SFBayStyle

Nouveau Ensemble: de Young & Gaultier

Save the Date: March 24, "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk" opens at the de Young Museum, featuring 140 ensembles representing 35 years of couture and ready-to-wear collections. It's this year's Bay Area fashionista's exhibit not to miss. A special preview event, La Grande Fete, will take place the evening of the 23rd.

“Gaultier catapulted on to the fashion scene with his unconventional approach that drew inspiration from television, film, music, and street culture. For the last four decades he has remained a catalyst for our times. This dynamic exhibition is a truly multi-media extravaganza complete with animated mannequins, runway clips, and video excerpts from his extensive film and music collaborations, and succeeds in capturing the raw, sometimes chaotic energy that defines our contemporary lives and Gaultier’s world.” - FAMSF curator of costume and textile arts, Jill D’Alessandro

The exhibit, organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in collaboration with the Maison Jean Paul Gaultier, will be exclusively presented on the West Coast in San Francisco, will be on view through the summer, including six thematic sections, many of which are provocative in nature, including "the boudoir" and "skin deep." Included with the garments themselves will be fashion photography, sketches, stage costumes, excerpts from films, runway shows, concerts, videos, dance performances, and television programs.

There and Back Again

We took a hiatus for a year, but several of the writers from SFBayStyle missed contributing here, so look for some new content in the coming days and weeks, along with some freshening up of the site design.

- The SFBayStyle team

SFBayStyle's Next Chapter

SFBayStyle has now been online for nearly four years. We actively published articles for 3.5 years, the summer of 2007 through the end of 2010. We've had a wonderful time working on it, and each of us who have been involved since the beginning and along the way have followed our own paths as well.

As fate would have it, we have all become so busy with our other projects that we don't currently have the ability to keep posting at SFBayStyle.com as often as before. Therefore, after much deliberation and discussion, we are taking a hiatus. But don't fret - we're not really going anywhere… we'll keep posting about fun things we find and cross-posting our articles from other places on the SFBayStyle Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/SFBayStyle and via Twitter, http://www.twitter.com/sfbaystyle.

Please also check out where some of our writers are now:

• Sarah's blog at SFGate's City Brights & her other writing
• Moya's new blog, Overdressed for Life, & her column, the Oakland Fashion Examiner
• Beth's blog, TechMamas
• Rose (now in NYC) as Urban Food Maven
• Elisa on the SF Bay Area Theatre Blog & Elisa's Green Scene

Please also visit our blogroll for some recommended similar sites in and around the Bay Area, particularly under "Local Style."

Finally, we hope you will visit our friends at SFLUXE for the SF social scene, Vivanista for philanthropic lifestyle around the country, ecofabulous for environmentally conscious living, and BlogHer for great women bloggers on all topics.

Thank you to all of our wonderful readers - over 320,000 - over time. We always received positive feedback about our articles, the quality of our work, and the type of content we have presented here. That feedback has meant a lot to us.

Sincerely,
Sarah, Moya, Rose, Pamela &
The SFBayStyle Team

The Secret Lives of Dresses: Book Launch

Local author and blogger Erin McKean invites one and all to join her on Thursday, February 10 at the San Francisco vintage clothing store Ver Unica to launch her very first book - The Secret Lives of Dresses (inspired by her blog, www.dressaday.com/).

The Secret Lives of Dresses tells the story of Dora, a 20-something college student who decides to put her life on hold to run her ailing grandmother's vintage clothing store. But is her life really on hold or perhaps taking an exciting new turn? 

Come on out, dress in vintage (or not), meet Erin and pick up a copy of this fun and inspiring new book.

The Secret Lives of Dresses Book Launch. Thursday February 10, 2011, 6-9pm at Ver Unica, 526 Hayes St., SF.    

 

Mr. Rick's Martini Club New Year Gala

Some of us prefer to avoid the revelries of New Year's Eve while others of us soak it up and beg for more. To please one and all, Mr. Rick’s Martini Club announces its annual New Year Gala, set for Saturday January 8th, 2011 at the Lake Merritt Hotel Terrace Room Restaurant in Oakland.

