Indie Fashion Event Bows in Bay Area

San Francisco’s fashion scene was dealt a blow following the closure of San Francisco Fashion Week earlier this year, but Bay Area designers now have a new platform with which to present their apparel creations: the first Bay Area Guide to Independent Fashion Festival, set for Oct. 11 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Mission Street.

The daylong event will host a 6 p.m. fashion show featuring designers from the R.A.G. Co-op as well as independents such as Hellyn Teng Mersereau, Sarah Zins, Rehema Bah, Erin Mahoney, Rag Rehab, Self Clothing, Little Red Sparrow, Icon National, Martin & Mag Pie, Boi.oi.oing, Toast, Funk Divine, Red Threads, Racquel Valle, Invisible Hero, S.I.N.D.Y, Fiftyseven-thirtythree, Fluffy co, Made Jewelry, Jennifer Bair and Mzz T Rzz.

Most of the designers focus on sustainable fabrics and green business practices.

A vendor fair will take place from noon to 4 p.m., featuring clothing and accessories from Cari Borja, Erin Mahoney, Ikohl, RocknSocks, JoyRider Clothing, Csessions, Mcg T-shirts, Peggy Li Creations, AC Clothing & Bags, Threads By ChoCho and Warren Difranco Hsu of After5Media.

Bay Area fashion media and educators—including Leslie Rabine, Susan Kaiser, Erica Varize and Irene Hernandez-Feiks—will lead a discussion on fashion in the media at 5 p.m. Cicely Sweed, YBCA’s public-programs curator, will moderate the panel.

“There’s lots of interest. The fashion community is getting mobilized. It should be a lively day,” Sweed said.

The event is part of YBCA’s Bay Area Now 5 triennial arts show and is being co-produced by Sweed and Letitia Ntofon of Oakland, Calif.–based Black Dot Artists. Ntofon is authoring an upcoming fashion book called the “Bay Area Guide to Independent Fashion.”

Sponsors include the Innovative Fashion Council of San Francisco, Global Exchange, Eco Citizen and San Francisco Indie Fashion. Proceeds benefit Black Dot, a nonprofit cultural-arts organization.

If all goes well, the event may become a regular part of the YBCA calendar, Sweed said. The show is open to the trade and public at $10 per person. For ticket information, contact the center at (415) 978-2787. —Robert McAllister