11 of SFSU’s bravest and brightest Apparel and Design Merchandising students have come together on their own terms to raise awareness on the severity and impact of the current state of higher education in California. Their dress forms are falling apart – and so is their department.

Next week, February 4th, Designing a Difference will present a charity fashion show highlighting collaboration, empowerment, and sustainability at the African American Art & Culture Complex. Tickets are available through Eventbrite for $10/$15 and include complimentary cocktails and snacks before the show starts at 7 p.m., followed by a meet and greet with the student designers and music by Kiwi Time.

Angela Wolverton is featured in Stylequake: Festive First and will present in the February 4th fashion show.

Rebecca Cahua is leading the non-profit organization, along with her sister Esther Allen, with a mission to incorporate every single scrap of leftover recycled fabric into the show. More importantly, she’s making sure she personally purchases the supplies current and future SFSU apparel students deserve to have in order to continue with these kind of charitable fashion shows. “This is a platform for students to show off their hard work while helping others in the community,” says Cahua, who has long been passionate about working with foster children in an upcoming fundraiser. “It’s going to be difficult pulling vodka sponsors for a fashion show targeting kids.”

Ladies! Designing a Difference are looking for additional models. If you’re 5’6 or taller and want to be pampered by the wonderful folks at the Cinta Aveda Institute, who have donated 14 of their best hair and makeup stylists, check out the model application for more information.

“OMBRE is a limited-run A4 magazine format publication that’s also readily available in a digital format and interactive iPad edition.

The OMBRE title plays on hombre, informal Spanish for man, juxtaposed by its corrupted English spelling as ombre, a European card game known for its ‘difficult rules, complicated point score, and strange foreign terms.’

Based in San Francisco, OMBRE targets modern-urban menswear from around the world with contributions from global guest-editors. The publication’s duty is to serve the resurgence of gentlemen’s fashion by modernizing it with distinctive artistic direction, playful graphics, and interactive media. Community-based features from around the world highlight design innovation and craftsmanship, as well as vintage archives.

OMBRE is published in limited editions six times a year (February, April, June, August, October, December) along with an interactive online magazine for web browsers, mobile devices, and iPads. In order to access any and all exclusive content, teasers, and issue previews, readers must register with OMBRE’s web site. Digital editions and iPad downloads, as well as extended content from the each issue, are featured on the web site for users who pay a $20/year subscription fee. The limited edition prints are available for paid subscribers; they receive the collectible hardcover print issue two weeks in advance of the digital release at $100/year, including unlimited access to online content and downloads.”

“The magazine will launch as a non-profit side project by volunteer journalism, fashion, and menswear enthusiasts in San Francisco, as well as contributing cities around the globe. All revenue is pumped back into production and web hosting.

Our target reader is somewhere between the ages of 18-65, passionate about creativity in menswear, beginning to get comfortable with sharp tailoring and sacred vintage, or already the proud owner of a well edited wardrobe.

OMBRE features exclusive content and editorials in collaboration with independent businesses and designers around the world. Staple features include in-depth profiles on menswear artists, renowned stylists, and vintage specialists. After all, these are the people that know what trends have already come and gone, are keen on the value of quality craftsmanship, and are able to look back at the origins of menswear in comparison to the vast trends they inspire today.”

]]> http://juliocortez.wordpress.com/2011/12/15/publication-design-graphics-ombre-magazine/feed/ 0 juliocortez JulioCortez_OmbreMagazine_Jour450_Fall2011_Final-1 JulioCortez_OmbreMagazine_Jour450_Fall2011_Final-2 JulioCortez_OmbreMagazine_Jour450_Fall2011_Final-3 http://juliocortez.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/shourouk-fall-2011-presentation-at-la-boutique/ http://juliocortez.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/shourouk-fall-2011-presentation-at-la-boutique/#comments Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:15:16 +0000 Julio Cortez http://juliocortez.wordpress.com/?p=1134 Continue reading →]]>

A while back, I teased about my meeting with French jewelry designer Shourouk Rhaiem at La Boutique. For her first San Francisco presentation, a recreation of Shourouk’s atelier anchors the rear end of the shop floor. Shourouk surrounds herself with a couple of portraits of Frida Kahlo and a photo of her grandmother in her wedding dress, vibrant paper crafts, and her signature crystals. From there, a dazzling trail of pastry tables, jewelry displays, champagne and bloggers makes its way to the store front. It doesn’t feel like you’re in the Financial District when you step inside La Boutique’s airy space. The loft-gallery feel serves as a modest background for the colorful master-headpieces and whimsical-punk glitz that radiates in this opulent fall collection.

