Conversations with Fashion Innovators: Sally Singer

Recently I had the opportunity to sit down for an intimate lunch with Fashion News and Features Director for American Vogue, Sally Singer. Sally was in town to interview Google’s Marissa Mayer and graciously accepted my invitation to chat about fashion, the recession, and of course the role that sustainability plays for the industry.

During the course of the interview I was captivated by Sally’s passion for the industry, as well her keen dedication to being socially and environmentally responsible in fashion. As she recently stated in her [November 2009] Vogue story, “Salad Days”: “ I love my Deep Green Living directory-where to buy toys, cat supplies, eco-friendly lunchboxes, nontoxic pest care toys)’oh, no; groans my husband)- and I love feeling that little bit more empowered. I may not be living with houseplants but I’m that much closer to the Emerald City.”

Sally is not your typical fashionista.

In fact she made of point of noting to me, “I feel like I’m very, very lucky. A friend of mine, who is an editor, said something like, ‘for girls, getting to go to the Paris shows is like getting to play for the NFL’, and that’s pretty good! I certainly have a job that links up with my things that I care about. I never thought anyone would pay me to care about those things.

Educated at UC Berkeley and later Yale, Singer was originally on a career path in academia but somehow found herself in the world of fashion and magazines. Over a good hearty meal with the best-made Arnold Palmer in town (no salads for these two fashion gals) we began our conversation.

- Yetunde Schuhmann is President and Founder of The Innovative Fashion Council San Francisco

YS: How do you think fashion will weather the recession?

SS: I think that fashion and style is relevant regardless of the economy. Style is almost more relevant now as it’s something that people can do for themselves as a pick-me-up. It’s something that helps them imagine a more interesting world; it helps people think differently about their culture and their time. All sorts of examples of the best style have come out of stricken times.

Within the industry it’s been a tough year and will continue to be for some time. I’ve read that there are some good signs ahead. People will have to think and work a little differently, but that’s not always a bad thing. The hard truth is that people who are very talented might be shuttered this year. It’s a real shame to see Christian Lacroix going into bankruptcy proceedings in Paris, and almost on the same day see Veronique Branquinho shutting her business. These are two immensely talented people with enormous conviction who shouldn’t have done anything any differently, but the system hasn’t worked for them at this moment. So in that sense, I don’t think the shake out is a great thing because it means that only the best will survive. I think a lot of really great people are having a really hard year and people who I don’t necessarily think have a lesson to learn from it. The same as people who are suffering from personal setbacks, they weren’t necessarily over-spending or living a false life, they were just trying to get by and a whole lot of things conspired against them.

I do think that fashion designers and companies will come out of this year with a different perspective on how they operate, how they control their production, how they control their wholesale network and hopefully the industry will be stronger for it.

YS: Do you think that because of the financial distress, it will affect the way designers will market themselves?

SS: Well advertising has taken a hit. Designers are not advertising the way they used to. Were those gorgeous campaigns and the number of them necessary? Shot by just a few photographers… It made fashion really exciting to people and made fashion a fun industry to be in. And a fun industry for the public to engage in. There’s not a designer out there right now, who’s not re-evaluating the way they market and merchandise their collections and how they put their message out there. The interesting thing is that because of style.com there’s such knowledge of fashion. Before you didn’t have to work every day to have people be aware of your work.

When I started at Vogue, you kind of had to figure out how you were going to do it. Maybe there was a cable show that showed a bit of a runway show… The idea that you could know the name of a model that wore Look 12 at Prada was impossible, unless you were in the business. Now anyone can go online and see a show, and know that Natalia was opening the show, and get the details and see the bag up close. So there’s an incredible knowledge of fashion right now. So a lot of marketing just has to build on that. So I imagine things will be done differently in the way that people will position themselves.

Right now there’s so much emphasis in the industry on the pre-Fall. Right now, we’re starting to see Resort in New York and those collections are the real money-spinners for companies. They hit the stores in November and stay full price much longer than the traditional Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter collections. In the past these were seen as the ”real” clothes collections, not the catwalk ”follies.“ And I think there is more direction in them now than ever before. Because there is more scrutiny. They also, go into stores at the moment that people who are in the mood to spend, spend. So I think in the last few years there’s been a greater emphasis on pre-fall or pre-spring or resort and I think that will continue. And more companies doing that if they can, delivering into the stores four times and therefore not staking it all on two seasons. And if two seasons go drastically on sale they have double the opportunity to sell.

