all photos by Simone Paddock

Glory upon ye, Californians, for your beards have triumphed! Yes, even without the competitive edge of Jack Passion (two time Full Natural Beard world champ and Bay resident, who sat this one out to emcee), the Golden State prospered with three out of four first places at the National Beard and Mustache Championships in Bend, Oregon this weekend. Per his promise, Jack Passion filled us in with what went down with the beardos.Read more »

So you read about the upcoming National Beard and Mustache Championships in Bend, Oregon. But where the hell is your local fix for competitive bearding? Well fear not, my sweets -- beards are popping up in the budding Bay summer like chanterelles ‘neath the roots of California oaks and conifers (metaphor courtesy of David Arora).  We just couldn’t be happier about it. On Thu/27, Edinburgh Castle will be hosting its own charity showdown of the beard bedecked to benefit Smile Train, a group that helps kids with cleft palates. SFBG just received word of from event organizer Brian McGregor, who is a cultivator of a smashing Imperial ‘stache himself. Brian, tell us more! Read more »

Facial hair isn't something that Xavier Marvel grows for the glory. This is his life. “I didn't decide to go to the championships and then grow my musketeer,” says the dashing Marvel, who will represent the Bay Area at the upcoming 2010 National Beard and Mustache Championships in Bend, Oregon (June 5). I spoke to him recently on the phone, painfully divorced from seeing his follical glory in person. “I already had it. The competition is not the reason for my facial hair, it's just sort of a bonus.” Read more »

By Chhavi Nanda

In the remains of what was left of Brooklyn Circus SF, I joined Gabe Garcia, BKC's art director, for an intimate interview in the heart of San Francisco, the Fillmore.  Recently, the SF branch of the awesome men's clothiers was forced to close for a few weeks due to a flood from the apartment building above. The damages caused the joint to pack up for a bit. The circus must go on, though, and Brooklyn Circus SF will be reopening this Fri/23, just like new. Thankfully Gabe, even in his frenzied panic to get the store back up and running,  talked to me about his career, the direction of fashion in San Francisco and New York City, and the industry in general. 

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By Chhavi Nanda

The majority of mankind is under the misconception that an apocalypse is primarily associated with the end of the world – some sort of eschatological final battle. Perhaps it’s the slew of movies such as 2012 or The Road influencing our mind to veer into that territory. But an apocalypse doesn’t necessarily mean an ending -- even adherents of the Book of Revelations know there’s a next chapter. An apocalypse is defined as “the lifting of a veil or a revelation.”  Late last month, a fashionable veil was lifted: a new collective Web site of vintage fashion, entitled American Apocalypse, was exposed to the world.

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Today's Look: Jay, Van Ness and Broadway

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The perfect wardrobe is a collection of vintage beauties and trendy new things, but shopping in this form takes devotion. Thrashing through thrift stores may not be your style and consignment shops often have a tendency to overwhelm with rack after rack of fashion-flops. Alas, Collage Clothing and its queen bee Erica Skone-Rees are making your life easier. Read more »

Steampunk has been described as a “step sideways in time.” It’s certainly not a regressive subculture- one peek at the kinds of clockwork corsetry and hydraulics operated moving machines that steampunk tinkerers fashion will convince you of that- but rather, a rethinking of where technology could have led us. It’s a topic that’s figuring prominently in the minds of many these days, which means this year’s New Albion Steampunk Exhibition (begins Fri/12) promises to be more whiz-bang than ever.

Picture, if you will, a mass of punks and nonconventional individuals in Victorian garb and laboriously created wings, monocles, wrist weaponry and whatnot, all milling about to waltz music in a very conventional hotel convention space. Surely, unsuspecting squares of Emeryville will be freaked.

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As the New York fashion world flicked a sassy over-the-shoulder wave and bid its Bryant Park home goodbye -- Fashion Week will move to Lincoln Center starting next season -- six students from San Francisco’s Academy of Art University fretted and beamed as their projects took the stage before the eyes of famed industry professionals.

For the past five years, AAU has been showing select student’s work during New York Fashion week, to give promising graduates exposure and to lure new students out to the Bay Area. Bethany Meuleners’ story is a case in point: three and a half years ago, she secured a seat as a prospective featured student, sat in the audience, and dreamed of seeing her own designs on the runway. Serendipitously, she graduated just in time to have her goal realized. “I can’t believe I’m here! In Bryant Park!” Meuleners told me before the show. “It’s such an iconic thing.”

It's difficult to piece together a coherent narrative from the collections of six individual designers, but this season seemed to play a gothic darkness (three of the students' offerings were almost entirely black) off a theme best summed up as "monochrome time traveler."

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So you're in wine country on your way to (or more likely, from) a bubbly tasting at Korbell when suddenly you realize something startling; you're not feeling so effervescent yourself. The answer to your frump? Well, I'm guessing a wine colored tutu or red corduroy cowboy pants embroidered with sequined cacti wouldn't hurt. Enter Funk & Flash, to my knowledge the best secondhand clothing store in the North Bay. Carnival/Sgt. Pepper/Mexicali fun time, here you come!Read more »