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

Martha Egan

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