Viewing entries tagged
ART INSPIRING HOPE

EN VOGUE: Art Inspiring Hope Gala 03/12/2011

(Illustration By: Gladys Perint Palmer)

SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2011. San Francisco Design Center Concourse – East Hall. 635 8th Street (at Brannan) in San Francisco.

Cameras will flash and fashionistas will be transfixed as you glide across the red carpet and down the runway. To view the Invitation, click here.

FEATURING COLLECTIONS BY:





San Francisco Designers and Partners: Laura Patnaude and John Robblee. Since John was young, he has had the ability to design clothes in his head. His fashion forward style and cute boyhood dimples caught Laura’s eye in the sixth grade which led to them becoming middle school sweethearts. Little did they know what lay ahead. Fifteen years later, they reconnected and have been inseparable ever since.

While discovering that each had a love for fashion, John still had not put his designs on paper. His frequent critique of shirts and lack of clothing options for an athletic physique led to Laura’s suggestion for John to finally sketch out what he would do differently. A few hours later, the ALLEY Collection was borne.

Combining John’s background as a Bay Area Firefighter with Laura’s upbringing around the family farm, a rough element of canvas and duck were transformed into stylish outerwear while soft twill was made into edgy fitted dress shirts. Alley Collection has filled a major gap by providing urban workwear tailored specifically for the athletic male. Each piece is designed and crafted in San Francisco, the city where the two reunited and now live with their Rottweiler dog, Alley.




Anya Tatarenko is an emerging fashion designer residing in San Francisco, CA. Her brand ANYA offers a line of clothing to a woman with a busy lifestyle. The looks can be worn from day to evening with confidence, comfort and style.

Anya attended Apparel Arts, a San Francisco Fashion Design School in 2004. She graduated with Pattern Making and Design Certificate in June 2008 and produced her first line. Since then she has been working in smaller projects, branding and on developing a larger collection.

Since then Anya has been working on expanding her collection and has shown at several high profile fashion events in SF. Digital Summer event in August 2009 was covered by 944 Magazine, it was sponsored by HP, Intel and Edun Live. Autumn Attitudes show was held at an chic Posh salon in the upscale Pac Heights SF neighborhood and was sponsored by Shu Uemura Cosmetics. Anys has a stocklist of selected garments at SF boutique Loft 1513 and also is a freelance designer for several private clients.

Anya knows how to complement a woman’s body; her garments are wearable and project confidence, sexiness and sophistication.





For Creative Women…Just Add Your Personality. This slogan embodies every design that Varunee creates. Varunee, a Thai Language Instructor-come-fashion designer, is from Bangkok Thailand. Upon graduating from university with a degree in English and Linguistics, it seemed her life was set as a teacher, but her love for fashion design intervened and the inevitable prevailed.

Another graduation, this time from fashion design school, Brooks College in Long Beach California, meant Varunee was on her way. One of Varunee’s early accomplishments was to dress the beautiful and talented Tiffany Stoker, Miss California 1995, for The Miss America Pageant. Tiffany placed 3rd. runner-up. Varunee has progressed into a multi-talented personality with her RTW designs and her custom creations.

Today-Varunee is showing two sides of the designer: 1) Refined and Elegant designs under the VARUNEE label. 2) Funky/Elegant designs under the Sincerely, Varunee label.Once again, Varunee’s philosophy says it all: For Creative Women…Just Add Your Personality