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INNOVATIVE FASHION COUNCIL

 

SILENT AUCTION. . . Gift Certificates to: Berkeley Bowl Berkeley Natural Grocery Bette’s Oceanview Diner Builder’s Booksource East Bay Nursery Eco-Citizen Boutique The Gardener The Greenhouse Green Gifts La Mediterranee La Note McDonnell Nursery Momo’s Restaurant Pizzaiolo The Spanish Table Terra Firma Farms Tickets to: Asian Art Museum Berkeley Repertory Theater California Academy of Sciences Sangati Center Featuring: Claremont Hotel and Spa: An overnight stay and spa package Ecology Center:1 year membership Peet’s Coffee: 12 months of Peets Semifreddi’s: Bread for a Year! (1 per week) St. John’s Landscapes Handmade maple bowl by John Doyen Classes at Tante Marie's Cooking School Priscilla's Parasols Art Vision Wine: Goldeneye Winery: 2 nights at the historic Apple Dryer, Tour and Tasting Grgich Hills Estate: VIP Tour and Tasting JC Cellers: Wine Tasting for 6 Sky Saddle Wines A Donkey and Goat Winery

Bid on a trip for 2 to Argentina! Buenos Aires & Mendoza Wine Country: 5 night stay, flight & tours sponsored by Marnella Tours & LAN airlines

 

DESIGNERS

Tierra Del Forte, Del Forte Denim

Tierra started her career in denim design in NYC in 1999. Visiting domestic and international garment factories opened her eyes to the destructive impact that the fashion industry has on the environment
and on the people who make the clothing. In 2005, she returned to California with this new awareness
and a desire to focus on eco-conscious style. To accomplish this goal, she started her line of premium
organic denim, Del Forte Denim. Del Forte Denim is designed for the eco-chic woman who is transforming the face of fashion. Made in the USA with 100 percent organic cotton, Del Forte’s premium denim apparel is part of a growing trend which interprets luxury as a combination of distinctive design and ethical production. The garments are sewn and finished in Los Angeles, a fashion-forward city that is a leader in anti-sweatshop legislation and enforcement, as well as being home to the most cutting-edge wash development facilities in the country. Del Forte Denim has partnered with The Sustainable Cotton Project, which has been building bridges between farmers, manufacturers and consumers to pioneer markets for certified organically grown and sustainable cotton since 1994. A portion of Del Forte Denim’s proceeds will go to support The SCP.

OCELOT

As an artist driven to express her passion for color through the dye process, Angelina DeAntonis's explorations in textile arts and clothing design are born of her intrigue with visually altering the body and pushing cultural constraints of how we dress in our "American Culture". Frustrated with dull and boring colors and unflattering styles, Angelina departed from her costume designing in 1998, and on her birthday went to city hall to proclaim her new business "Ocelot". She chose to call the line Ocelot rather than using her name so that it could one day become a larger entity, and possibly a worker owner cooperative, making unique clothing inspired by her design aesthetic. Her intent was to make a line of clothing that utilized natural fiber fabrics and plant dyes, and whose comfortable and durable styles would endure time. She also wanted to change the way people dressed, garnering an appreciation for hand made textiles while bringing forth one's personal connection to nature and beauty. With a permeating quote in mind from a film about the Huichol Indians of Mexico, "to make clothing so beautiful to make the sun rise each day", Angelina went forth into the world of clothing without training in fashion or clothing design. It seems that the spirit of the Ocelot imbued itself into the work, as she found herself drawn to the itajime dye process that she had favored in her textile and costume work. It's bold, luminous character became the focus of the designs. This striking dye-work is now what customers seek; proclaiming that the clothing makes them feel beautiful, that it suits so closely, it seems it was made for them personally. Ocelot's customers love the fit, the excellent crafting of the clothes, their versatility and comfort, the unusual colors and timeless styles. Each piece of Ocelot is dyed by hand and constructed in the Ocelot workshop in San Francisco.

Sasha Duerr, Permacouture Institute

With an MFA in Textiles from the California College of Arts and Crafts and certified in Permaculture, Sasha founded the Permaculture Institute with a love for cross-pollination. With over 10 years of experience in textiles and environmental strategy, Sasha’s work with organic dyes and alternative materials has he teaching at universities, residencies,  and in school and community garden projects across the country.
Sasha has received multiple grants to develop curriculum in sustainable fibers and dyes. She has taught natural dying and built a curriculum at the Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, CA, as well as other grassroots
and institutional initiatives. Researching sustainable materials in India, Indonesia, and Tibet, has further encouraged her connection to valuable resources of textile history and creative re-use. Sasha’s work has
been shown in museums and galleries across the country. She runs her own textile clothing studio, where she focuses innovative organic an alternative materials and dyes. Having grown up on a biodynamic farm, and in both Maine and Hawaii, a deep connection to place has always informed her design, research and practice.