 View the rest of the set here.
You should peep the new issue of Vogue France with Kate Moss for Shourouk’s latest.

Photographed by Andrew Lopez | ALO Photography
 Jessie & McCoppin Streets, San Francisco, Ca.
December 4th, 2011

I’m in a Hedi Slimane/black and white Madonna video mood.

While working at Allsaints for a year, I’ve sold at least four pairs of their Damisi ($295) boot per week. In recent years, the double buckle military boot for women has been one of the company’s signature and most shopped styles. I find this boot to be one of the most attractive among the flock of military and workwear inspired trends today. The Damisi has come and gone in a multitude of color polishes and textured leathers (including HAIR) until the UK brand finally produced a version for men, the Demise boot (pictured above), this past spring.

My deliciously unnecessary material treat of the year.

Shift after shift, my lust for these shoes grew fully erect. However, I also questioned the amount of disposable income (that I don’t have) floating around in San Francisco with more and more of these boots selling in-store as if they were dirt cheap. Before leaving the company this past October, and as replicated as they are by now, I couldn’t help but splurge on a pair of Demise boots in the washed black finish – with my discount, of course. It’s been a wonderful 3 month love affair, stomping around town with them slouching on my ankles, jingling as the buckles and leather bang against each other with every sashay. Also, note that the Allsaints version have wood soles (slightly painful at first) and no lazy zipper action on the inners – which I prefer.

Short laces and double buckles allow soldiers to strap their boots on securely and quicker. Photo: QM Fashion

I was naive enough to believe that Allsaints originated the cut and style of this military inspired boot up until last week when my boo Geno forwarded me the fascinating research of QM Fashion all about the origins of the M-1943 combat boot (the blog schools us and compares current military wear with the originals). The functionality of the style lies in the construction of the boot closure. Soldiers would no longer have to button up their WW2 leggings and boots before marching out into the trenches, according to QM. World War II replication  in fashion is inescapable at the moment for both men and women. Military wear is EVERYWHERE, and not just on our backs and feet. The New York Times recently noted the comeback of the 1930s “Hitler youth” haircut, which isn’t really news anymore considering Win Butler, the Castro Clones, um… myself, and many lookbook.nu trolls have been working this hairdo since 2009.

Win Butler of Arcade Fire ... *swoon* Gif: fuckyeaharcadefire

There are several versions of the double buckle combat boot floating around right now. The six styles featured in the header are just a few of the branded WW2 inspired boots that are readily available online. I forgot to picture the Dr. Martens ($140 on sale) version that I must’ve missed on my last Google sweep. If the Allsaints boots weren’t already in my possession , I would totally go for the Docs because of the thicker construction, workwear grip and polished leather.

Are war replicas in fashion a disgusting representation of bloodshed and corruption? Or will you, too, channel your inner GI with fatigue jackets and heritage footwear?

Thank you, Geno and QM Fashion!

No, I don’t wear Sketchers anymore, nor do I own a Prada backpack (yet), but I am enjoying my time here in Tepa. I spent long vacations from school here as a kid because I was forced into that horrible little thing called track scheduling. During my 2-month trips, I liked to lip synch to the Spice Girls’ albums with my cousins while eating chupa chup lollipops. I never missed an episode of Soñadoras (which can totally kick Gossip Girl’s ass any day). I have fond memories of my week long stints at the rancho an hour outside the city, drinking terribly warm milk in the mornings from the property’s only cow, and hopping barbed wire fences to sneak onto other rancher’s lands for the thrill of it.

