Winter Looks

Bike lane runway

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Bike lane runway

WINTER LOOKS I spend a lot of time convincing my friends that we should ride our bikes places, and the main pushback I get is due to the fact that they don’t want to look like they just got off a bike.

It’s faulty reasoning. Leaving aside how attractive environmental awareness is, anyone who has ever checked out the Vélo Vogue style blog or the global family of Copenhagen Chic websites knows that a bike can make an already-stylish outfit look sexy in a precarious, fly-by-night way. Think about watching someone run gracefully in heels.

Honestly, I don’t think you need a special wardrobe to be bangin’ on a bike. A tip that I do tend to pay mind to: high-waisted pants are your friends. A man once stopped me when my thong had risen above my denim horizon to ask me if I had no modesty. A cretin, yes — but his brand of stick-up-assery is easily mitigated by a kicky pair of retro mom jeans. Also, fear not the high heel, but rather the boot or flat with little heel-arch delineation — unless you have toe cages, in which case you can wear nearly any footwear you like as long as the cages are tight enough, even flip-flops.

Of course, if you are wearing flip-flops in San Francisco you have larger style issues, ones that may not be resolved by reading about bike brands that are crafting clothes that are at once sturdy enough to brave the biting winds and occasional damp of winter months, yet are still exciting and stylish. For the rest of us, such is the list that follows. 

RAPHA CYCLE COMPANY

This Italian bike brand’s Marina café-store could be the perfect spot to begin your quest for cold weather gear. First of all: coffee. Four Barrel percolates in a cafe tucked away in the corner of the sales floor — which is mainly occupied by a long communal table where riders mingle on their way out to the foggy Marin hills or the grocery store. Clothing-wise, the selection isn’t huge, but Rapha’s urban wear is well-made and classy. Straight-leg men’s jeans are made with a blend of nylon, cotton, and elastane yarn, with a waist cut higher in the back, and shiny stuff inside for when you roll up them cuffs.

2198 Filbert, SF. (415) 896-4671, www.rapha.cc

IVA JEAN

I’ve yet to see a more versatile option for biking in the rain than this Seattle brand’s silver-gray cape. There’s a front pouch to keep your keys in, and ample ruching options to allow onlookers a glimpse at what you’ve got going on underneath. It’s like a blanket, a sexy, functional, water-repellant blanket.

www.ivajean.com

MASH TRANSIT

Perhaps you’ll stop by this bike shop nook in Duboce Triangle for a special edition Unicanitor-Barry McGee saddle — just don’t forget to check out what’s on offer that’ll make your morning commute drier. Histogram arm warmers promise extra sleeve coverage, there’s henleys and rain trenches for the taking, and Bay Area-made Inside Line Equipment water-proof backpacks will set you apart from the omnipresent Chrome crowd.

733 14th St., SF. (415) 448-6611, www.mashsf.com

OUTLIER

This label from Brooklyn makes subdued designs functional enough that “they” won’t blink an eye if you have to follow that polished dismount with a day at work, and then with a night tramping around town. I’m a particular fan of the women’s daily riding pant, made of doubleweave twill. The fabric is smooth enough to shred the city streets, and comes in fetching blues and gray that’ll last you through spring.

www.outlier.cc

B.SPOKE TAILOR

But perhaps none of these items are quite what you are looking for. Sweets, if that’s the case — and if you’re the type to buy signature pieces that last you for years, cuz these pricetags are no joke — you should go to Oakland’s Nan Eastep. Her B.Spoke Tailor line births custom-made biking raincoats with extra-long sleeves that don’t make coat-backs pull across shoulderblades. Or try her capes. Why not, you now qualify as a fashion superhero.

(510) 435-3890, www.bspoketailor.com

 

Create and destroy

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Create and destroy

WINTER LOOKS You might have spotted Collin Weber running through the Mission on the way to the Knockout, frantic, with a bag full of satin bows to complete a trio of Sailor Moon costumes. Or perhaps you’ve seen his handy-work elsewhere, in the colorful capes and pointed hats Shannon and the Clams wear in their video for “Sleep Talk” or the sixties striped shifts the Dirty Cupcakes sport in “I Want It (Your Love).”

Weber, a library aid by day and seamster by night, has been creating costumed frocks for an incestuous batch of Bay Area garage rockers for the past two years — Dirty Cupcakes, Shannon and the Clams, Hunx and His Punx, Human Waste — and is open to taking on more acts. ” I think there’s a lot more payoff when you do something and it’s up on stage and out on tour and tons of people see it, and it’s in a music video,” he says leaning against an rack of cloth at Fabric Outlet, “not that I wouldn’t just want to make thing for people to wear. But the costumes are the fun project for me.”

Some of those projects include dinosaur hats, American flag bell-bottoms, gold fake snakeskin skirt and vest combos, and once, for Human Waste, he created full face-masking bodysuits. “The theme they gave me was prisoners on the moon in the future,” Weber laughs. “There’s a whole story behind it, but that’s what I had to go on.”