TINC

For Savannah Knoop, each piece of clothing she designs is an act of devotion. She creates clothes that express refinement, dignity, and artistry.  Though she begins with a vision of what she wants to make, the process of working with fabric often leads her to unexpected place. And while the look of her creations is paramount, Savannah also believes in thoughtful production practices: she uses environmentally-friendly fabrics and non-reactive dyes, her office lighting is fluorescent, she carries out day-to-day errands on her bicycle, and many deliveries are made with her luggage cart, affectionately named “Roto-girl”. Savannah takes her inspiration from life, literature, and music. Her muses include Truman Capote, Audrey Lorde, and Marcel Duchamp. Her work is also influenced by her years acting in public as the boy author, J.T. Leroy. Many of Savannah’s designs playfully explore gender and how clothes define the self. Savannah is also currently writing a memoir about her experiences as JT Leroy, which will be published by Seven Stories Press.

Skye Schuchman, SkyeDesign


Skye Schuchman is a designer born, raised, and based in the San Francisco Bay area. Skye has pursued a path of study that includes: Fashion, Art history, Sculpture, Ceramics, Industrial, Automotive, and Fashion design. In addition to his studies, Skye has over a decade of experience working in the cycling industry; he continues to ride, race, and love bikes.

Currently completing a fashion design degree at The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in San Francisco, Skye draws from his knowledge of fine art, his understanding of the functional disciplines of industrial design, and fuses these elements with fashion.

Ashley Rose Helvey, DANKEN

Ashley Helvey’s felt dresses are all handmade through wet felting. She chooses vintage lace and felts them into the fiber so there is no sewing done to her dresses. DANKEN is a label created by Helvey. For two years she studied the art of felting in Germany's Black Forest.

Mr. Larkin

The San Francisco-based label, Mr. Larkin, combines an organic aesthetic with fashion forward architectural shapes, without a hint of hippie dippy! Using fabrics like organic cotton and eco wool, designer Casey Larkin also experimented with gauze made from milk fiber and natural dye using berries and seeds. Every part of these garments are eco friendly; all embellishments and trims are recycled vintage pieces like metal paillettes and beads from the 1930's and 50's. The entire collection is made locally, and even the tags are eco friendly and plant-able.

Heather Howard & Cat Janky
photo by Randy Brooke
Heather drew from her upbringing in Portland, Oregon where hiking, backpacking, sciences and arts were important to her family. Early environmentalists John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt inspired her  eco-friendly collection. Cat’s figurative and sometimes-macabre prints are based on photographs of American life in the late 1800s. She also created a modern play on traditional silkscreen prints of stripes, checks and polka dots. Cat is from Omaha, Nebraska. 

What fashion critic Dino-Ray Ramos says:

Eco-friendly fashion to die for...literally. Fashion design student, Heather Howard drew inspiration from her upbringing in Portland where she did a fair amount of hiking and backpacking. She mixed that in with inspiration from environmentalists John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt. Cat Janky, a textile design student, added her flair of grim and woodsy prints inspired by American life in the late 1800s.

Spooky sartorial shades: For the most part, button down dresses of vintage appeal were shadowed with hues of gray, black and cream.

The look: Howard and Janky may have mixed their creative minds for an environmentally macabre collection, but I saw My Fair Lady in delightful disarray.

I liked it because...the dresses teetered on the line of vintage-chic and polygamist-esque, but what made it swing to the more stylish side was the attitude each garment had. It seems as though Howard knew where to hold back on the old-school and inject more modern design. Whereas Janky put thought into such mesmerizing Blair Witch-esque prints. Case and point: the tree dress and the hauntingly beautiful faces dress (both pictured above).

Overall critique: Tim Burton meets cockney flower girl - with a twist of modish menace. Very brooding. Very daunting. Very impressive.

The Moon: Cory Gunter Brown and Cassidy Hope Wright
Cory and Cassidy, childhood acquaintances, re-united to create The Moon, a slow fashion boutique where clothing is culture not just commodity. They set to work creating made-to-last garments from the excess of society and the bounty of the earth, using natural dyes as well as materials that are scavenged, vintage, reused, donated, and bought from local independent businesses. They can be found at The Moon today, making custom clothing, costumes, and jewelry.

Coming soon. . .
Molly DeVries, Briget Crowe