I can’t remember wanting anything else but ice cream from La Michoacana and joy rides on truck beds in the 90s. My own insecurities with being called a gringo or being questioned about my sexuality as young as the age of 8 couldn’t keep me from running around this town as if I was born here. It’s nice to be back now as an adult and college student who’s beginning to question everything around him more and more as he gets older. I’m reacquainting myself with my father’s side of the family, meeting the new generation of Cortés toddlers, and going crazy at El Mercado while scouring for leather artisan goods. I like my Allsaints boots, but I LOVE my huaraches. The situation is backwards here; I want what they want and they want what’s tired in mass trends in America.

It’s been a struggle sifting through market places here in search for authentic goods hechos en México. At the same time, I find myself second guessing the values of American life amidst the Occupy movement and the materialistic influence we have on life across the border. Here I am running around with the last of my savings, hunting for locally made shoes, belts and bags while complaining about the saturation of shops stocked with poor foreign inventory. Unfortunately, there’s an abundance of businesses relying on imported clothing and accessories from China; walking through some of Tepa’s streets feels like walking through Santee Alley. There’s a social class stigma against people that live here who wear things that used to be traditional and customary in Mexico. There’s no denying that many locals are fixated on their understanding of American fashion; imported and counterfeit Abercrombie & Fitch, Aéropostale, Gap, Lacoste and other readily available mall brands are the it labels to sport around town. My search for traditional Mexican goods clashes with the local lack of culture. I find all of the above lifestyle brands to be a disgustingly perfect example of just how inundated America is with corporate garbage in the “fashion” industry.

I paid $1.50 for fresh coconut water from a roadside stand in Zaplotanejo.

I already know I’m going to have a hard time adjusting to Mexican food back in San Francisco. Nothing compares to eating in the homeland and I mean nothing, Chilango! The best meal I’ve had here so far has to be La Gorda’s mole poblano lathered chicken enchiladas; rich in creamy texture, sweet flavor and worth the $4. I can’t shake soda off (again) just  yet, but I’m not complaining about the seemingly endless $1 Mexican Coke bottles that complete every meal. When I arrived on Monday, I was greeted by some of Tepa’s newest additions, including Subway and KFC. When I went to Guadalajara yesterday, an enormous Applebee’s and Chili’s attached to an even bigger shopping mall boasting a Zara also caught me off guard. I’m just not down with these kind of franchises overshadowing tradition and culture.

An artisan market housed within a parking structure in central Guadalajara.

Certain moments of my trip have felt as if I was trapped in an overpriced sprawl mart backdropped by a crumbling architectural glimpseof the past. Yes, I’ve been able to locate most of the treasures I’ve sought after these last few days. But I traveled here with the mentality that artisan goods are in abundance, that things can’t change that drastically in a town like this. As I walk around the plaza, I see people of all ages glued to their iPhones, logo branded garbs and a distaste for heritage goods. Albeit not everyone has entirely become a zombie American hybrid, my expectations remain subjective; I’m not from here, I don’t live here and I don’t know what real life is like here because, in the end, I’m only a tourist. I don’t mind progress, technology and a community’s need for change. I’m 2,092 miles away from San Francsisco, but I’m reminded of the monstrous nature of corporations and their influence or the disposability of their mass production around every other corner. One thing that’s certain is that politics here and back home are fucked, fueled by relentless bloodshed, corruption, deceit, and power – but that’s a whole ‘nother story.

I’ll update my Flickr throughout the week with my photo diary and give a more detailed post on my Mexican loot and souvenirs. I don’t intend for this post to criticize life in Tepa or serve as my whining platform. In fact, I’m having a great time cruising around with my family and nurturing my foodie hobby. I can’t stress enough how glad I am to finally be back here with my grandfather, aunts, uncles, and cousins. They remind me that I have much to be grateful for as a Cortés and that I’ve still got a long way to go.

Photographed by Gregory Moreno

My following feature is the cover story for the fall 2011 issue of San Francisco State’s Xpress Magazine. 

Though fashion is constantly evolving, it’s no secret the culture is simultaneously recycling highlights from runways past. The 90’s grunge revival is alive and well, and the return of minimalism echoes on the streets of San Francisco, furthering the androgynous inspired wardrobe of modern day trends. Street style’s latest garbs are geared towards a unisex friendly market, syncing male and female textiles. Color palettes and minimalist basics are now more effortlessly interchangeable among the sexes.