He created flesh-covering suits, with shiny knee pads and strips of mesh across the mouth and eyes. (Mesh so the band could still see its instruments.) “It’s pretty creepy. The first time I tried it on I was a little scared of my own reflection in the mirror. I think that was a sign that it was going in the right direction.”

I ask if he has his own signature design fixture, something that’s uniquely Weber, and he explains that it can be difficult because he’s often catering to bands’ specific visions, keeping with their imagined themes. Though he says, “one thing that shows up though — and I’ve always been kind of obsessed with — is futuristic, but circa 1960. Special effects, when people tried to guess what people would be wearing in 2012. Shiny, still really mod, but futuristic.” He smiles sheepishly, Queen’s “We Are The Champions” comes pumping through Fabric Outlet’s speakers.

Weber’s style is also influenced by David Bowie circa Ziggy Stardust era, and the designer of those costumes, Kansai Yamamoto. He drops references to the broader glam and loud statement pieces, along with interesting menswear, specifically Comme des Garçons which he describes as “crazy stuff for men that’s just barely wearable.”

His interest in sewing came from a bout of post-college, pre-work boredom while living in Milwaukee. While roommates with Dirty Cupcakes drummer Laura Gravander in the Midwest he learned how to use her sewing machine and begin deconstructing thrifted clothes, doing alterations, and eventually creating his own pieces. He’s all self-taught, and learned through both trial-and-error and diligent YouTube viewing.

Now living in San Francisco (though he moved first with Gravander from Milwaukee to the East Bay), he works shelving books at two library jobs, an aid at the Central Library in Berkeley and a page at the Main Library at Civic Center in SF. He awaits an open librarian position and has kept up the sewing and costume-making as a creative outlet.

Weber mentions that he likes making costumes for bands specifically because there’s a definite deadline: the night of the show. Do or die. He may have been known to run down the street trailing thread, or sew up a piece as the band is about to step on stage, but he also understands the great responsibility of outfitting hard rocking musicians — certain areas must be reinforced, seams must be sturdy because of fierce movement.

And with that comes the punk fate of it all, in sewing costumes for bands, he’s essentially creating what will likely be destroyed. “When you put a lot of work into something, it’s sad to see it get trashed, or blood on it,” says Weber, “but it’s just something you have to take into consideration, whether something just looks nice or whether it’s going to last through rock ‘n’ roll.”

Look sharp!

Andrew Lam
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Look sharp!

Yes yes, we know it’s been unseasonably balmy of late in our city by the bay. But mark our words, fashionistas — winter, it comes. And the mark of an impeccably-styled gent or lady is their preparedness for any situation; cloudy, sunny, rainy — or more likely when speaking of San Francisco, anything in between. To that end: our Winter Looks issue. It’s chockful of everything you need to look luxe in low temps, from magnificent menswear, to bike outfits you can pedal and preen in. We even enlisted the help of some of the Bay’s most fashionable folks to show off what they wear in cold and rainy climes. Best of all: most of it can be found right here in the Bay Area. Shopping bags away! 

>>WINTER LOOKS: A stylist, a blogger, and a boutique show us their hot haute

>>BIKE LANE RUNWAY: Higher-in-the-back waistlines, water-resistant capes — bike shops and labels that’ll help you dodge puddles while looking delish

>>FIX UP, LOOK SHARP: Update your menswear at seven hip new shops from around the city

>>CREATE AND DESTROY: A profile of Collin Weber, designer to the (garage rock) stars

Winter looks: Welcome Stranger is warm on the range

Andrew Lam
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Winter looks: Welcome Stranger is warm on the range

For this week’s Winter Looks issue, we rounded up some of the Bay’s hautest dressers to show us how to step out right when the weather’s wrong

We’ve been big fans of Hayes Valley boutique Welcome Stranger for awhile now. There’s something crisp, yet real comfortable about the shop’s selection of flannels, jeans, and leather bags — this is the place for San Francisco’s urban cowboys. Store manager Justin Hagar was good enough to pose for us in the store’s winter best.

“The jacket makes sense for rainy weather because it’s waxed,” he told us at the Guardian cover shoot. Well-dressed and smart? 

Welcome Stranger “Waxed Safari Jacket,” Life After Denim “Lineage Crew” sweater in Flax/Midnight, Gant “New Haven Chambray Button Down Shirt” in Chambray, General Assembly “Original Pant” in Navy (all available at Welcome Stranger)

 

Norse Projects “Anton Wool Shirt,” Barbour “Down Wax Gilet Vest,” Velour “Adan Chino,” Eastland “Sherman Boots,” Miansai “Beacon Leather Bracelet,” thrift store corduroy hat (all available at Welcome Stranger)

Winter looks: Erin Hagstrom’s rain styles

Andrew Lam
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Winter looks: Erin Hagstrom’s rain styles

For this week’s Winter Looks issue, we rounded up some of the Bay’s hautest dressers to show us how to step out right when the weather’s wrong

Erin Hagstrom has a cuter closet than you. The East Bay resident specializes in cobbling together sweet, retro-styled ‘fits from new and used clothing, often hitting up Bay Area flea markets. The fruits of her shop-’til-you-drop labors are on display at Calivintage, her impeccably photographed fashion blog.

