Neat street style: Seeking adventure in Southeast Portland

Portland State University student Beryl Bessemer and her boyfriend went out looking for adventure in Southeast Portland this week, and they found it when Neat Street nabbed Bessemer to ask about her casually chic (and very Portland) Bohemian style.

Bessemer, who is enrolled in Middle Eastern Studies and Spanish at PSU, says her layered look is in part due to a lot of biking. Like many active Portland women, she needs comfortable pieces she can take off or put on as she heats up or cools down.

It was a warm-ish winter day when we found Bessemer on foot near the corner of Southeast 21st and Clinton Streets, so her long, purple Ben Sherman coat was unbuttoned and flapping in the breeze. She bought the coat at Juice Boutique in Eugene before moving to Portland, and we loved the color contrast between the purple coat and her bright orange pullover peeking from beneath.

Bessemer paired her cool coat and comfy top with mid-length black shorts over patterned tights, a big old Liz Claiborne bag she found at Macy’s, and she anchored the whole look with her favorite western “Campus” Frye boots, which she says were a good investment because she wears them almost every day.

To complete her international look, Bessemer topped it all off with a cocoa-colored crocheted cap she found in the Banana Republic sale section, and a perfectly draped sage green scarf. She’d fit right in at any European coffee shop – or maybe just at LeGare’s, an offbeat little coffee shop and community resource center she and her boyfriend were excited to discover at 15th Avenue and Clinton Street this day, while having a neat adventure in Southeast Portland.

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