It’s likely that most San Franciscans have never experienced a fashion show where an intermission was required to mop fake blood off the runway.
But at the “Supreme Beings” avant-garde fashion event on March 1 at the SOMArts Cultural Center, that’s exactly what happened. An evening of bizarre spectacle merged with conceptual fashion, attracting about 200 curious guests.
Bubbly, bites, and limited-edition Louboutins drew San Francisco’s fashion bloggerati to the Union Square Neiman Marcus store on March 15 for the private unveiling of the celebrated French designer’s 20th anniversary capsule collection, available for sale on the Christian Louboutin online boutique and in stores exclusively at 10 Neiman Marcus locations nationwide.
All photos by Nerissa Itchon.
The invitation-only event, held in the second level women’s shoe salon, gave bloggers and select shoppers the chance to preview 20 unique styles inspired by 20 years of iconic shoe designs, which run the gamut from the pointy-toe bejeweled “Pigalove” flats to the soaring six-inch fringed “Highness Tina” boots designed in homage to diva muse Tina Turner.
Christian Louboutin’s velour “Highness Tina” boots ($2,295), a collector’s item from the 20th anniversary capsule collection.
Courtesy of San Francisco Fashion Film Festival. Design by Alice Lam.
San Francisco is adding yet another notch to its fashion-cred belt this spring, thanks to local style bloggers Adelle McElveen (Fashionista Lab), Kimara Mitchell Stokes (J’adore Couture), and Annie Wilson (Poetic and Chic), who co-founded the inaugural San Francisco Fashion Film Festival launching March 25 and running through April 8.
I’ve been having a serious case of wanderlust lately, which is probably why I’ve been sitting at home revisiting my library of travel photos instead of getting outside and enjoying the sun. A run is definitely on my list of to-do’s today, so I better hurry up and post already! I had such a fantastic time in Singapore recently, I wanted to share more photos from our brief adventure there. In addition to the amazing food and shopping, which I wrote about earlier, one major highlight was taking in an exhibit on Singaporean women and fashion at the National Museum. The mixed Malay, Indian and Chinese heritage of the country seemed apparent not only in the cuisine we tried and languages we heard being spoken around us, but also, as the exhibit “Shopping for Identity” demonstrated, throughout Singaporean fashion history. The exhibit is part of the museum’s permanent collection, so if you find yourself in Singapore in the near future, be sure to check it out.
From the exhibit "Shopping for Identity" at the National Museum of Singapore: A Kebaya Kota Bahru, traditional Malay outfit worn by Malay women in Singapore in the 1960s (left); A traditional georgette silk sari from 1975 that would have been paired with modern gold accessories at the time. (All photos by Nerissa Pacio Itchon)
It’s Friday and close to the magic happy hour, which prompted me to paint my nails at my desk at work. This isn’t as radical as it sounds when you work as an editor at Sephora, where I’ve witnessed coworkers curling each other’s hair with the latest Sultra hot tool in the aisles, or applying Paperself paper eyelashes in the conference rooms. The nail lacquer fumes wafting from various cubicles seems downright normal around here!
Earlier last month, while traveling to the Philippines for a family wedding, my husband, Edric, and I made a weekend pit stop through Singapore on the way back to San Francisco. I didn’t have the most accurate picture of this Southeast Asian island nation, other than the unfortunate news accounts that stuck of the unusual corporal punishments one might receive by the government should you sully their pristine sidewalks with chewing gum.
Our view of the Singapore skyline from Marina Bay. Photos by Edric Itchon.
While planning our trip from Manila, some Filipino relatives had even warned us about shiny Singapore being “soul-less” in comparison to gritty historic Manila. It would seem Singapore’s sterile cleanliness was the biggest impression left in the minds of foreign travelers I had encountered—a bias that lingered before having ever seen the place.
When we arrived, were happily surprised, entertained, and generally taken by our experience there. Yes, it’s true. Singapore is very, very clean. I can hardly remember coming across a single piece of litter or graffiti while strolling around the city—not necessarily a bad thing in my mind. Although the “no durian” signs plastered throughout the metro stations were definitely amusing!
Fashionably white: front row fashion show guests await the start of Snow 2012, hosted by the San Francisco Bay Area Fashion Network. All photography by Edric Itchon.
Copy as seen in the San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, February 5, 2012
By Nerissa Pacio Itchon
Never mind the old-fashioned advice against wearing weight-adding white on camera. At the third annual Snow event, hosted by the San Francisco Bay Area Fashion Network, droves of picture-happy partygoers eagerly posing in head-to-toe white were as much a part of the entertainment as the white-themed fashion show.
Held at the unlikely venue of a SoMa auto-repair garage that was transformed into an industrial-chic catwalk Jan. 28, the evening drew about 250 guests dressed in everything from slinky gowns and feathered spectator hats to cheeky flight suits and fur chubbies.
One of the amazing pieces produced during the four-week Arts of Fashion Summer MasterClass in Paris. The women's wear incorporated intricate pleating techniques that students learned from working under master pleat-maker Gerard Lognon.
Earlier this week I wrote about the Arts of Fashion’s 10th Anniversary Symposium at the San Francisco Art Institute and the winners of the international student design competition. I was so inspired by the creativity and high level of craftsmanship, achieved in a short amount of time, I had to bring you more photos I took of the exhibitions.
With the sheer number of new beauty products that land on my desk at Sephora each day, something has to have that total wow factor to get me excited enough to blog about it. There are plenty of new products, and plenty of very good new products. But then there are those rare products that I fall in love with, obsess over, and must share with everyone I know.
L’Oreal Professional’s new Mythic Oil is one of those amazing newcomers—and it’s not even sold at Sephora (though I really wish it was!). I first discovered it covering backstage beauty in September at the Jenny Packham show during New York Fashion Week and have been using it daily ever since.