A little navy-blue number is tucked away inside Zara on Sutter Street. Bradley calls earlier in the morning to put the medium, all-over sequin blazer from the women’s fall collection on hold – the largest size in stock in San Francisco. Two others of the same blazer are on the sales floor, both of which are tagged extra-small.

Bradley admits that he would’ve bought the $200 blazer if they had a larger size, pointing his fork at the evening sky above Café de la Presse on Grant Street. The traditional men’s cut with the sparkling twist is what inspires the one time SF State student to plan a disco look around the blazer while he’s at work. “In this city, stores like Zara are always out of large sizes in the women’s department and small sizes in the men’s department.” Could the flocks of slender gender-benders from FIDM be to blame for this? Bradley thinks so.

Take a behind the scenes look at making the Xpress cover with photographer Gregory Moreno below and continue the article after the jump. Special thanks to suiGENERIS.

“I had a very awkward sense of style growing up and boy’s clothes didn’t look good on me,” Bradley says of his thin frame and feminine features.

In middle school, his mixture of boy’s and girl’s clothing even sparks rumors that Bradley is a hermaphrodite. The 1993 beyond baggy jean and over-sized flannel jacket trend have thankfully yet to return to our wardrobe rotation; back then, it was all that was available to boys Bradley’s age.

There’s a misconception about men wearing women’s clothing. Bradley doesn’t want to be a woman, but he gets verbally assaulted for wearing billowy womenswear paired with trim tailored menswear.

“The feeling of wearing clothes is so relevant to how people feel inside,” says Bradley, noting that we all live everyday in fashion. “Why wear something someone else chooses for you to wear?” In Bradley’s world, and for many of the trendsetters in this city, there is no men’s or women’s section – just a giant closet full of inspiration.

“These girls are walking around in their type of fashion – nylon stockings, tank tops as dresses and rainbow colored hair,” says Bradley, praising the Oakland’s street femmes for their ballsy attempt at style. “These girls smell like pot and talk like Lil’ Wayne, but no one is attacking them for dressing the way they dress.”

There’s a cliché that relates to this: fashion is not pretentious, it’s the person wearing the clothes that’s pretentious. Fashion shouldn’t be about menswear or womenswear. It’s the person inside the clothes that’s male or female. “That’s it,” exclaims Bradley.

Bradley Miller photographed by Pat Ramos

“I’ve learned to appreciate it for what it is,” Bradley says of getting attacked by downtown haters for his sexually ambiguous attire. “People are seeing in me what they don’t normally see everyday. They’re getting one step closer to accepting it.”

Bradley’s Facebook doppelgangers are McCaulay Culkin and Denise Richards. You’d expect people to freak out a little when they second-guess his looks and not the unisex trousers from American Apparel he wears to work. “I am 100 percent a male in my mind, but people flip their shit because of what I wear.”

Andrej Pejic, the androgynous runway and editorial phenomenon, dubbed male model of 2011 in the fall fashion issue of New York magazine. The issue’s Prettiest Boy In The World feature by Alex Morris highlights Pejic’s ability to make a career of working both sides of the runway.

Lady Gaga ditched her teal wig, archive Gianni Versace silks and fluctuating “Born This Way” era beauty mole at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards. She instead opts for her Jo Calderone alter ego; an Italian, twenty-something, faded lover of Gaga’s with a scorned heart and a vulgar mouth.

The male image is slowly creeping into a state of deconstruction, allowing itself to implement daring details and traditionally feminine influences. Think about where you live and your accessibility to fashion when letting your style freak flag fly. Although gender-bending style is making its way back into the mainstream, it’s easy for some to confuse unisex with cross-dressing and cross-dressing with androgyny.

“What’s androgyny?” asks fashion writer William Biga, a 24-year-old Colorado Springs native and San Francisco transplant. “It doesn’t end or start with dressing like a guy or a girl – it’s more about blurring the lines.”

William believes that it’s easy for the experimental male to throw on a pair of heels, but androgynous style can easily become a gimmick instead of a message. In short, just because you can doesn’t mean you should when it comes to experimenting with gender boundaries.

