The 100-Mile Wardrobe

UPDATE: The Recrowning of Delilah Crown

2010-04-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-06T23:03:00.000-07:00

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

2010-02-15T22:05:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-06T20:17:00.000-08:00

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

Al's Attire

2009-12-03T13:20:00.000-08:00

The third in my initial posts about my favorite S.F. treasures...

I have had the privilege of buying only one dress from Al's Attire, but what a dress it is. This one was dubbed the "sexy librarian" by my husband. I love the contrasting lining, the details around the buttons.

Al's specialty is custom coats, but he has many stock items that can all be custom-fit. The coats are so beautiful, you could cry. A custom men's jacket (that can be adapted for women), lined and trimmed with piping, will run over $400, but he has many off-the-rack dresses and shirts that are very reasonably priced for the quality of the work. A daytime dress costs $150 to $200, and cocktail dresses run between $200 and $300. But I can guarantee you, no one will be wearing the same thing!

The service is excellent, and his eye for fit is spot-on. A great thing about Al's Attire is the selection of men's clothing; men have so few options for interesting clothes that aren't from big-label designer brands. A few shirts from this store would spark up any man's wardrobe.

His main business is doing wholesale for the Japanese market, so items on the rack often run small, but Al is happy to tailor everything for a perfect fit.

The Web site is currently being redone, but a true joy of Al's Attire is just being in his shop.

Al's Attire
1314 Grant Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94133
http://alsattire.com/

Martha Egan

2009-11-16T16:30:00.000-08:00

Although I started this blog with a post about Delilah Crown, it being my new favorite, I really must go back in time now to the store that started it all for me: Martha Egan, in the most excellent triangle-shaped building at 1 Columbus Avenue.

She’s been open since 1998, and I have bought several items here over the years. I never tire of the whimsy, humor, smart details, and comfortable fit of her designs. The shirt shown here has been with me on many a journey (I’m pretty sure we have photos of me in this shirt in almost every country we’ve visited…). Pair it with black capris and I am ready to go.

Ms. Egan designs clothing with simple lines executed in delightful fabrics and finished with unusual, contrasting buttons or stitching.

I’m a big fan of cloth bags, and she makes hers in many of the fabrics she uses in her clothes; the totes are reinforced to hold their shape nicely. And they are ridiculously affordable. Couldn’t you have at least five of the bag shown below in different amusing fabrics? This one does not have interior pockets, but some do, and she’s always playing around with (and improving on) her designs. The store also carries great, locally made jewelry.

Her sizes tend to run big, so the pants and skirts off the rack don’t fit me quite right, but the shirts are perfect. They look very tailored, but I can wear them as my weight goes up or down and they never squeeze or do that unsightly gapping thing in the central-button area. She does men's clothing as well!

Martha Egan always reminds me of why I love living here. If you fancy vintage-inspired clothing or need an easy-to-use tote in a wacky fabric, do stop by her shop—it’s on the border between downtown and North Beach, so you will likely find yourself in the neighborhood, kitty-corner from the Transamerica pyramid. You can’t miss it (but you would be sorry if you did).

Martha Egan
1 Columbus Ave.
S.F. CA
415.397.5451
www.marthaegan.com
marthasgossippages.blogspot.com

Delilah Crown

2009-11-03T22:38:00.000-08:00

My first few posts are going to be about my treasured spots in San Francisco...

Last year for my birthday, I trekked out to North Beach to go to what used to be my favorite shop, which shall remain nameless. Finding it inexplicably closed in the middle of a Saturday, I decided to check out another store I'd had my eye on, Delilah Crown. What a gem.

There was a great sale on, and I ended up buying two beautiful skirts and two shirts for less than $200. I was hooked and trekked out that way again for my birthday this year. Oddly, I had the same thing happen. First I went to the other store, and it was again inexplicably closed on a Saturday afternoon. So I cut to the chase and went back to Delilah Crown. This time I had the pleasure of speaking with the owner, Kristina De Pizzol, about her designs and her shop. I bought a great dress and a cropped wool jacket with an adorable striped satin lining.

Ms. De Pizzol uses interesting fabrics—often vintage or recycled—designs everything herself, and really pays attention to detail. The clothes are quite feminine, and she doesn't use a lot of black. The designs are simple but not austere.

Caveat: Her clothes run a little small. I am curvy, so I have to try on quite a few things to find the right fit. But the things I've bought here, I absolutely adore.

Delilah Crown
524 Green Street
San Francisco, CA 94133
Ph/Fax: 415 765-9060
http://www.delilahcrown.com

The owner also has a little blog of her own: http://www.delilahcrown.blogspot.com/