A sophisticated affair, Mr. Rick’s New Year Gala celebrates not just the promise of the current year but the glories of past decades. Attendees dress in formal attire from the 30s to the 50s and dance to the tunes of the Mood Swing Orchestra. The recently renovated Lake Merritt Hotel  offers the perfect Art Deco ambiance complete with a sparkling view of the lake. The Terrace Room Restaurant Executive Chef Brandon Peacock has created a special prix fixe dinner menu, which includes your choice of grilled hanger steak, pan roasted quail, or handmade butternut squash ravioli. There will be yet another fantastic dance routine by the Deco Belles, a complementary martini, chocolates, and to round out the evening a countdown to midnight.

Stylish Holiday Cookies by Felix the Cook

Got upcoming parties? Need to mail a gift? Time to thank the teachers? No worries, we have a stylish holiday tip for you - Felix the Cook.

Barbara Felix is the cookie artist behind Felix the Cook. She creates delicious sugar cookies in fabulously artistic shapes like autumn leaves, pine cones, snowmen, dreidels, stars, even dresses. Barbara does seasonal collections, holiday themes and custom-made for special occasions such as baby showers, birthdays, and weddings. Gwyneth Paltrow is a fan and Ashley Judd says Barbara's cookies are "... the most dazzling to look at and delicious to eat."

You said it, Ashley!

Holiday Happenings with Rocket Dog Rescue

WHO: Rocket Dog Rescue

WHAT: An evening of holiday shopping and cheer - 5% of the proceeds go to helping RRR find forever homes for abandoned dogs.

WHEN: Saturday, December 4, 4pm to 9pm

WHERE: Design Quarter, 1478 Church Street, @ 27th Street, San Francisco.

What's more stylish than turning out for a good cause? And what better a cause than Rocket Dog Rescue? The hard working volunteers with RRR save our canine friends from death at overcrowded shelters. RRR provides each dog with all needed medical care and a foster home until a forever home is found. Since 2001 RRR has rescued over 4000 dogs. Way to go!

The evening will include cocktails, food, a raffle and shopping the fabulous home wares of Design Quarter (5% of all sales go to the dogs).

 

Change Starts With I: Local Jewelry Designer Stacey Lorinczi Designs The Irma Bracelet

When San Francisco jewelry designer Stacey Lorinczi was asked to create a bracelet as a fundraiser for the documentary film, Recovering Irma, she immediately thought of the yellow Lance Armstrong  bracelets. Although Stacey is not a fan of the ubiquitous rubber bands she recognizes the positive impact they have made. "I started wondering how can we design something that is an essential marketing tool and make it fantastic piece of jewelry."

Fantastic it is. A simple black band of leather with a sterling silver "I" stylishly says, I take a stand against domestic violence.

Stay in Season with SeeZenn.com

 
This past Saturday local fashion company SeeZenn.com celebrated the opening of their first pop-up shop in the Westfield Mall on Market Street in downtown San Francisco. Primarily an on-line women's clothing outlet, SeeZenn is popping up for real to help spread the word on their new and unique lines of clothing.

SeeZenn offers itself to a select few international designers as a venue for the US market. Currently they house the Asian line LILY and their in-house line, Sorrce. Both lines are particularly appropriate for San Francisco style with an array of 

• short jackets
• cardis
• sweater tunics
• vintage-inspired floral blouses
• loose dresses 
• cotton-stretch tees with vintage graphics
• tweed jumpers
• and trench coats.

Fabrics are lightweight, mostly polyester blends for easy care.

Budding Entrepreneur from the Bay Area: Audrey Lo

Monta Vista High has had its headlines in recent months with the news of young successful entrepreneurs.  I had the opportunity to speak to one of it's "offspring," Audrey Lo.  Audrey's roots are from the bay area and since then has been riding high on her ambitions to form a company called Ballerinies, a company that focuses on hand-crafted ballet shoes for aspiring ballerinas.

This up-and-coming entrepreneur has always had a passion for dance and has realized her dreams of incorporating it into an expanding company.  Here's a transcript of our interview with this talented individual from the Bay Area.  We talk about how the bay has influenced her aspirations and goals for her company as well as what style means to her.