Something about San Francisco street style allows us the freedom to explore fashion outside of our comfort zones – if we want to. Masculine and feminine come together when utilitarian structure and our generation’s gothic rehash become more readily available at retailers such as H&M, Cotton On and Allsaints Spitalfields.

SFSU student Adam Zollar wears First by Jeffrey Campbell glitter Lita boots ($169.95, solestruck.com).

The San Francisco girl can be identified by her love affair with Dr. Martens, which on occasion is accompanied by a floral dress and fur á la Courtney Love circa Live Through This. The iconic footwear is tied to the punk and skinhead movements, but most importantly its durability as a men’s work boot. Now, more than ever, its widespread accessibility and variation allows it to become a necessary staple for both sexes.

Fashion students trot along Market Street in this season’s knock offs of last season’s runway favorites. Campus gators embrace the combat boot revolution, another unisex trend that has become accessible for boys and girls thanks to budget friendly mall brands.

New wave goth in the 80s got out of control in the hair and makeup department. The style of 90s grunge allowed boyfriends and girlfriends to lend each other their oversized flannels and Nirvana t-shirts in case they want to freshen up their morning walk-of-shame. Today, it’s evident that San Francisco youth love borrowing a note from the good, bad and ugly pages of time.

“You don’t realize how weird San Francisco is and how quickly you assimilate to the city’s ability to liberate you” says William, opting to take his Marlboro smoke break indoors whilst resting on a black weathered coffee table in his barren Nob Hill apartment. “You go somewhere else and people still have a hang up about men using the women’s bathroom. I’m like, ‘really? I’m not in San Francisco anymore.’”

For such a global city, there’s still a sense of everyone needing to adapt to different rules and regulations when it comes to gender and fashion.

Certain parts of the city allow us to express ourselves with clothing a little more freely than others.

“If I wear my skirt downtown, tourists see it as a novelty,” says Biga, “but someone else can reference the inspiration behind my obsession with Rad Hourani.” Hourani is a Canadian designer of Jordanian and Syrian descent recognized for his signature unisex approach to silhouettes.

A transformable and unisex look from Rad Hourani.

It’s crucial to comprehend fashion’s regional dialect. Biga recalls one early Saturday morning shortly after moving from Colorado two years ago.

“I was walking down Sutter on my way to work. There was this tall, bearded guy with long black hair pulled up into a tussled Japanese bun,” describes Biga, motioning his hands above his buzzed scalp to mimic the style. “His autumn-colored pleated skirt that went down to his ankles caught my attention, and his tobacco colored boots.”

There was nothing gimmicky about the man’s look, which Biga recalls looking like a Yohji Yamamoto model just a few blocks away from being mistaken as a drug fiend in the Tenderloin. When Biga delivers his skirt look, he admits to just looking “like some gay boy in a skirt.”

For some, their image is based on more than sampling from visual inspiration. Sometimes it’s a little deeper, maybe even a spiritual experience.

By day, Brooklyn bred Terry Tsipouras finds himself managing a doctor’s office in San Francisco. By night, the creative looker performs as a drag queen and promotes local nightlife events.  In Greek, his first name is actually Theodoros, which translates to Theodore. He went by Teddy from a young age. When moved to Connecticut, where he was raised, his my mother had such a strong accent and would roll her D’s like R’s that eventually teachers just assumed his name was Terry.

“It’s funny to trace the evolution of your name and how you end up with it,” says Tsipouras, who cites that more often than not you can find meaning in a name’s conception, “in this case I really now understand how I ended up with Terry.”

What’s in a name? “Mine is an androgynous name that really does apply more to me than the latter,” he says, “regardless of not owning it at birth, it still found me through a series of unusual circumstances.” Such is life.

“I have read, in esoteric literature, that an orange energy field covers San Francisco,” says Terry,  “this explains why many receive the telepathic calling to come here and pursue some form of personal enlightenment.”

Terry reflects on a calling of his own from the Bay, joining two of his best friends on their move to San Francisco at the same time as Burning Man. At the time, Terry was in an “insecure place of bewilderment,” as he says, having just graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York with an emphasis on accessories design.

“I had followed all appropriate societal paths towards growth and was still left with an instinctual feeling of incompleteness,” reflects Terry, yearning to discover who he is in the past, present and future.

