FashionABLE

Presented by Creativity Explored

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Fashion allows us to dream about who and what we can be. Garments give us a possibility to create ourselves. But who is fashion really for? This panel will discuss what fashion is, where it becomes art, and what that can look like. We will discuss what the future could look like and how to approach creating garments with disabilities in mind, and still dealing with authenticity. The panel brings professionals from the art and textile world, artists, and curators and is presented through Creativity Explored, an organization who’s been partnering with artists with disabilities in the Mission since 1983.

Speakers:

–Tony Bravo is The San Francisco Chronicle’s Arts and Culture writer. Bravo joined The Chronicle staff in 2015 as a reporter for the former Style section, where he covered New York Fashion Week for the Hearst newspapers and served as the section’s editorial stylist, in addition to writing the relationship column “Connectivity.” He primarily covers visual arts and the LGBTQ community as well as specializing in stories about the intersections between arts, culture and lifestyle. His column appears in print every Monday in the Chronicle’s Datebook section. Bravo is also an adjunct instructor at the City College of San Francisco Fashion Department.

–Laura L. Camerlengo is associate curator of costume and textile arts at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Since 2010, she has curated or co-curated costume and textiles exhibitions for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She most recently served as the presenting curator of Patrick Kelly: Runway of Love. She is the author of The Miser’s Purse (2013), a contributor to Degas, Impressionism, and the Paris Millinery Trade (2017) and Contemporary Muslim Fashions (2018), and the volume editor of Patrick Kelly: Runway of Love (2021). She holds a master of arts in the history of decorative arts and design from Parsons, the New School for Design/Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York.

–Josefin Lundahl is the Curator at Creativity Explored. Lundahl is a Swedish art historian with over a decade of work in art education, curation, advising, and consulting in the US and Europe. After receiving her M.A. in Art History at Uppsala University – focusing on the art market – and while working in the educational sector, she independently ran a gallery project with the mission of creating a space for emerging artists to exhibit and start their careers. Lundahl seeks to create a platform that redefines what art can and should be with artists, collaborators, and collectors. Consulting both artists and art lovers alike, her goal is to find more equity and democracy in the market and make art more available.

-After graduating from SFAI, Ben Ospital started his fashion career as a buyer for Saks Fifth Ave in New York. Then in 1980 opened MAC Modern Appealing Clothing in San Francisco with his Mom (Jeri) and sister (Chris). With an eye to the new MAC continues to lead the pack in selling exciting clothes from Japan, Belgium and our own backyard in San Francisco.

-Tokyo Gamine was founded in 2015 by designer and artist Yuka Uehara as a way to create new forms of couture in collaboration with her clients. Her designs take inspiration from nature, mythology, and the wearer’s personal history.The label has since been seen at many red carpet events such as the San Francisco Opera, Symphony, and Ballet openings as well as the Academy Awards. Tokyo Gamine also dressed the SF Girls Chorus and designed costumes for SF Symphony’s production of Candide. Most recently, Tokyo Gamine created Kizuna, a collection of ten gender-free, one-sized pieces featuring the art of eleven Creativity Explored artists for the Mode Brut exhibit at the Museum of Craft and Design.

-Joseph Omolayole graduated from Skyline College with a degree in Fashion Merchandising. Omolayole remarks, “Art and fashion are my passion.”Seamlessly merging art and fashion, Omolayole begins by first researching his selected subject matter. Then he draws and paints free-hand with marker, colored pencil, acrylic, and watercolor on paper. Paying careful attention to composition, angle, light, and dark, he combines elements of the subject matter together to create a visually compelling patterned work. His work is then printed onto fabrics found at local fabric stores like Britex to create clothing. Omoloyale has a rich traditional 2-D practice, applying his interest in fashion to his illustrations. His realist approach to his subjects complement his studious nature, applying details that only an expert would identify. In working from home, Omolayole has remained focused on fashion, designing, draping and assembling in his own room. His newest designs will debut on the runway at the Museum of Craft and Design in Fall 2021. About working in the Creativity Explored studio, Omolayole says, “Looking at the special talent at Creativity Explored inspires me and gives me ideas. I do not copy these ideas but I make them my own.” Omoloyale created original designs for the Mode Brut exhibition in collaboration with Bonanza and CE teaching artist Victor Molina.