LOCAL FASHION Portland, meet Milo BY JASON WILKINS

Clothes designers and other crafty folk here in Portland will soon have new place to vend their creativity: Milo.

Currently taking shape in the back third of Casco Bay Books, in the 151 building on Middle Street, Milo aims to open in late August/early September and feature a mix of clothing and accessories for both sexes. "It makes sense to do the clothing thing," says Mark High, head honcho at both the bookstore and the new boutique. "It’s not much of a stretch from our core interests," which have always included design. And just as Casco Bay Books has long carried locally made zines, CDs, and photography, Milo plans eventually to offer locally made fashions. "It’s crazy how many people are making things," High says.

Diane Toepfer concurs: "Portland seems to be coming around to a fashion moment." Surrounded at her Ferdinand storefront by quirky designs of her own making (from squirrel shirts to softheads), Toepfer can easily shake a dozen nearby designers’ names out of her address book. Milo may do well, she suspects, because High "is very good at finding the cool stuff before me."

Certainly the design community is eager to bring the cool stuff to Milo. "It is the buzz about town!" enthuses Shannon Rankin, a ’97 Maine College of Art grad and interdisciplinary artist who works with everything from paint to maps to vintage clothing. "I’m very excited about it. I would love to make some stuff for the Milo shop."

She’s not the only one. Rayne Hoke (aka Kitty Witch) says she’s "pushing my poor sewing machine to the limit" making examples of her "vintage kitsch haute couture" specifically for the new shop. "There is a need to get unique local work out, and here in Portland the local clothing design scene is taking off." Hoke should know, having seen the new work recently shown off at the WMPG fashion show, the Indy Winter Fashion show held at Casco Bay Books, and the Blissful Revolution Arts and Crafts Bazaar at the St. Lawrence Arts & Community Center (which she helped assemble).

Hoke will help Milo plan "a mini bit o’ arts and crafts bazaar" with a Halloween theme at the end of October, by which time shoppers at 151 Middle Street should be able to purchase homegrown music at Bull Moose, locally drawn comics at Casablanca, locally made movies at Videoport, and Portland fashions at Milo — all without venturing into the rain. Not bad for a little city.

Now, if we can just keep the rising rents from driving all the artists out of town . . .