Runway Recap: Love Me, Love My Poncho

On a recent Sunday in Dolores Park, a small but stalwart group of local fashion fans gathered to celebrate their shared love of an oh-so-San Francisco garment: the poncho. Along with a D.I.Y. runway and socializing, the first Love Me, Love My Poncho event included a free clothing swap. You, too, can feel the poncho love by cruising through this photo recap of the event.

Love Me, Love My Poncho organizer Mirabelle Jones

A clothing swap was also part of the event

So many ponchos, so little time!

Photography by Aura O’Brien

Aura O’Brien is an award-winning photographer and Marin native who has shot for Seventeen magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, Curve magazine, Mediabistro and many others. In 2011, she showed her work in anotherPERSPECTIVE: 2011 Art Show in Mill Valley and frequently shoots commercial and individual projects ranging from high fashion and editorial to weddings and boudoir photography.

4 Reasons for Locals to Love New York Fashion Week

Once again Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is fast approaching and come February 9, the usual slew of designers will showcase their fall collections in New York at the Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park. Even if you’re not one of the many Bay Area-ites jet-setting over to New York, keep some champagne on hand, as several local companies are live-streaming fashion week events. Here are 4 reasons San Franciscans can start getting excited for the fury that is NYFW:

1. Independent Fashion Blogger Conference, February 8, 2012 at Milk Studios, NYC

IFB Conference 2012

IFB Con 2012 takes places on Feb. 8 in New York

For evidence that fashion bloggers have become a marketing force to be reckoned with, watch the IFB Conference live. You’ll spot some of the fashion industry’s best and brightest personalities come together to discuss issues, challenges and  trends facing fashion bloggers and the brands they work with, as well as the changing the landscape of fashion and social media today.

2. Polyvore LIVE presented by CoverGirl , February 13, 2012 at La. Venue, NYC

Polyvore LIVE

Polyvore LIVE is being billed as the world's first fashion show by an online fashion community.

Polyvore, an online community that promotes the “democracy of fashion,” is showcasing four alumni collections by graduates of the Fashion Institute of Technology. Instead of a flurry of fashion models strutting down the catwalk, the collections will be modeled by a select group of fashion bloggers, who will be announced one week prior to the show on polyvore.com.

3. Academy of Art MFA Fashion Show,  February 10, 2012 at The Lincoln Center.

AAU MFA fashion show

Models & Designers backstage at 2011 show.

On Feb. 10, San Francisco’s own Academy of Art showcases the collections of its best M.F.A. fashion design graduates. It is the only fashion school to show at NYFW, and, last year, three students took home Council of Fashion Designers of America scholarships. Make sure not to miss these talented up-and-coming designers: the Academy of Art Fashion Show livestream starts at 5 p.m. on Feb. 10.

4. BlacMéra by Yuliana Candra at Couture Fashion Week, February 17, 2012 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. 

http://blacmera.com/

Designers displaying the highest level of American craftsmanship in apparel showcase at Couture Fashion Week, and we are absolutely thrilled that San Francisco based designer Yuliana Candra is showing her brand, BlacMéra. A sight to behold, Candra’s gowns impress with hand embroidery, beading and crystal work, while her silk tunics are hand-painted, layer by layer, with depictions of images Candra’s shot on her travels around the world. While this is the only event on our list that is not streamed live, couture fans can view images from the web that are sure to be uploaded by the fleet of smart phones in attendance.

Now you have something more to look forward to than the usual online blow out of models, celebs and socialites running from show to show in designer duds. Happy #NYFW, San Francisco!

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Spotted (SF Street Style): Cuffington’s Catie N.

San Francisco fashion blogger Catie Neinaber, who pens the always-good-for-a-read Cuffington blog and never fails to impress with her vintage-inspired looks, caught up with us outside her Lower Haight office looking as stylish as ever and ready for the rain. Read on for her favorite shops, outfit inspirations and time-killers in the city that surrounds us.

What is your favorite place to shop in the city?

Ver Unica in Hayes Valley, it’s in my neighborhood. The owner is really nice and everyone that works there is full of sunshine. I cannot walk in there without buying something, it’s so well done. It’s the kind of vintage that is more 70’s and 80’s or vintage that would mix seamlessly with modern clothing.

What inspired your outfit today and who are you wearing?

