First Look: Sarah Liller Debuts Spring/Summer ’11

Indulge your inner Janis J. with Monica lace bell bottoms or opt for the breezy charm of the ruffle-hemmed Julia mini-dress.

Sometimes you have to look back to move forward. That’s certainly the case for Parsons grad and current local Sarah Liller, who drew on the fashion of her 90′s youth to create a debut apparel collection for spring/summer that’s full of lace and innocent detail mixed with daring cut-outs and sheer panels.

“The collection is inspired by me, as a woman in my mid-20′s, looking back on myself as a teenager. There are the young, girlish aspects – the pastels, ruffles, and kind of 90′s-looking silhouettes – and then the sexier, more confident aspects of the collection – me now – the lace, sheer and the cut-outs. I was trying to balance the two, and it arose from me listening to a lot of the Smashing Pumpkins and Third Eye Blind again,” Liller tells us.

Currently available by order through Liller’s web site, offerings ($85-$300) range from a demure pair of cotton lined lace shorts to the youthfully bohemian Darcy blouse in silk with lace detailing on the back and at the hem. Edgier pieces include lace bellbottoms and the Yulya dress, whose shoulder cut-outs and sheer skirt create a look that’s ethereal, yet vampy at the same time.

A few pics from the collection:

Scalloped textural details strike a balance with loose, easy-going silhouettes.

Erica dress (leff) and Yulya dress both feature shoulder cut-outs and lace detailing.

A color palette of pale pastels and crisp white and black creates a striking contrast.

The cropped hem of the Faith top balances the wide, loose sleeves and a thigh-dusting strand of pearls.

The crushed velvet Alana jacket and Olga skirt play with shape and structure, while elastic waist Christine shorts pair with sleeveless Darcy blouse for a casual, beachy summer look.

Photography courtesy of H & A Photography for Sarah Liller; models, Alana Gabrielle and Julia Ann Conley; hair and makeup, Hannah Boone.

Sneak Peek: Discarded to Divine 2011

Discarded to Divine 2011 is just around the corner, and, as in past years, the annual fundraiser for St. Vincent de Paul Society San Francisco and its programs is full of fashionable garments made from cast-off textiles. They’ll all be up for auction on April 28. In the meantime, a few highlights from this year’s show:

The Baile de Oro ("Dance of Gold") dress by Mary Hall Patron of Backstitch Embroidery features a cinched waist tied at the back. Photo by Gabriel Harber.

The Flouncy Party Dress by Jenne Giles of Harlequin Feltworks pairs an unstructured body with feminine details. Photo by Gabriel Harber.

Cari Borja's Galatea at Twilight jacket features the Easy Bay designer's signature ruffles and a dramatic tiered silhouette. Photo by Gabriel Harber.

The houndstooth Dorothy coat by Janice Paredes was inspired by her mother, Dorothy, a skilled seamstress who taught her daughter to reuse fabric to make new creations. Photo by Gabriel Harber.

The one-shoulder Aphrodite dress by Academy of Art students Xiang Zang and Yoorum Kim features chiffon, fine knit and cashmere and includes a removable fur collar adorned with ribbons. Photo by Gabriel Harber.

Wesley Ito says of the Tablecloth dress created for this year's show, "The greatest challenge was to figure out what to create with a tablecloth, since there wasn't much fabric to work with. Another challenge was to make it feel modern and new so that someone would want to wear it." Adding to the intrigue, the waist detail is yellow velvet. Photo by Gabriel Harber.

The Anastasia coat by Olga Shor is streamlined, yet colorful and ornate.

gr.dano's Jill Giordano and Brian Scheyer created this coat using drapes, a baby blanket and a woman's suit. Says Scheyer, "The inspiration for the coat we designed is based on our daily drive toward the Golden Gate Bridge from our home in Sausalito. The hand dyed ombre technique is derived from the color gradient of the bridge as it appears and disappears amongst the morning fog. The overall draping and pleating of the coat reflects the three-mile drive up the hill to the bridge."

Photography courtesy of Gabriel Harber and Discarded to Divine.

Scouting: Sassy City Chicks

The Sassy City Chicks event took place inside the massive Fort Mason Festival Pavilion.

Earlier this month, I stopped by the Sassy City Chicks media preview before the event at Fort Mason Festival Pavilion. I often go to shopping events not necessarily to shop, but to learn about and talk to new, interesting designers, labels and small businesses in the Bay Area. It’s one of my favorite ways to find new people and businesses to write about on SF Indie Fashion and in my regular assignments for 7×7.com and the San Francisco Chronicle publications.

I ran across several companies and designers that I’d never met before, and I am looking forward to featuring several of them in the coming days and weeks. I’m not going to mention them here, because a couple of them are new, new, new, and I want to feature them prominently on the site instead of just giving a brief mention.

Overall impressions of the event: it was an interesting mix of vendors in that those participating ran the gamut from earthy and eco-friendly to upscale artisan jewelry to inexpensive, ultra trendy finds apparel priced at even further discounts.

Below, a few images from my stroll.

Chevy was sponsoring the event, so there were several cars on display. This is the Volt, and I was intrigued by the snazzy exterior and the plug. We need more electric cars!

Inside the Volt. Sporty, no?

After tweeting about the folded detail on this Dama handbag, made of vegan leather and materials, several people tweeted me back to say you can also find it at Ambiance stores in San Francisco.

A trunk show in the literal sense.

This dress made me want to go on vacation. I apologize, because I did not write down the label or the vendor's name, so I can't really say much more about it than that.

Inside the goodie bag from the event: product from Tan Towel, Yes to Cucumbers, Belina, Nick Chavez, One Grey Day, Eco Tools and more.

And yes, of course, there was so much more to see. We featured one new local label, Holly Scott, who piqued my interest last week. Stay tuned for more to come.

Snap Judgment: Sirena Necklace

Our very-visual, (almost) chatter-free snap judgment of the day: whether worn on the shoulders or turned and draped from the neck, the intriguingly versatile Sirena necklace, $98, from the new spring collection of local line Nous Savons has a tough-yet-delicate look we love.

More snap judgments

The Do List: San Francisco Fashion Events April 18-24

This week marks the beginning of the annual San Francisco student fashion show season, which brings numerous opportunities each year to view innovative work coming out of Bay Area fashion programs. Along with that, the SF Indie Fashion Calendar promises plenty of fashion events, trunk shows, store openings and opportunities to shop from local sources in the days and weeks ahead.

  • On Thursday, the first student fashion of the season arrives at the Galleria San Francisco Design Center. Runway 2011: Enchantment features work from San Francisco State University Apparel Design and Merchandising students in front of a crowd that topped 700 people last year. A portion of the proceeds from the show’s ticket sales will benefit Visons of La Moda and the free classes it offers to youth interested in the fashion industry.
  • Also on Thursday, the latest Fashion Mash-Up from the San Francisco Fashion and Merchants Alliance takes over Pigment Cosmetics. Titled How to Navigate in the Local SF Fashion Industry, the evening promises a chance to learn from and mingle with speakers Del Geronimo, Darien Bamdad, Brad Carrick and Nick Stewart.

You can find details on all of these events and more happening this week on the SF Indie Fashion Calendar.