YS: The ultimate goal of the Innovative Fashion Council is to support more sustainable fashion design and practices. Do you think it is still only seen as a trend?

SS: I would hope it’s not just a trend, and that the economic crisis wouldn’t be a reversal and we’re still moving forward. There have been other trends in the fashion industry that challenged issues of sustainability. Those too were valid concepts.

Many, many other people have been heartened by the fast-fashion, the explosion of really directional, fun retail environments where clothes are extremely on target, on trend and affordable, and often designed by real luminaries in that market. I mean, I hear Jil Sander is doing clothes for Uniqlo and I hear the clothes are amazing. That said, the whole notion of fast-fashion is not exactly at one with the issues of sustainability. Do we need all those things for clothes we buy on Friday, to wear out at a club on Saturday and toss out by the next Friday? And where are they going? Those clothes may start to be made with organic fibers, made in different factories and made in line with ecological goals and a more conscious set of parameters. We’ve just seen this with Target and their collaboration with Loomstate. Rogan Gregory really pushed to have Target source differently.

I want people to buy the right things at the right price for the right reasons. But I understand designer fashion that is fairly priced, and made artisanally and directional and exciting. Designers like Rodarte, the Mulleavy sisters, and Isabel Toledo are making these amazingly beautiful clothes and these clothes are not inexpensive. And to many people it doesn’t make sense to wear a dress that costs $1,900. But on the other hand, she’s doing something incredibly sustainable. She’s wearing someone who sourced the fabrics properly, made it beautifully, worked on it by hand and paid her workers fairly. I want to encourage people not to spend more than they can afford, but to spend the right amount of money and wear it a lot. And when you’re done wearing it pass it down, rework it, figure out how to integrate it into the next thing they want to do, chop it up, even make it into pillows! I don’t know, but I want people to figure out how to work with their clothes in a more sustained way—whatever their clothes are, it may be the Loomstate Target collection—whatever! I just want them to love it beyond the moment they bought it.

YS: What about educating the designers in sustainable design concepts like William McDonough’s book “Cradle to Cradle?”

SS: We are seeing biodegradable shoes, not just Nike, where if you drop off your shoes, they’ll remake it into something else. So we’re seeing that. And designers, such as Stefano Pilati at YSL doing collections out of old fabrics he found around. He just launched that collection at Barneys New York. I think it’s a fantastic model for how luxury goods should be working right now. But I also think designers are receiving an enormous pressure from retailers and consumers to make things at a less expensive price point, to broaden their price points, to offer entry level price points. And often what that means is to go overseas and China’s environmental standards are not necessarily the best. It’s not necessarily the quality; the real issue is that a designer is trying to work to a sensitive way to their customer and to the world. And it’s an awful lot of balls in the air.

Some will say they’ll use an organic fabric, but if you don’t produce in an up-to-date factory with environmental standards, does it matter if it’s an organic fabric if you’re using chemicals to process it? Kind of, I don’t know but it’s like the set of decisions that we’re all facing in our everyday and I just think that the more everyone is conscious of those choices the better off we’ll be. And every designer out there is thinking that way. They know the customer understands the value of conscious production. It’s not yet at the same place as food, where people will buy the ugly but organic apple. Fashion people still want the nice looking thing. But they know that an ethical back-story adds value for consumers. Whether they can take all their impulses and put out a product that the consumer can afford remains to be seen. But, they’re all trying to. They think endlessly about sourcing, and they have to know fabrics are so expensive now.

And partly because a number of people working now are working at the top of their game are young people. They are part of a generation that grew up with an environmental consciousness. People such as Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough of Proenza Schouler, Phillip Lim and Derek Lam - these guys don’t stand apart from their generation. So, no I don’t think

it’s a trend; it’s just going to take some time to sort itself out. Luckily there are a lot of people right now who know a lot about sourcing and the issues who are working in the industry right now, such as Rogan. As long as people continue to talk about it, it will be okay.

YS: Do you think that hosting a sustainability conference would be a good idea?

SS: It’s hard to get people to come. Designers are very busy these days, going to stores and connecting with the customers. Everyone knows the more designers are out in the stores, the better the sales are. I don’t think there has been a time where designers have worked more frenetically here in New York or in Europe. I know I did a panel for UCLA's Hammer Museum, where I brought together Rodarte's Kate Mulleavy, Adriano Goldschmied, Christina Kim and Tom Binns. They’re all artisanal designers. They found it was very useful for them to talk about the choices they have to make everyday.

