UPDATE: The Recrowning of Delilah Crown

Delilah Crown has moved and changed its name! I trust the vision of this designer, so while I will mourn the loss of the darling little store on Green Street—and have absolutely no desire to find myself at Ghirardelli Square—I will make a point of visiting the new space.

Gigi + Rose, as the new store is called, opened on April 15 and carries items for the home (more of her cute pillows and wall hangings, perhaps?) as well as clothing for women and children.

Gigi + Rose
Beach Street at Larkin, Ghirardelli Square, in San Francisco

Go, Dema, Go!

I could hardly be a self-respecting blogger on local designers without writing about Dema.

This little institution has been located since 1998 in the kooky shopping landscape of Valencia Street, and this street is one of the reasons I miss living on the east side of the city. Dema’s owner-designer, Dema Grim (who is anything but), has created a happy home here, where she specializes in “modern interpretations of vintage classics.”

You catch on to the theme right away, but it never gets old: skirts, pants, darling dresses, and coats have nice, clean lines that allow them to carry off exuberant fabrics. She sources a lot of African fabrics during buying trips to London and produces a few of each item. I fell hard for the skirt shown here when I saw it on her blog. I thought it would be too short to wear to work, but fortunately I’m at least 7 inches shorter than the models, so it’s not a micro-mini on me!

The combination of the simple cut with the juicy colors gives this skirt serious shelf life. Can’t you just see it with an acid yellow or bright orange tee? Strappy heels or a pair of mules and tra-la-la, you’re off lookin’ cute.

Dema’s clothes are very well made, with great attention to detail—beautiful linings, pockets that sit just so, unobtrusive buttons and zippers. The spring dresses are just delicious.

She has a new blog that is regularly updated, so you’ll always know what’s in store.

Dema
1038 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415.206.0500
www.godemago.com

ISSO

Is it true for you that your most treasured places, meals, shoes, what-have-you have come into your possession by happy accident? I would say that I’ve come by almost every one of my favorite travel memories, outfits, and meals because I happened to walk down a random street, when I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, and—poof!—there it was, the most amazing fish stew, a transcendent orange skirt, or a landscape that I wanted to carry in my mind forever.

OK, this little black dress perhaps isn’t quite “transcendent,” but I did find its store by happy accident, because I decided to take the J Church a few extra stops since I was with my 4-year-old boy, and a train ride is always an adventure worth prolonging. I had intended to visit another store in the Mission, but we got off at 24th and Church in Noe Valley, and within all of 30 seconds, I saw the sign:

ISSO
Found, made, or recycled in the SF Bay Area

I know the theme is all the thing right now, but the sign was too enticing—a store that exactly the fit the angle of my blog? I had to go, right?

The dress shown here is by She Bible, one of my go-to lines because the clothing is comfortable but sassy. This is a groovy little wrap dress that fits like a dream and, depending on your mood with stockings and such, can be made a little wacky or even a bit conservative.

ISSO is small, and they keep the selection small, so it doesn’t feel too crowded. The vintage racks are well edited, but they definitely have an identifiably “vintage-y” look.

For locally made clothing, in addition to She Bible and a few other indie designers, the store owners have their own line, also called ISSO. I really liked the pants produced by ISSO, in colored denim with reverse stitching, though they are cut for people at least 7 inches taller than myself. The fabrics are very cool, and the cuts current but not too trendy. I would like to have seen more attention to the finishing—some seams needed a bit of tidying—but I do hope they stick around.

Stay tuned: In the near future, I will be posting about Curator, the store opened in fall 2009 in Noe Valley by the She Bible design team of Deirdre Nagayama and Stacy Rodgers.

ISSO’s Web site is still under construction.

There are two store two locations:

3789 24th Street
(415) 920-9149

3608 19th Street
(415) 865-0969

Paragraph

A treasure trove of fun awaits you at Paragraph, on 9th Ave. in the Inner Sunset.

The small store has well-chosen selections of clothing, jewelry, accessories, and kids’ stuff. Please note the awesome, hilarious cape sported by my son in the picture below. Accessories and jewelry are by local independent designers and are very affordable. Much of the clothing—also affordable—is also locally designed and made, and I especially like that many of the items are made of repurposed fabrics, such as the dress and belt shown here. The dress was about $70, I believe, and it is hot—people take notice when I rock this thing, and I know that no one else has a dress like this.

But I love the kids’ capes. They are, for kids’ “accessories,” a little pricey at $50, but they are very well made, in satin, with felt appliques, and completely lined in a soft, warm fabric. They come in all sorts of styles for boys and girls and make an excellent grandparent indulgence (wink wink). They’re the perfect accessory for going to the comic book shop around the corner on Irving.

Paragraph will definitely make it into my regular rotation, and I’m so glad the owners, Vanessa and Veronica Viray, have had a lot of positive attention and a growing, devoted clientele.

Paragraph Boutique
1234 9th Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94122
415.753.0700