California Set for Jam-Packed Fall
October is going to be a busy month for fashion followers in California.San Francisco International Fashion Week is moving its dates to avoid a conflict with Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in Culver City, Calif. SFIFW will now run Oct. 21–23, immediately after the Southern California event’s Oct. 16–20 run.
SFIFW will run concurrently with the Los Angeles Fashion Market—set for Oct. 21–25 at the California Market Center, The New Mart, the Cooper Design Space and the Gerry Building—as well as with New York–based contemporary and young designer trade shows Designers & Agents and ENK’s Brighte Companies, which both will run Oct. 21–24.
SFIFW will be held a few days after the end of the Golden Gate Apparel Association’s Fashion Market San Francisco, set for Oct. 15–18 at the Concourse Exhibition Center in San Francisco. Another Bay Area fashion event, San Francisco Fashion Week, produced by Mystery Girl Productions, will hold its second annual event Aug. 24–28 at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts.
SFIFW was scheduled to debut last year with a lineup that included Lloyd Klein, Stephen Burrows, Esteban Cortazar and Zang Toi, but the event was postponed because of a hotel workers’ strike that crippled the local lodging industry. This year, SFIFW will be held at Fort Mason and will feature an international lineup, including Gaspard Yurkievich, Jacques van der Watt for Black Coffee, Joseph Domingo, Paul Munroe, Malani Ramani, Isabelle Ballu, Manish Arora, Pierre-Henri Mattout, Afshin Feiz and Rajo Laurel. Additional designers will be announced next week, according to event founder Jacinta Law.
SFIFW will present an awards program; entertainment; and pre- and post-show events, including the International Style Lounge, an exhibit of 20 juried accessories designers. Also planned is an International “Design by Couture” exhibit, a static haute couture show highlighting the work of more than 20 international designers, and daily industry seminars for fashion professionals.
Current sponsors include: Lucire magazine, 7x7 Magazine, Dare to Wear, Dittie, Fashion Television and W Hotel San Francisco.
More information is available online at www.sfifw.com.
—Alison A. Nieder