YS: It seems as if there is a disconnect, people wanting to be sustainable and not knowing what to do?

SS: Certain questions can be answered by others, such as “I need a source in Peru” but how you choose to go about imagining who you are as a designer has to come from you. I think there’s great value in knowing what your signature is, what your point of view is, how to render it, who is going to appreciate it, how far you can take it and being content with that and scaling it to that. And making great choices that allow you to do it in a way that it’s good for you. In the Bay Area, for instance a company that I think is fantastic is a ceramic company from Sausalito called Heath. Everything that Robin and Cathy have done makes sense. And they’ve just opened a huge store in L.A. in the midst of a recession, but it’s the right store. They truck things down twice a month so they always know exactly what is selling and what to produce. They manufacture locally, they partner with Chez Panisse and Blue Bottle, and other artisanal lifestyle choice businesses that they are part of. They opened at Opening Ceremony in Japan. They are the height of the fashion life, as uber-fashion as you can get without necessarily being a fashion business.

YS: What do you think of the San Francisco emerging designer scene?

SS: When I come here I usually go to Modern Appealing Clothing and see what they carry. I think there’s no reason to do Paris in San Francisco, or Fifth Avenue in San Francisco. You have to do something that connects to San Francisco. I don’t think San Francisco needs a fashion week, I don’t even think L.A. needs a fashion week. You have to do something that makes sense here. I think it’s probably true that if you want a larger audience you’ll probably have to go to New York or even L.A.

Coming Up – Branding the Man Launch

Bertrand Pellegrin, IFCSF board member and author of Branding the Man will discuss his new book and the future of fashion with San Francisco Chronicle columnist Aaron Britt this Thursday at the Academy of Art University. Pellegrin will also be available to sign copies of his book after the presentation. This is a great opportunity to learn about the current state of the retail industry and where it’s heading, during this challenging time in the fashion industry.

Where: Academy of Art University, Main Auditorium; 79 New Montgomery Street
When: Thursday, November 12th; 7-8:30PM

Coming Up - Local 415 at Eco Citizen

Eco Citizen, local purveyor of some of the most high-end and chic designs in eco-fashion, will host an opening reception on Thursday, November 5th for a new exhibition featuring local designers and artists, including Juleselin,Kris Nations, mr. Larkin, Molly M designs, PACT, Josh Podoll, Sara Shepherd, SUST, Turk & Taylor and Yellow Owl Workshop.

Where: Eco Citizen Boutique, 1488 Vallejo Street, 415.614.0100
When: Thursday, November 5th from 5-8PM
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Possessing Inspiration.

The latest IFCSF event featured a panel discussion of the Design Piracy Prohibition Act, a bill currently pending in the U.S. Congress. Currently undergoing its third attempt at passage, the bill would provide intellectual property protection rights to a fashion design for a period of 3 years.

Zuzna Ikels and Karen Frank, partners at law firm of Coblentz, Patch, Duffy and Bass, graciously explained the nuances of the pending bill. While expressing their appreciation for fashions creative process, they failed to reassure the concerns of IFCSF’s members that include emerging fashion designers and production talent. The diehard fashionistas who remain in San Francisco have precious little resources and support as it is, let alone the ability to navigate a complex new legal regime. The skeptical mood of the audience attested to the impracticality and potential perils of enacting this law. Competing against the big guys for recognition has always been part of their struggle for success but hasn’t dampened their desire to continue within the cutthroat, yet quixotic fashion industry.

What is good for the goose is usually good for the gander; however, the specious argument in favor of the bill began by contending that since European intellectual property laws do extend to including fashion copyright our country’s should as well. It’s crucial to recognize how different the cultures are and how those cultures impact business practices. Europeans are simply not as litigious as we are! For example, minimal medical malpractice insurance costs paid by European doctors ensure that patient costs are kept reasonable. It doesn’t necessary occur to European designers to follow through and to sue. In our sue-happy culture, any amateur designer’s oversight in integrity would quickly be complicated and buried by self-interest and greed.

Illustrating that the integrity of a fashion design brand may be easier to maintain than recover, Ikels showed exhibit number one for the case for the Design Piracy Act, virtually identical images of an original and copied version of a striped cardigan. The designs were used in a recent lawsuit filed by fashion house Travota against Forever 21. While the audience agreed visual differences were hard to distinguish, they challenged that it would be easy to tell the difference in quality in-person, and that the Travota brand was not harmed by the cheaper copy.

