Our neighborhoods have their own distinct style; dress accordingly

In this neighborhood-centric city, where you live says a lot about you. But what does what you wear say about your neighborhood?

A lot, really.

"You can almost see someone from Seattle and know they're from a certain area," says 21-year-old Amy Braden, who lives in the U District.

You might wear sturdy Carhartt work duds to grab a beer in Georgetown, but that look won't sit as well at the ritzy bars in Belltown. Ballard is casually trendy, whereas in edgy Capitol Hill men wear tight jeans with confidence.

"Everybody has their own look in Seattle," said Dunni Idowu, 23. "It's very diverse."

And of course, Seattle is still Seattle, where anything goes in fashion. But your neighborhood's "anything" probably isn't the same as mine.

We took a nighttime stroll through a handful of Seattle neighborhoods, and here are the looks we found.

Capitol Hill

Hang out at the intersection of Pike and Broadway on a Friday night and you'll see Capitol Hill's many subcultures: Men with turned-up collars heading to hip-hop shows at Sugar, girls and guys sporting skinny jeans lining up for a music show at Neumos, or possibly 23-year-old Kelsey Rose, her dark hair streaked with red, wearing bright red lipstick, leopard-print flats and a 1950s-style yellow dress on her way to the Comet Tavern.

On Capitol Hill, the secret is to pick a look and wear it with confidence, says Rebekah Kringle.

But in this trend-conscious neighborhood, sometimes that means wearing it with confidence all day long.

"It's really, really scene and trendy," said Kringle, 21, who dressed in Airwalk sneakers, Gap skinny jeans, a Target hoodie and a secondhand yellow beaded necklace for a show at Neumo's.

"You can't go to the grocery store without dressing up. ... Everyone's dressed to the T, like they went to a show, but it's regular life."

Capitol Hill is judgmental about style, acknowledged Rose, an accountant, but she likes to think of it as a friendly filter.

"It's kind of a fashion show, but not in a not-going-to-talk-to-you [way]," she said. "It's so diverse up here, it serves a purpose more of finding someone you have [something] in common with than excluding people."

Ballard

Ballard's constantly growing mix of restaurants, music venues and bars draws a lively weekend crowd, but the fashion vibe remains down-to-earth.

When Angelie Rivera, 29, and Pamela Jett, 22, explain the style for men in Ballard as "effortless, like I picked it up off the floor," laid-back sort of seems like an understatement.

But dressing for a night out in Ballard still requires some maintenance. Rivera, an office worker, and Jett, a student and barista, call the neighborhood's vibe "casual, yet sexy."

There's less pressure to wear brand names in Ballard, Jett said, but fashion can be adventurous or casual. Jett picked out a sequined tank top and skinny jeans for a recent Friday night on Ballard Avenue and paired it with a black hoodie. Rivera wore heels and carried a Forever 21 handbag.

"As long as it's somewhat trendy, it works," Rivera said.

Add fishing and industrial roots to the mix and the neighborhood's low-key fashion makes sense.

On a recent night out at Hattie's Hat, Amy McVay, 37, who works on a tugboat, wore new, shiny patent heels. She chose an orange sweater and jeans for comfort.

Clothing in Ballard "doesn't have to be super serious, [like] somebody's going to judge me," she said.

Belltown

More than most neighborhoods, people glam it up to go out in Belltown. You'll see groups of women sashaying down First Avenue in bright, colorful dresses and patent-leather heels, their hair curled, their lips glossy and a Louis Vuitton or Fendi bag on their arm. Guys can be spotted in blazers and T-shirts or the more typical button-down shirt, their hair carefully mussed into place.

Caitlin Devlin thinks twice about what she wears in this neighborhood, where swanky restaurants and bars attract a young, dressy crowd. On a Saturday night, the dress code can be so uniform — designer jeans, stilettos and a flashy, revealing top — that Devlin, who works in advertising, is wary of seeing her shirt on another girl across the bar.

"If you buy at Banana Republic or J. Crew, you can pretty much count on other people wearing it too," said Devlin, who wore Joe's Jeans, pointy-toe pumps and carried a Banana Republic python clutch. "I look for the weirdest thing in the most random boutique."

Guys can be even less creative. Belltown, after all, is the neighborhood that spawned the ubiquitous button-down, striped shirt paired with designer jeans look seen at every trendy bar in the area.

"I try not to wear jeans because every guy wears jeans," said Daniel Herndon, who works in technology. "No one here thinks to do anything original."

Devlin, 22, also likes to frequent bars on Capitol Hill, and modifies her outfits for that neighborhood with flats or sneakers instead of heels. But for a night in Belltown, "I wear my makeup a little better, do a little more with my hair."

Georgetown

In this South Seattle neighborhood, the brick front of the old Rainier Cold Storage towers over the main business district and an industrial influence is inevitable.

Here, gritty meets paint-splattered at bars and restaurants frequented by a mix of workers, artists, rockabillys and punks.

"There's a lot of artists in Georgetown and there's a lot of people who work in more heavy industry, metal workers, so there's a lot of Carhartt chicks down here and gutter punks," said Sarah Prochnau, a manager at Jules Maes Saloon. "It definitely has a pretty cool sense of self."

You're as likely to encounter an ironworker in Carhartts having a beer at the 9lb Hammer as you are a tattooed punk rocker in black or artists wearing their own designs.

But don't call it trendy.

"Sometimes I think Georgetown is the wrong side of the tracks," said Jami Brehmer, a server at Stellar Pizza & Ale. "There's so many people it's all accepted. Georgetown is more of an attitude than fashion."

Nicole Tsong: 206-464-2150 or ntsong@seattletimes.com