May 18, 2013

We Came, We Saw, We Shopped: Vintage Fashion Expo

There was much to see hanging from the racks and strolling the aisles of the most recent Vintage Fashion Expo in San Francisco. We sent our contributing photographer Jennymay Villarete to bring back choice shots from the two-day, semi-annual event.

See below for a few of our favorites and visit us on Facebook for the full album.

Photography courtesy Jennymay Villarete

More San Francisco vintage

The Do List: San Francisco Fashion Events Oct. 17-23

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Among the stylish San Francisco happenings to look forward to this week are multiple chances to indulge in tech and fashion, an enviable sample sale, a big bday party for a longtime local retailer, a vintage extravaganza and a live runway event across the Bay. Intrigued? You’ll find the details on the SF Indie Fashion Calendar.

  • For those interested in the intersection of style and technology, take your pic of events this week: on Tuesday, there’s an invite-only event with fashion app Pose at Heart in the Mission. We’re sure savvy style hounds will figure out a way to snag invites. Open to everyone, everywhere on Wednesday night is the next Posh Party from fashion app Poshmark. Come Thursday, you can network with those in the local tech and fashion industries during dueling events (or maybe attend both), thanks to the Digitally Chic Apps & Apps Meetup and the SFFMA’s Fashion Tech Meetup.
  • Thursday kicks off the Chaiken and Capone Sample Sale, a reason to duck out of work and dip into the New Montgomery location for deals on the local line’s 2011 samples in sizes two through six.
  • On Friday, celebrate a longtime local retailer’s two decades in San Francisco and latest venture with the Metier 20th Birthday & Web Shop Launch Party. We hear a slew of local style aficionados will be turning out for the shindig, which also includes gift bags to the first 50 partygoers and raffle prizes.
  • Two reasons to head east this week are well worth noting: A chance to scope local designers and artisans, a live runway show, open artists’ studios and food truck fare will be the draws during the latest installment of F3 at the Cottonmill on Friday night, while the Alameda Point Vintage Fashion Faire brings two days of vintage style and 50 vendors to the eastern island town.

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

The Do List: San Francisco Fashion Events April 11-17

Bay Area fashion fans won’t be bored this week, thanks to the sheer variety of style-minded events on the SF Indie Fashion Calendar in the days ahead. What’s in store? Oh just the City’s biggest live fashion competition, a nightclub runway show featuring local designers, a vintage fashion fair, a noteworthy Berkeley trunk show, the preview night for Discarded to Divine and much, much more.

  • Start the week off with a bang by heading to the Fashion Feud Final Competition on Tuesday night, when the winning designers from the three previous rounds will compete in a rapid-fire 60-minute sewing competition while attendees drink, mingle and shop from local vendors. Once designers Crystal Hermann, Kryztina Lazar and Sally Marie Hahn have completed their garments, models will compete in a walk-off before judges Joseph Domingo, Zoe Hong and John Robblee.
  • On Thursday, Project Ethos brings an evening of local art, music and fashion to the clubby-club atmosphere of Ruby Skye. During the 10 p.m. fashion show, local names such as MENK, Danielle Pettee and Zoe Hong will show their apparel alongside the Frederick’s of Hollywood swimwear collection.
  • Friday evening brings the first chance to view the apparel, accessories and items for the home created by local and nationally-recognized designers for Discarded to Divine, an annual fashion event and auction showcasing work made using cast-off or recycled textiles in support of St. Vincent de PaulĀ  Society and its programs. While the main event isn’t until April 28, a free preview night at the de Young Museum offers the public a chance to view for the first time garments from designers such as Louisa Parris, gr.dano, Christopher Collins, Connie Walkershaw, Shay Miles and many others.
  • Once Saturday sets in, there are two reasons to hit the Bay Bridge. The all-day Alameda Point Vintage Fashion Faire brings over 50 vendors offering apparel and accessories for men and women hailing from as far back as the Victorian era to the 1980′s. If you missed the recent Vintage Fashion Expo, this is another excellent opportunity to scope out professional vintage dealers and their wares. For new merch from independent sources, head to Berkeley for the Rue Atelier Spring Trunk Show, featuring apparel by Sofie Olgaard, hats by O’Lover Hats milliner Elwyn Crawford and scents from perfumer Ineke Ruhland. All designers will be in the store for the event, and you’ll also find bubbly and treats sweetening the deal.

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

We Came, We Saw, We Shopped: The Edwardian Vendor Bazaar

Before the annual Edwardian Ball festivities got underway last weekend at the Regency Ballroom, we had the chance to check out the vendors on Saturday afternoon. For those of you unfamiliar with the Ball, it is inspired by the creations of Edward Gorey, whose books and illustrations many consider to be a major influence on gothic fashion. Let’s just say this was not your average vendor fair.

The decor was reminiscent of a Tim Burton movie and the costumes were amazing: some classy, some borderline shocking (the pony tail necklace, for example), but all were very unique. What’s more, this Edwardian extravaganza offered up rare shopping opportunities, albeit many of them custom creations not well-suited for the budget-minded. Whether you came to shop or stare, the vendor fair was only a teaser for the equally as fanciful night ahead.

Below, some of the people and apparel we met at the event:

Steven Raspa

Purevile

Minerava's Antennae

Sayuri Designs

Aldebaran Organic Forms

Gelareh

Bronica Blue and Mo Awobo

The Kaplen family

Chris Anderson show's off the ponytail necklace from Purevile

Miss Velvet Cream and Audette Sophia

Photography by Christophe Tomatis

Good Looks: Leopard in the Palace

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Palace-Leopard-2

Palace-Leopard-5

Palace-Leopard-4

Palace-Leopard-3

But for the black scarf, a $5 purchase from H&M, the outfit donned by Alex of Refuses to Label is vintage head-to-toe and, we think, an excellent portrait of San Francisco style. You know she had us at animal print.

As lovely as the scene looks, we hear the snaps it took to make these shots were done with fingers brittle from the cold that descended on the City earlier this month. As Refuses to Label photographer Amy noted on the day of this shoot at the Palace of Fine Arts, “It was warmer in London today. London.”

Refuses to Label: the creative outlet of two lifelong friends with similar aesthetic addictions: vintage, design, art, photography, music. Artists themselves; this is the documentation of they’re combined inspirations and daily vintage fits.

[Styling by Amy Soderlind & Alex Keenum of Refuses to Label]

[Photography courtesy of Refuses to Label]