Which underscores my next point. It’s an uncertain assumption that fast-fashion chains targeting a more mass market, like H&M, Zara, and Forever 21, truly hurt the fashion business on the high end. In fact, these chains democratize fashion and allow a youthful market with lower means to begin developing a sense for silhouette proportions while adapting high-end trends to create a personal signature look.

Next, it’s the inherent nature of fashion as an art form that makes attempting to incorporate copyright protection so problematic. Like any other medium, the tools available —every stitch, seam, dart, hem, pleat, cut, and combination of, have been utilized before at some point in fashion’s history. The process of creating a design—essentially crafting a piece of 3d fabric architecture—is achieved, not by separating out those tools and identifying them in their unformed state, but by imagining their potential and arranging their composition to suit the designers taste or intuition.

The bottom line comes down to the company’s bottom line. Consumer choice and liberty is wiped out when a broad encompassing competitive market is. While I certainly am grateful for the additional H and M top to my wardrobe that suggests (in my budget-addled imagination) the avant- garde simplicity of Dries Van Noten, it doesn’t make me want to not save up for the real thing either. It makes dressing how I want a reality I can embrace, rather than a desire I have to simply shutdown for the sake of my own sanity!

While couturier, Colleen Quen spoke gracefully about how her work “isn’t inspired by trends,” the truth is most designers are paying close attention to their customers needs. They know that women tend to dress for one another and want to show they are somewhat cognizant of the current fashions. A successful designers genius rests in reinventing the wheel again and again within this season’s fabric and color trends. Ultimately, I subscribe to Voltaire’s conclusion on the subject “Originality is nothing but judicious imitation“

The act has been in the works for years but failed to pass. Why is it coming up again now? Spearheaded by Diane Von Furstenberg, who has finally encouraged enough support for what looks like a 50-50 fight. Meaning that enough big business labels are able to afford the copious legal fees associated with their proposed legislation. However, just viewing those in opposition tells you a lot. Headed by the American Apparel and Footwear Association, the opposition is a workers union. They know that getting lawyers involved, drags in hardworking employees such as pattern drafters and production workers. They estimate the new law could eliminate 90% of the national fashion industry. And the price of clothes will surge—in this economy that can’t be a good thing!

We can all appreciate that cheating is wrong. Rather than pointing the finger, as an industry let’s try to develop the consumer instead. With the advent of style.com and the glut of celebrity style media, fashion knowledge has become more accessible than ever before. It’s important to build on that platform and educate the consumer about the cause and effect of their choices. Alongside the high/ low concept, the trend for sustainable clothing is the most important. We have to focus on more education—I propose we educate ourselves with intelligent journalism within our favorite magazine, than the sorry occurrences of chapter 11’s in the business pages.

Striking the balance between fashion as an art form, versus the grittiness of the rag trade, with its weakness for free exchange of inspiration, is the bane of the industry. You can’t separate the two. Fashion is both all at once; it’s the industry whose low cost entry transforms 3^rd worlds into significant economic players (as the Cotton Mills did for the U.S. in the 1800’s) and the most transient of art forms, whose masterpieces are cataloged all-too-briefly in disposable glossy magazines. There’s simply too much at risk to jeopardize it with difficult to identify laws that are costly and may impede small player’s creativity and voracious passion. This is not an industry that needs to rest on its laurels by seeking timely credit recognition, but one that needs to be constantly innovating forward to stay ahead of the game.

Watch Out H&M – the CFDA Want Their Designs Back

On August 21st members of the San Francisco fashion and law community came together for the latest IFCSF event hosted by Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP at their beautiful offices in the Ferry Building. A panel of local designers and industry professionals moderated by Partner Zuzana Ikels shared their views on the Design Piracy Prohibition Act, a bill that is currently pending in Congress. Strongly supported by the Council of Fashion Designers of America and spearheaded by Council President Diane von Furstenberg, the bill provides protection for designers of their unique designs against fashion piracy. According to Ikels, the bill has about a 50/50 chance of being passed into law this fall because it is so controversial. Serving on the IFCSF panel were: Jennifer Evans, President and Founder of the Evans Group Inc.; Jeanne Feldkamp, Founder and Creative Director of the 615 Project ; Amy Fritz, President of Ecouture; Louisa Parris, Womenswear Designer & Visiting Tutor, Academy of Art ; Colleen Quen, Designer and Professor; Gus Harput, Co-owner of Harput’s Market, and Karen Frank, partner at the Coblentz law firm and President of the Copyright Society of the USA.

