crispy Seattle weather,” as Cher Horowitz once said. As independent men’s stores go, Blackbird in the city’s Ballard neighborhood is tough to beat, and worth a visit when you’re in the Pac NW.

Barring that, owner Nicole Miller’s online shop has consistent prime finds—most recently a collaboration with Alden for a stunning wingtip blucher ($470), made of “100% calf leather blucher style wingtip with Goodyear welt construction in dark burgundy.”

The store’s own product shots always give between-the-lines styling advice as well—skinny, dark-rinse jeans w/ a single cuff work so well with these beauties, it’s practically a fashion symbiosis equivalent of the shark and remora. — Paul Dexter