Designing For The Seattle Look

When Jacqui Cohen opened Jordan, her toney upper Fifth Avenue specialty shop featuring imported European and Japanese clothing in 1985, she was the third generation of her family to enter the ``rag business.''

Her grandfather, Jacob Cohen, opened the first tailor's shop in Bremerton in 1909.

Her parents, Jordan and Lillian Cohen, own and run Jordan's Family Department Store in Port Orchard, which specializes in Western wear and work clothes.

Now Jacqui Cohen has designed her own line of clothing in fine fabrics from France that include rayon, georgette, jersey and shantung.

Many of the designs are reminiscent of tea dances and garden parties. Dresses in floral printed silks and rayon knits have fluid lines.

``I'm a tactile designer,'' Cohen says. ``How things drape and feel are important to me. The way we walk, the way we move and position ourselves all have to do with the clothes we wear.''

The line includes long jackets and short skirts; slim, slinky, romantic, skinny pants and long, flowing culottes, versatile tunics with leggings and graceful fluted skirts.

Colors are simple, soft and natural: sage, mint, muted greens,

bluish-green, rust and black.

Jordan has stated before that Seattle women stress individuality and are not affected by trends.

``I share that with my clients,'' she said. ``That's an aesthetic appreciation for fabric and line and color. I don't care about trendiness. I care very much about timeless quality.''

The new line will be introduced at trunk shows from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Feb. 16 and 17.

FUR PROTEST TOMORROW

Oakland A's manager Tony LaRussa will lead animal activists dressed in black bearing a fur-laden coffin outside the Seattle Fur Exchange in Tukwila from 11 a.m. to noon tomorrow to protest the international pelt auction being held here this week. The protest is sponsored by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

``We will mourn the hundreds of thousands of animals killed each year for sale at this auction,'' said Mitchell Fox of the Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS).

LaRussa will deliver a eulogy under a giant ``Seattle Murder Exchange'' banner as buyers arrive to bid on animal pelts.

Marilyn Kirkby's column appears Wednesday in the Style section of The Times.