The Act is similar to anti-piracy laws in Europe, and essentially gives designers three years of copyright protection for "original" designs, if they register their designs within the first three months of the first time the design has been presented to the public. If infringement is found, designers can seek damages of the higher of up to $250,000 per infringement, or $5 per copy. The legislation, if passed, would apply to original designs created after bill becomes law.

As fashion is a $350 billion industry in America, supporters are not taking this lightly and are gearing up to do battle against the main offenders – fast fashion chains like H&M, Forever 21, and Zara. And these designers do have a right to be angry – too often their designs will barely float off the runway before a copycat version is sold at the local mall. Couture designer Quen, who is known for her stunning gowns and architectural shapes, spoke of being a victim to fashion piracy when a collar she had worked on for over a year showed up on someone else’s design. What becomes tricky is deciding what has enough originality to be protected, and how to distinguish between protectable originality, and unprotectable functional elements of design, or mere trends. Opponents of the bill say that it will become impossible for young designers to get started, and that the nature of fashion is copying and taking from other designs.

According to Quen and like-minded designers like Thakoon who are more established in the industry, too often their art is compromised. On the CFDA web site Thakoon says “…Many more young people are excited about the opportunities that America’s leadership in fashion provides, and like me, are trying to build a career here. All too often however, we find our ability to do so is undermined by pirates who, instead of laying out the money we do for research, pattern makers, to mount runway shows, etc, they just copy the end product of all our investments and, by virtue of having a cost free design, sell our design in the market place cheaper than we can". When asked by Ikels what role trends play in design, Quen said, “I don’t know if I’d call my work a trend, but it does come from my soul and I treat my work like a painting, so each piece has an inspiration whether it’s from an architect or artist, a person I met, or it could even be from an insect. Whatever is in my life at that time inspires me. I’m like the vessel and I start translating so I get inspired and it becomes sculpture. I don’t get inspired by trend.”

Ikels posed the example of a Marc Jacobs jacket with 80s-inspired elements. As the 80s are back in style, how would a designer stay on trend with a similar jacket without counterfeiting the design? Parris said, “You would hope that I’d take that on board, look at elements from the 80s, do the research, maybe study an 80s rock band, but the way I taught myself and learned through education, is that those elements are fundamental, but at the end of the day I have to put my fingerprints all over it and make it something original.” The audience was shown another example of a Trovata striped cardigan that had been copied exactly by Forever 21. It was such a blatant copy that Trovata filed a lawsuit. But can a striped cardigan really be considered an original design? According to supporters – yes, if there is something unique about it like the style of the buttons or the fit of the armhole.

If the legislation passes, a free searchable database would be provided of all designs with requests for protection, and I imagine large fashion houses expanding their employee rosters to welcome law librarians.

As split as the vote is around this new legislation, the opinions among the panelists and audience were split as well. I think the biggest benefactors of this legislation are the more established designers who have the time and funds to sue for copyright infringement. However, if laws like this already exist and work in Europe, why wouldn’t they work here? Perhaps this will allow for even more creativity in design. And for companies who have made a living copying others, they’ll either need to get original or get out. What if this were to open up a new era of fashion in America where we might even see, daresay, a new kind couture. With more freedom and time to design without the fear of knockoffs, think about what the design community could really do. The big question is whether anyone on a “real world” budget could afford to buy clothes anymore.

Thanks to all who sponsored the event: VehicleSF, Swan's Neck Vodka, LandrinUSA, Warren Difranco, and dj Melvin "j". For more photos of the event visit the IFCSF on Facebook. An opposing viewpoint of this controversial subject coming soon.

Photos courtesy of Warren Difranco and AfterFive Media.

A Meeting of the Greens

Leaders and innovators in the San Francisco environmental community met and mingled at the Bently Reserve last Thursday for the first annual “Common Green” event. Sponsored by the Bently Reserve and Orchard Hotels, the IFCSF had a chance to meet with approximately 200 like-minded collaborators in the stunning LEED-certified space. The key speaker for the night was Wade Crowfoot, formerly the Director of Climate Protection under Mayor Newsom, and now the West Coast Political Director for the Environmental Defense Fund. Zem Joaquin, founder of ecofabulous.com and recipient of the 2009 Global Green Millenium Founder’s Award introduced the event’s hosts Chris and Amber-Marie Bently and Stefan Mühle from Orchard Hotels.