I was cold, so I wore my Wellington boots to work. I was feeling really wintery today, so I choose to look textured with my vintage tweed pants and vintage sweater. I wanted to wear easy shoes so I wore my Lanvin flats. My coat is Burberry and bag Chloe.  

Who are your current style influences?

In my mental mood board, right now, I have two people. Dita Von Teese and Ashley Olsen. They are both five feet tall, but they dress really well for their body type and are very daring. Dita isn’t afraid of color. Ashley could wear anything, and it would make sense. She’s also a bit more buttoned up, and I tend to be buttoned up.

What’s your favorite neighborhood to kill time in the city?

I used to live in Pacific Heights, and I really like it there because the architecture is really beautiful and when I walk down the streets, I feel like I should be singing a song from My Fair Lady. There’s a lot of history there, and it’s just really kind of romantic.

For more, keep up with Catie on Cuffington.

Photography by Sara Iravani

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Sneak Peek: Can Shopilly End Daily Deal Email Inbox Madness?

A sneak peek at Shopilly, a promising new shopping tool from former eBay execs, left me doing what the welcome screen suggests: reserving my Shopilly ID…before it’s taken. While the allure of being the only “Lorraine” ID (no random numbers at the end! no weird underscores!) was, in and of itself, too good to pass up, I am looking forward to using soon-to-launch tool for other reasons. At the top of the list: if Shopilly works like it’s supposed to, it could mean I never have to look at another deal-related email again.

Of course, I could make that happen for myself next week, if I felt like unsubscribing from about 700,000 email lists. But here’s the thing: I like getting all those deal notifications, newsletters and emails. They save me money. I also write about them, tweet them, share them with readers. So for that, I like them. I just don’t like actually looking at them in my inbox. It’s the information, the discount codes, the dates of the in-store sales themselves that I want – not the actual communique getting them to me.

When it takes on its first members in the next month or so, the San Jose-based company will pull deals from the email accounts you give it access to, save them on Shopilly and even filter the emails from your inbox if you’d that to happen, Shopilly CEO Anirban Datta explained to me as he showed me screenshots of the forthcoming site. While the company wasn’t ready to release screenshots publicly just yet, I can tell you that it looks something like a cleaner, more streamlined version of Pinterest, with each deal or promotional email indicated by an image and saved in a nice scrollable grid format. It means being able to pull anything from the day’s Groupon deal to a sale at Bloomingdale’s into one place, get it out of your email and have access to it on a mobile device when you are shopping I.R.L.

In addition to just saving deals, Shopilly will also have a great many other bells and whistles, including the ability, should you choose to allow it, to alert stores of your presence via mobile device when you are shopping in person and offer you deals based on your purchasing history.

I thought it was an compelling enough idea on its own, but the team behind the project adds to the intrigue: the technical co-founder is eBay’s former chief engineer, Randy Shoup, and there are lots of other interesting folks involved, including people from places like Wharton, StumbleUpon and even a former prof of mine from Stanford.

The company is hoping to amass its beta tester pool from the people signing up to reserve IDs, so if getting in on something early and beta testing like only a shopping bandit can sounds like fun, it could be worth signing up.

For more news and updates about fashion and technology, keep your eyes on @InStyleandTech, a new project from SF Indie Fashion founder Lorraine Sanders. Online home coming soon…

Mission Jewelry Atelier Now Sparkles Online

 

Pinterest addicts, watch out. Under-the-radar Mission jewelry atelier Love & Luxe has a new web site stocked with oh-so-pinnable pics featuring its collection of jewelry by independent designers, metalsmiths and fine artists – all curated by resident artist and owner Betsy Barron.

Don’t see what you’re looking for? Don’t worry, you won’t have to head to a big box jewelry just yet. The Love & Luxe store is also a working studio with a trained staff and plenty of artist connects to help you design custom wedding and commitment bands, necklaces, earrings, rings and bracelets.

Sure, look online, but there are many reasons to visit the Mission store’s stunning collection in person: pieces are thoughtfully arranged in glass-topped displays to emphasize the importance of each piece’s unique qualities so, says Barron, “customers can enjoy the experience of discovery.”

So what will they discover?

“When looking for new collections, design and craftsmanship are taken equally into consideration so that we can offer jewelry that will become part of a life long collection, making careful use of the earth’s natural resources,” says Barron of the store’s selection process.

Precious object seekers, browse away online or at Love & Luxe, 1169 Valencia Street, SF.

love & luxe store

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Photography courtesy of Love & Luxe