Following his gut and listening to his heart, Terry realizes that his quest is far from over and that he needs to break his ties in New York City to continue on the path towards self-discovery.

“I called my mother, had her move all of my things to her basement, and started a new life,” Terry admits proudly. “It’s been five and a half years and my journey continues.”

Terry Tsipouras photograpged by Merkley ???

First exposed to the city through Burning Man, Terry describes his experience with San Francisco fashion as spiritually-based futuristic tribal. “I really think that the fashion here is beyond trends,” says Terry.  “Exemplifying the theory that fashion starts on the streets with the youth.”  That’s not to say that many in the quiet San Francisco scene don’t pay attention to trends, but instead choosing to ignore the trends that other cities around the world are creating.

The experience one has with fashion is personal, which Terry believes is someone’s individual quest calling on them to mirror how they feel on the inside with their clothing.  Everything in this city is a statement. “What do I want to tell the world today? How will my exterior armor portray the path that I have endured? What does my image say to the world and does it match my personal journey?” These are questions that Terry believes many San Franciscans, including himself, face when getting dressed.

However, when it comes to the evolution of androgyny, Terry feels it cannot be contemplated through the constraints of something societal and physical such as a city’s border. In fact, he definitely doesn’t see it as a trend, accepting it as something bigger than a person’s lifestyle. “I consider myself to be a Berdache,” says Terry, “a two-spirit being.” Berdache is recognized in the Native American culture, as well as in the cultures of other indigenous tribes. The presence of male and female energies are in him. Although some scientists may argue Terry’s claim through an imbalance of hormones, he doesn’t agree.

“For me,” Terry says, “the ability to channel both male and female energies is a gift from the universe and provides evidence that there is a world beyond the physical.”

San Francisco has a more compassionate and conscious understanding of sexuality that Terry says allows him to dress as he feels without worrying if the garment happens to be made for a woman or a man.

“After all, these restrictions in fashion are all evolved human regulations that mirror current societal standings and their only constant is change,” says Terry.

If you took a stroll through the Castro last December, you may have seen Terry channeling  a Greek Jesus on posters for club promoter Joshua J.’s “Big Top: Homo for the Holidays.” The poster suggest that Terry prefers to wear Jesus’ birthday suit while two angels hold a banner with the event date over his goodies. If your eyes don’t know where to go when stumbling upon the ad on his Facebook profile, check out the romanticised crucifix tattoo centered on his chest or the flowing brown locks held down by a leather crown of thorns. In an alternate poster, Terry delivers what his friends label a humorous Mary Dragdalene look. We’ll take one of each print if your archives are open, J.

It’s not just religious iconography that inspires the 30-year-old artist. In August, he collaborates with friends, including Bradley Miller, on a photo illustration honoring femininity and its resurgence of power in modern society (Entitled @ Project One).

“The message was to tell the world that we are all Gods and Goddesses, that we are all Kings and Queens, that we are all part of the thread of the universe that binds us,” Terry says of the shoot.

In other words,  we are all connected.  Terry believes that our journey is one of remembrance and back tracking to a place of acceptance and honor, “a place where we were not separate but equal,” emphasizing a loss of unity in humanity overtime.  Gender boundaries are broken and blended in the fruition of Terry’s vision,  portraying a female as a male, a queen as a commoner, and Egyptian/African as a Caucasian.

“I was seemingly passable to the untrained eye,” admits Terry, “through the use of symbolism, color and posture that we have attached to what we know of as royalty.”

What we see in and out of our own little San Francisco world is completely subjective. “Once all of these labels are stripped away, there lies a being that is just like you, a being conceived and manifested through the wonder that is love,” Terry reminds us.

photos by Andrew Lopez for Xpress Magazine (Oct. 2, 2011)

That feeling of uncertainty when it comes to new Halloween costumes is as daunting as the bad aftertaste of the off-brand candy dumped in our pillowcases by cheap neighbors every year. Some of us save our pennies until the day before Halloween to see what we can afford, while others tend to get crafty with what they already have at home.