Stefan talked about the challenging, yet personally fulfilling feat of running a completely eco-friendly hotel. What I found most compelling was his idea of the “triple bottom line”, where you take care of the social, environmental and economical aspects. When these aspects are aligned your business can be a true powerhouse. The Orchard Garden Hotel is referred to as a “green boutique” hotel with eco-friendly guestrooms and restaurants featuring local and organic ingredients. Not a bad place to stay for a stylish eco-ista.

Crowfoot, whose leadership with Newsom helped to put San Francisco on the map as a leader in solving the global environmental crisis, was instrumental in the city’s invitation to participate in the upcoming Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Crowfoot framed his talk by asking us to think back through the last five years and how far we’ve come as a country in facing the crisis. He described his time working in the Mayor’s office as a “bright light in an otherwise dark space in the U.S. “ It’s truly the cities that need to play a key part in fixing the environment, and cities like San Francisco and the state of California are leading the way. He likened the great work accomplished here during the last administration to being inside a “bubble during a troubling time. “

Crowfoot spoke very strongly of the need to take advantage of the opportunity we have with the new administration to make a difference for the environment, and how crucial the next four months leading up to Copenhagen are in making lasting environmental change. Essentially, if the conference is going to come up with an agreement to reduce greenhouse gases to sustain life on this planet, the U.S. must step up prior to December. The way to do that is to legislate the Clean Energy and Security Act. Already passed by the House and endorsed by President Obama, the bill needs 60 affirmatives from the Senate. If the bill doesn’t pass during this session, Crowfoot said, “then all bets are off.” He encouraged us not only sign those email petitions, but to use our business voices to talk to undecided Senators. Want to find out more about this legislation? Click here.

Speaking with Amber-Marie Bently after the presentation, it sounds like Common Green will be back for another event in the near future. For news and updates, join A Common Green on Facebook.

Fashion On The Square Brings New York Couture to San Francisco

San Francisco is still struggling with putting on a fashion week event that rings true to the spirit of its local designers and community. The recent Fashion On The Square event held at the Intercontinental Hotel the weekend of July 25th was a valiant attempt at connecting the world of fashion with art at a local level. The daytime events included a series of seminars on fashion trends, red-carpet hair and makeup, and of great interest here to the IFCSF, the role of eco-design. On Sunday afternoon there was a children and teen runway show from local brand giants Gymboree, Old Navy, Gap and Janie and Jack.

The main event on Saturday night was a couture show featuring New York-based designer B Michael. While Mayor Gavin Newsom wrote a proclamation declaring July 25th B Michael Day” in the city, I was a bit perplexed with how this represented San Francisco fashion. That aside, the collection was beautiful and the event did raise money for local charities Wardrobe for Opportunity, K.I.D.S. and Fashion Delivers.

Fashion On the Square’s Founder & Creative Director Y’Anad Burrell led the night’s festivities with help from View from the Bay’s Janelle Wang and Denise Bradley (formerly of MoAD). The show opened with a presentation by fashion student Erik Stultz from three different collections, featuring menswear, lingerie and couture. Stultz gave a strong showing, especially with the corseted pieces from the second collection that were said to be inspired by the coral reefs for colors and textures and the circus for their silhouettes. Soon to graduate from the Art Institute of California, Stultz’s experience came across in the confidence of his designs.

Completely unexpected and magical, guests were treated to a brief interlude by two dancers (and later models) from the Alonzo King's LINES Ballet. I was dazzled with the way they glided across the runway and even more so when I later saw the female dancer modeling b.michael designs En pointe. This show of artistry was closer to the type of diversions one might expect at the major shows in New York and Paris. And a perfect introduction to B Michael – showing almost 30 looks from his Fall 2009 collection these clothes are for women headed to the big house – and I do mean the White House. One coat in Peridot green cashmere was created for a woman with connections to the Obamas– Poet Lauriat Elizabeth Alexander who was commissioned and read the poem at the Inauguration. Classic silhouettes in expensive fabrics never go out of style. But don’t think B Michael is all business. There is celebration in his work, whether in a fitted sheath dress with a seam of flirtatious fringe down the side or his finale piece, a robin’s egg blue trumpet gown with cashmere lace and a matching shrug framed with feathers.

Every piece featured luxurious fabrics and exquisite detailing. It’s not hard to believe that before fashion, B Michael was an account executive for a Wall Street firm where he must have catered to a clientele who demanded only the best for their money. The “ladies who lunch” have found their next designer and San Francisco’s social set is ready for him.