 

Clear vinyl raincoat from Storets.com, Mini dress by Family Affairs, Vintage Salvatore Ferragamo Vara Flats, Vintage wicker umbrella purse, Vintage hat (Mars Vintage)

 

Trovata coat, Kitty pocket dress by Rachel Antonoff (ModCloth.com), Hansel from Basel Tights, Vintage L.L.Bean Duck Boots, purchased at Thrift Town for $10

Winter looks

Andrew Lam
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Winter looks

Once upon a time, it was not 2012 and global warming had not amped up its breakneck pace towards tsunami apocalypse, earth crust melt, and vacuum-suck hurtling into the skies. (See ya, fundamentalists!)

In remembrance of these times, and recognizing that we are a long way yet from Indian summer, we asked a stylist (Leah Perloff, who also drops and pops on the decks for glitter-glued dance-down Stay Gold), a blogger (Erin Hagstrom, creator of the quietly ravishing and eminently resourceful Calivintage), and a boutique (urban-Western flannel-wrangler hotspot Welcome Stranger, represented by store manager Justin Hagar) to put together looks you can work in whipping winds and/or gentle, dewy showers.

The resulting outfits — which ace photog Matthew Reamer captured in his Mission District studio — utilized pieces from local boutiques like Mira Mira and Mission Statement. That means you can cop a lot of it for yourself. Which you should, because the thing about the end of the world is that no one’s going to care about your credit score anymore.

We hope.

>>LEAH PERLOFF: Lush layers

>>ERIN HAGSTROM: Stylin’ in the rain

>>WELCOME STRANGER: Warm, warm on the range

Winter looks: Leah Perloff’s lush layers

Andrew Lam
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Winter looks: Leah Perloff’s lush layers

For this week’s Winter Looks issue, we rounded up some of the Bay’s hautest dressers to show us how to step out right when the weather’s wrong

Stylist Leah Perloff is a woman that can’t let chilly winds keep her at home. In addition to her stylist gigs, Perloff moonlights as DJ Rapid Fire, booty-bouncer at the monthly queer throwdown Stay Gold. When asked how she chose the layered looks she sported in photographer Matthew Reamer’s studio for our shoot, Perloff sassed back: “Winter is so whatever in San Francisco that you can even integrate things you would wear during the summer.” 

Tardy Platform Boot by Jeffery Campbell (Shoe Biz), Groupie Flare Jeans by BDG, Zach Godiva Tee by All Saints, Twisted Yarn Cardigan by Zara, Vintage Denim Jacket by Levi’s, ROZI Hooded Infinity Scarf by Ryan DeBonville Knitwear (Mission Statement), Basenji Clutch by Aldo, Earrings, Rings, and Necklaces by Babe Alert Jewelry (Stone Pony)

 

Crisson Ankle Bootie by Aldo, pants by Ever, Dune Tee by Eighteenth (Mira Mira), LEAH Oversized Infinity Scarf by Ryan DeBonville Knitwear (Mission Statement), jewelry by Babe Alert (Stone Pony)

The big town

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From the air, Chicago in late winter looks like a giant crepe sprinkled with crushed peppercorns and minced scallions: a brown flatness textured with bits of black and white and wan hints of green. It’s a cold crepe, of course; you land and you can see your breath, though within a day or so the temperature will have risen into the malarial mid-70s, and the sky will be filled with purplish green, swelling clouds right out of The Wizard of Oz. Summerish heat in March suggests (apart from global warming) the imminence of tornadoes, to be followed by a blizzard, though not mosquitoes.

One evening we wandered west through River North to Scoozi, the Rich Melman–Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises restaurant that turned 20 last year. The place was something of a pioneer when it opened; the neighborhood was still slightly sketchy, and the setting — a remade temple of heavy industry, with an enormous barrel ceiling supported by wooden cantilevers so as to leave the dining room clear of pillars — gave some sense of what imagination could do with grand old spaces that hadn’t been built with food and restaurants in mind. I thought Scoozi was spectacular when I first visited it, soon after it opened, and it seems to me none the worse for more than two decades of wear; in San Francisco, only LuLu begins to compare in the category of warm spaciousness. Even Scoozi’s big, red, and curiously flattened tomato still hovers, cigar volante–style, above the front door.

The metro-rustic food too was — or is — as good as I remembered it. We particularly liked the grilled artichoke hearts, which seemed not merely to have been marinated in lemon juice and garlic but to have been braised or parboiled in that combination before hitting the barbie. Clue: the potent pair was present throughout the vegetables, making the flesh tender, moist, and fragrant, rather than being just a surface phenomenon. And I am not particularly an apostle of artichokes.

Chicago is underrated as a food city, as in so many other ways. Its reputation is one of rust, Al Capone, Vienna beef sausages, and the clattering El — but that is the old city. The new one is, like our own, a forest of cranes and high-rise apartment buildings whose residents want something interesting for dinner. Excuse me, did someone say crepe?

Paul Reidinger

› paulr@sfbg.com

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