San Francisco Independent Fashion
Bat your lashes at the latest from Colleen Mauer on Thursday night during a trunk show at Inner Richmond interior and floral design destination Fleur*T. Feel free to issue come-hither looks and leave with pretty finds you’ve only just met. Rest assured, they’ll still look every bit as good in the morning.
For more on Colleen and a peek inside her San Francisco studio, check out our recent interview with her.
More fashion-y fun on the horizon in San Francisco….
Sometimes you feel like a nut. In other news….
Nola Bella just debuted new fall and holiday 09 styles, including the Bold and Beautiful necklace shown here. We love. See them all at Seeking Designers.
If you love embroidery (we do), then you won’t want to miss the crafty-cool Open Source Embroidery exhibit launching today at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art.
Jasmin Zorlu is debuting her new fall winter 2009 hat collection this weekend in a studio sale with Ocelot Clothing. If you’ve been looking for a show-stopping outfit-topper, we’d highly recommend a peek at Zorlu’s work.
As you’ve likely heard from our friends over here (who just happen to be sporting a very nice new look), Christopher Collins opens his first boutique today in lower Nob Hill. Stay tuned for more on that from us in the coming days.
It’s been a while (by our calculations), so we’re glad to see The Warehouse Sale is back in the city this weekend. It has been a go-to of ours for several years now for its ability to condense requisite jeans-buying missions into rapid-fire try-on sessions that allow us to blow through 20 odd pairs to find the right ones. If you plan to go, be sure to RSVP to get in free.
Kathy Kamei will be having a trunk show tonight at dress boutique at 2271 Chestnut St. Along with showcasing this local San Francisco jewelry designer’s new fall collection, dress will be donating 10 percent of all sales during the event to Susan G. Komen in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Fans of street-inspired apparel take note: there’s a new search engine just for you. San Francisco-based Street Apparel helps you find clothes from designers such as WeSC, Hellz Bellz, Volcom and others in a slew of online shops.
Looking for more fashion fabulousness in the City this weekend? Visit the SF Indie Fashion Calendar.
Move over Love Potion No. 9, there’s a newcomer in town that’s well on its way to stealing our hearts. Elixir9 is a newly launched line of hand-forged silver and gold jewelry from San Francisco designer and metalsmith Elizabeth Lass, who makes her retail debut this week at The Mission Statement.
Split into two distinct groupings, Lass’s bright and shiny adornments range from the Argentum collection’s hand-hammered, geometric shapes made of recycled sterling silver wire to the Natrium collection’s silver necklaces and earrings hung with one-of-a-kind fossils, sharks teeth and semi-precious stones.
“They both have their distinct personalities, but the common element between the two is the forging,” explains the Lower Haight resident, who has honed a signature striking technique that gives her work its highly textured, glimmering finish.
Lass gets more out of her hard-hitting approach than pretty results.
“I really enjoy hitting metal with a hammer. It’s really satisfying,” says Lass, a graduate of the Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts and the Women’s Initiative.
A former graphic designer, Lass set out to turn her jewelry pastime into a full-time business last year just as the economy started to tank. Was she scared about the decision? Yes. Did that stop her? No way.
“For me, there’s nothing more exhilarating than holding in my hands what was once just an idea in my head. Sometimes I can’t believe it took me this long to ‘find’ jewelry, as it’s this perfect blend of craft, design, science and fashion. It was staring me in the face for a while and I just wasn’t listening,” she says.
But listen she did, and she’s not the only one taking notice. In July, Lass was selected as a Top 10 Copper Circle Finalist in a national artist grant competition for emerging designers sponsored by Halstead Bead Inc.
This week marks Lass’s debut at The Mission Statement, a local boutique showcasing the work of independent jewelry and apparel designers for men and women. She’ll be there in person tonight during the shop’s monthly Meet the Designers event. Stop by between 6 and 9 p.m. to mingle with Lass and the shop’s other new label, Venn by Zara Franks. All store merchandise will be 20 percent off during the event, and Lass will have a selection of fossilized sharks teeth and special stones for shoppers seeking custom creations.
For more about Lass, visit her online via her web site, pop into her etsy shop or follow her on Twitter.
Want to hear some juicy news? (If you’re anything like us, the answer will be a resounding yes.) A sweet new jewelry line launched this month from San Francisco artists and designers Sara Rossbach and Richard Combs has dazzled us with its oh-so-San Francisco approach to contemporary luxury. Dubbed Gold and Citrus, the collection of 11 necklaces and one gold-chained headpiece ($80-$820) features gold paired with unexpected materials such as wood grain sequins, silk-backed zippers and brown rooster feathers.
Though the resulting pieces have an effortless polish that makes them just as worthy counterparts for a slouchy cotton tank as they could be for a streamlined wedding dress, there’s nothing simple about divining the designs themselves.
“I would definitely say I spend many more hours brainstorming and sketching ideas than actually producing the pieces,” says Rossbach, the lead designer for the line.
That may very well not sound unusual, until you glimpse the intricate bead work and complex construction invested in such pieces as the scarf-life Kumquat and the pearl-laden Pummelo.
They say it’s the thought that counts, and that sentiment certainly rings true here. The brain power behind Gold and Citrus yields much more than mere beauty. Wearers of the Kumquat and Clementine styles, for example, will find themselves in possession of a neck adornment designed to be worn up to four different ways.
Starting out on the wrong foot isn’t always a bad thing.
Take San Francisco artist and jewelry designer Taryn McCabe. Her time studying footwear at the London College of Fashion led not to career creating stylish shoes, as she’d planned, but to a jewelry business instead.
“I went…and fell in love with leather. I worked for a few shoe companies, but realized that it was much more fun to outfit peoples ears (and necks) rather than comfortably fit their feet,” says McCabe, a multimedia artist currently pursuing an MFA from San Francisco State University.
Working with leather in bold hues and metallics, McCabe hand cuts leaves, flowers and geometric shapes to fashion earrings and, most recently, necklaces into her collection’s ultra light-weight adornments.
Over three inches long, earrings such as the Turquoise and Platinum (top left) and Metallic Tri Leather (below) feature multiple layers cut with intricate patterns that balance McCabe’s respect for arts-and-crafts with an edginess we applaud. Another standout? The Leather Garland Necklace (bottom), whose mix of rich red paired with black and metallic leather delivers a slightly subdued twist on rocker chic that’s still plenty of fun.
For more on McCabe, visit her web site and check out her etsy shop. Find her work in person at Rabat on Chestnut or, starting Aug. 4, at Secession Art + Design.