Costumes are my thing. My brothers? Not so much. The last time I remember seeing them in the Halloween spirit is when they wore an abominable snowman mask to scare me in my sleep as a toddler. The protruding plastic fangs and holographic green eyes surrounded by white shag is ingrained in my membrane. This might explain why I’m weary of petting white furs.

Come Halloween time, I’ve been a fluffy green dinosaur from Toys “R” Us, a garage sale pirate, a sparkly purple wizard from Party City, a black trash bag vampire from Pick N’ Save, and a pumpkin with the most flattering orange stockings from the girls section at Target. The Halloween formula has become a comfortable concoction of new and old on a budget, even when channeling pop stars in low-grade wigs. In high school, girls want to dress in as little clothing as possible for Halloween. So do I.

One year, I showed up to campus in black gym short shorts, an old t-shirt with an airbrushed replica of Britney Spear’s “Gimme More” Video Music Awards costume, and my niece’s newborn baby doll strapped to one of my heeled boots. A ratty blond wig and a bag of Cheetos from Walgreens and a venti caramel Frappaccino were the cherry on top of a delicious tribute to a childhood hero fallen from grace.

Other costumes that confuse my friends and parents include my Lady Gaga homage in a Fame Monster wig, a $10 lace cat suit from a sex shop in the Castro and an x made of black electrical tape on each nipple. Long gone are the days of my lazy Rastafarian zombie in sweat pants look.

Fame Gaga (2008), Wolverine (2009), Monster Gaga with Sohini as Patty Mayonnaise (2010)

I once found a pirate costume at Goodwill in Redondo Beach. The crotch was torn and the shirt had yellow armpit stains; I was grossed out by the personal touches. I appreciate the authenticity of the details a little more now that I know people pay top dollar for brand new clothes to look like it was beaten against someone’s crusty gym laundry.

There was that one year when I got to pick out my Halloween costume months in advance because my parents stumbled upon some extra money and a white Power Ranger outfit that actually fit their husky little boy. I wore the shit out of the spandex jumpsuit, which looked more like a cropped Go-Go dancer’s cat suit on me by the time Halloween actually came around.

"Everything I own is thrift," says Heather.

There’s some truth to Heather’s claims. You could find an awesome monochrome David Bowie-esque jumpsuit at Clothing By The Pound on Valencia Street for under $20. You’re guaranteed a Bill Cosby sweater score in the six racks of knitwear for men in the Mission’s Thrift Town.

But not all vintage costume gems are within reach, especially for budget conscience college students. Haight Street shops like Decades and Wasteland specialize in period detail costumes and one-of-a-kind vintage finds. Be prepared to pay up towards $100 for a 1960s geisha-style Kimono or even $200 for a real flapper dress from the prohibition era that was probably bartered for a bottle of booze by a trendy vamp. Store bought costumes are never an option for some families and students, though.

“Party City? That’s like $60,” snaps Heather, rolling her neck around in a whipping motion. “Take that money to a thrift store and make three or more costumes.” This year, a black long sleeve dress made of stretch wool caught her eye at a Salvation Army in the Richmond district. “You can’t beat $6.99 for a dress that Wednesday Adams, Emily Dickinson and the girls from the Craft would’ve shared in their angst book club,” Heather reassures Xpress readers.

"I like the idea of having unique pieces," says Heather of her thrift fashion preference.

The best part about Heather’s find, aside from its rare price point compared to many of the recent local thrift price hikes, is the versatility of her choice in costume. When Halloween is over with, the dress becomes another interchangeable staple in the thrift jungle that is Heather’s walk-in closet. “I can wear this dress to scare you into giving me candy,” says the sweet-toothed thrift queen, grinning in glee after making her way through a bag of Walgreens brand sour straws. “If I went to church, this would be my church dress,” she admits. “Whoever donated this dress didn’t think there was any mileage left in. They thought wrong.”

Armed with two bobby pins and one hair tie, we managed to erect Heather's hair at half mass.

According to the almighty Wikipedia, "Mission San Francisco de Asís, or Mission Dolores, is the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco". Will Heather's frock outlast the mission? We'll see.

Heather prepares to strike a stoic pose. She's thinking "dead kittens".

Heather is ready for their stones.

 The fall 2011 issue of Xpress Magazine is out now at SFSU.