Musings on Central Oregon Style

Fall requires a reset — a shift from the smoky-hot days of summer, where sundresses and flowing fabrics abound — to the warm, cozy, wind-ready garb of cooler days. For our Fall Arts and Style feature, we polled three Central Oregonians who spend their days making wearable goods to share their thoughts about their work and what gets them going.

Responses are in the person’s own words.

Alicia Renner

Howl Goods
Apparel and soft goods brand made for your inner naturalist

Top three creative influences: I often start with my location and find inspiration from the historical garments worn in the area. Usually this falls under three categories: this is western wear, workwear or outdoors wear. I usually seek solitaire time in nature to feel out what I want to see. I also love the Kariki Studios trend reports!!

Favorite piece of clothing/jewelry: My Hudson’s Bay wool coat, because it’s such a beautiful historic piece of clothing that was a part of Western heritage. Plus, I’m Canadian and the Hudson’s Bay Company has been making wool blankets since before Pendleton even existed, so I like that part too.

What I do to get my creative juices flowing: Sometimes I need to get outside and go for a walk to get the blood flowing and then when I get into my studio I make a tea and put on some good upbeat music and then I’m ready to make it happen.

Why I started this business/creative endeavor: Originally, it started as a way to make the garments I wanted from companies like Filson or Pendleton, but couldn’t afford or find the proper fit for myself. It quickly evolved into something that felt important, connecting people with products by hand-making custom garments. And now it’s that, plus a way to provide products that are locally made using natural fibers.

Favorite part of fall style: WOOL! I love the look of it, the practicality of it. I love wool knits and wovens, wool shirts and pants and jackets. It just feels so tough and timeless and iconically fall.

Musings on Central Oregon style: I would love to see Bendites transcend the puffy coat and pick up a mackinaw. Nothing says, “I’m a strong westerner” better than leather boots, jeans and a nice wool coat. You don’t have to be cutting wood or standing around a camp fire to pull it off; you can add color or keep it earthy, you can jazz it up or keep it rugged. It’s such a versatile, natural look. Let’s move past the puff.

Laura Rubin

Branch+Barrel
Jewelry made from wood and botanicals

Top three creative influences: Nature obvs 🙂 In particular, the local flora here in Central Oregon. I work in tandem with Mother Earth’s art. When I uncover the astonishing layers of secret patterns that are hidden within something as innocuous as a pinecone, it’s hard not to feel the inspo flow.

1. Juniper wood is one of the most chaotic, unpredictable, and brilliant woods that I have ever worked with. Her growth patterns and heartwood colors are so capricious that I never get tired of discovering the stories that are concealed within her helter-skelter growth rings. Looking at a cross-section of a withered old juniper branch is like seeing into the mind of a moody and fickle spirit with her spiraling patterns and contrasting colors that never seem to make sense but never stop being beautiful. Not to mention her wild arid silhouettes!

2. Ponderosa pine’s fascinating puzzle-piece-like bark is one of the things that sparked my idea of creating jewelry from trees in the first place. Along with her inspirational bark texture, her mind-bending ability to survive low-intensity forest fires makes Ponderosa pine one of the more remarkable trees of the western U.S. I love going on walks along the Metolious River and admiring her flamboyant needles, stiff silhouettes and gargantuan pinecones. Ponderosa’s consistent and reliable wood is a comforting delight to work with.

3. A Pine cone’s purpose is to serve as a spiny spiraling fortress for their forebear’s seeds. One thing I find so special about pinecones is that the trees use so much energy and time to nurture and grow these cones in the hundreds when only a few, if any of her seeds will actually successfully fulfill their purpose.

Favorite clothing/jewelry: I love big, bright, bombastic sweaters paired with equally splashy earrings. My new line of up-cycled earrings have been my sole choice for these sweater pairings as of late. The items that I wear are a way to represent the varying layers of my soul choices. It’s a glimpse of the paths that I have chosen in my life to land me in the current moment. Right now, I’d like to think that what I wear reads as a person who has found increasing comfort in her own skin and her queerness. Who is righteously proud of her quirk. Who is in constant defiance and scrutiny of the “norm.”

What do I do to get my creative juices flowing. I used to answer this question by saying “going on a hike,” but the current condition of my body hasn’t allowed me this pleasure as often as I would like. So instead, I have been going micro. I have a hammock under an aspen tree in my backyard. If I lay there watching the dancing glittering leaves and give my body permission to rest, it doesn’t take long to inspire. These days, my recipe for creativity looks something like this:

4 cups of rest

1 tsp of dissociation

1/2 cup of nature

Garnished with 3 tbsp of playfulness

Why I started this business/creative endeavor: Looking back, I think I had no other choice but to start my own business. There is some irony in the fact that I now work three times as much as I used to at a 9 to 5 schlepp, but there are fewer limits on my daily choices. I get to listen to my body so much more when I move in my own haphazard way. My ADHD serves me better in the work that I do now, when most other occupational settings don’t allow room for the chaos. It can be a real superpower when put in a creative and intentional setting.

Favorite part of fall style: I love that fashion’s color palette couples with the changing seasonal landscape. An olive green or a turmeric yellow are such calming and warm reminders to slow down a little and breathe in the crisp air.

Musings on Central Oregon style: To me, Central Oregonian style is a confluence of nods to our cowboy past along with our present awareness of the condition of the world and the choices that we need to make moving forward. I think I’ll call this Eco-conscious Cowboy Chic.

Dora Novak

Dora’s Closet – Costume Designer for TV, Film, and Theatre
Alterations and custom pieces, pop-ups with vintage clothing, custom embroidery and on-the-spot alterations

Top three creative influences: Mimi Holden in L.A. was an amazing influence during Covid when I was finding my voice. The idea of fabric as clothing and sculpture opened my mind to what a costume could be. I was lucky enough to do a residency at Suttle Lodge when I first arrived in Oregon and was able to hike and create clothing based on trees, moss, water and mountains — it was a gateway of influence that I was able to keep as I’ve continued my life here. Every hike brings new textures and ideas. Lastly, everyday people. People watching. I am always looking for inspiration from toddlers, teens and blue hairs. Everyone has a style. I am often asked to create a bartender, a mom, an everyday person. By keeping tabs on those around me, I can create more realistic, believable characters.

Favorite piece of clothing/jewelry: I’m currently obsessed with animal accessories. A shrimp bolo paired with my upholstery horse vest is a favorite.

What I do to get my creative juices flowing: I use my headphones to block out distractions and dress my mannequin. Many of my designs come from taking apart thrifted clothing and using the fabrics to make something new. The world already has so much waste. My theory is that everything I need already exists; it often just needs to be dyed, taken apart and put back together with a new eye.

Why did you start this business/creative endeavor? I lived in New York for over 15 years. I worked on amazing million-dollar projects but didn’t get to have a design voice. I moved out here so I could create. I am so thankful for this community that houses so much art. Greenhouse Cabaret, Ponderosa Playhouse, and all the film and TV coming through Central Oregon.

Favorite part of fall style: Sweater Weather! My sweater collection is funky, chunky, bright, and I have way too many.

Musings on Central Oregon style: As a Midwestern girl who went from the East Coast to the West Coast, I have fallen in love with the western and ranch styles out here. The bolo ties, snap-front shirts, workwear and cowboy boots, paired with something soft and feminine or earthy. The mix of people and styles is what makes this space so unique.

This article appears in the Source September 24, 2026.