On becoming RED ~ from Bob Hass to Jake Wall’s BESPOKE IN RED ~ a Benefit for the RED CROSS

“When in doubt wear RED.” ~ Bill Blass

“All my life I’ve pursued the perfect red. I can never get painters to mix it for me. It’s exactly as if I’d said, ‘I want rococo with a spot of Gothic in it and a bit of Buddhist temple’—they have no idea what I’m talking about. About the best red is to copy the color of a child’s cap in any Renaissance portrait.”
~ Diana Vreeland

Above ~ Royal, photo by me, from the SF Chronicle article by Sylvia Rubin. Right, styled by Christi Mider, photo by Rico Schwartzberg, 2004.

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Not that I do ~ wear red, i mean; but I adore considering it as a possible accent, a highlight, something to savor, on my lips, around my wrist, dangling from my ears. Over the years red has meant so many things to me ~ words trying to describe it, fabrics trying to conceptualize it, ingredients attempting to emulate it. I put Royal in Missoni red knits, models in chiffon prints, Obama fundraisers in black t-shirts, highlighted in red silk brocade prints, Chez Panisse collections of beets in red, favorite barolos and burgundies translated into tiered asparagus silhouettes.

Above ~ Leah in an Obama gown, fundraiser 2008. Chez Panisse runway show 2011. Beets in silk, Chez Panisse Collection 2011, photo by Gabriel Harber.

And for CAL’s BARE Magazine ~ Bob Hass’s words interpreted into a trio of gowns ~ in silks and brocades, where before there were fleeces and cottons. Red, sudden, stunning in silk, layered, silhouetted, uttered and then hushed..

Above ~ my RED CROSS Collection, for the Gala at SF City Hall in 2009.

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on THE PROBLEM OF DESCRIBING COLOR ~ here is Bob Hass, himself

“If I said – remembering in summer,

The cardinal’s sudden smudge of red
In the bare gray winter woods –

If I said, red ribbon on the cocked straw hat
Of the girl with pooched-out lips
Dangling a wiry lapdog
In the painting by Renoir –

If I said fire, if I said blood welling from a cut –

Or flecks of poppy in the tar-grass scented summer air
On a wind-struck hillside outside Fano –

If I said, her one red earring tugging at her silky lobe,

If she tells fortunes with a deck of fallen leaves
Until it comes out right –

Rouged nipple, mouth –

(How could you not love a woman
Who cheats at the Tarot?)

Red, I said. Sudden, red.”

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Above ~ Marin Magazine models in my dresses. Right, Ashley McKinley, Racheal Matthews and I, in a 4th street photoshoot by Heike Liss.

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Also, my very fist salon dinner ~ RED.. Valentine weekend, 2012.

Above ~ #1 of 77, Salon Dinners at my 4th Street Atelier… with Deb Durant, Heike Liss, Beth Ann McFadden, Christopher Willits, Cecelia Fernandez, David Sullivan and Racheal Matthews (taking the pic)…

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And ~ Dracula, through Eiko Ishioka’s eyes, Francisc Coppola’s film, Bram Stoker’s words ~ the redness, blood like, purity.

Above ~ Eiko Ishioka ~ her book, and her work for Coppola’s DRACULA (for Winona Ryder and Gary Oldman)…

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What does the color red mean to you? In food, in fashion, in film?

Above ~ Red Cross Gala, 2007, with Royal and model Leah Wade; My very first photo shoot in red fleece 2002. Red brocade, in Havana, Cuba, photo: Jock Mcdonald.

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THIS Thursday, dear friend, collaborator and co-conspirator JAKE WALL and NATHAN JOHNSON are debuting their 2015 bespoke collection BLVD as well as a few other cinematic surprises…

It’s also the “rebooted” version of the past two year’s SUIT UP RUNWAY Show that Jake and I, and others did at the McCroskey Mattress Factory… It’s now JAKE presents BESPOKE in RED, a benefit for the American Red Cross ~ and you know if i was making clothes this fall, i would be there, on the runway, but come join ME in the audience ~ you can use the discount code ~ JAKESINNERCIRCLE for tickets. and Please let me know if you’re going. I would love to see you there, supporting both Jake and the Red Cross, something I did for years at SF City Hall…

Above ~ a collage of SUIT UP photos and editorial shoots, photographs all by Kelly Puleio.

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Libations from the team, including Timothy Felker and Commonwealth chef Jason Fix’s new place ORO ~ http://www.orosf.com

FOR TICKETS ~ go HERE 

if use the following discount code ~ JAKESINNERCIRCLE ~  tickets are $35

The Deets ~

Thursday, October 1st ~ BESPOKE IN RED ~ a Benefit for the RED CROSS
7-10pm, Westfield Mall
865 Market Street, 4th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94608

wear RED… if you like. I will be bringing out my red boots and red accents in jewelry?! …
and heading to RN74 afterwards…

Above ~ Last week’s MACY’S FRONT ROW ! with Season 14’s Project Runway designers Jake Wall, Blake Patterson and Joseph Charles Poli.

Above ~ a first image with Jake, from SNOW 2013…

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“Fashion is part of the daily air and it changes all the time, with all the events. You can even see the approaching of a revolution in clothes.
You can see and feel everything in clothes.” ~ Diana Vreeland