BAZAR San Francisco defines itself as a “potpourri of world cultures” through fashion and performance arts.
To an admirable extent, this local fashion show delivered a night of celebration, full of vibrant styles intertwined with exciting performance artists showing their craft before and during the show. Sree Ramisetty of Epifany produced a well-planned fashion show featuring designers whose fashion is influenced by three continents: 7Hands Design (representing South America and Africa), Thuy Diem Flores (representing Vietnam), Chona Pike (representing Philippines), and Shekhar Rahate (representing India).
Sree Ramisetty & Charleston Pierce
The four designers’ showcase are detailed below, but first of all, it’s only right to applaud the performance artists sharing their art in between fashion segments. Party on Stilts with Chiquy Boom warmly greeted the audience when they first came in. Brazilian Samba dancer Silvana showed off her fierce, energetic moves (with some audience participation, no less :). Trina Merry’s Body Paint art displayed on dancers from Tahira Dance Company made the dance performance more mysterious. Belly Dancer of the Year 2012 (Duet) recipients Ember Rose — consists of Jillian and Etain — only made me want to learn belly dancing, even though their dance segment went a bit too long and was gently cut off.
Moreover, Bazar San Francisco is benefiting Project Night Night, dedicated to help the homeless. The spacious yet cozy setting at Minna Gallery provides adequate space for post-show mingling and shopping area for participating artists, including jewelry designer Larisa LaVladi, who also accessorized the models on the show.
Let’s get to runway fashion, shall we? As usual, special thanks to Christian Hadidjaja for the pictures!
7Hands Design by Lindy Lopez & Erandeny Torres
A great show opener, 7Hands Design features garments with vibrant colors and patterns. Some of the garments’ silhouettes felt too bulky, so much that they made the slender models looked heavier. Nevertheless, the South American and African influences are clearly displayed, and bulky or not, they’re gorgeous. And that wedding dress at the end? Wow…talk about lovely!!!
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Thuy Diem Flores
I felt strongly that the first look walking down the runway is THE dress that presents Thuy’s point of view as a designer. The outfits that followed the first look were not as strong, and I particularly think the brown shiny dress was leaning a bit towards a “hoochie” side. However, the pink/purple outfit with the paddy hat, followed by the red hot gown brought the collection back on track.
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Chona Pike
I love that this collection focuses on beautiful gowns, yet offer a variety of silhouettes, textures, colors, and details. Sree shared that her dress is custom-made Chona Pike, and I can definitely see why she’s such a fan of the designer :)
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Shekar’s designs served as great show finale; I personally love the first dress (perfect for summer!). Elaborate gowns paired with festive headdresses were so much fun to watch. My favorite, however, veered to the simpler side: the 7th look. It was a close-to-body long gown with one-shoulder neckline with prismatic blue/purple/pink fabric. Classy and gorgeous. Overall, the collection is the strongest and the most consistent out of all four designers.
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After the show’s finished, I felt like I just went to a concise trip overseas (if there’s such things!). And that signature move from Charleston Pierce — two male models walking down the runway twice, first as a prologue and the second as an epilogue — were a classy touch starting and finishing the show (and this case, my concise trip). Here are some more pictures taken from Bazar San Francisco:
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Once again congratulations to Sree and everybody involved in making BAZAR San Francisco a success! And thank you so much for reading :)
Until next time,
Musank