Does San Francisco need a style intervention?
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
We're not trying to put anyone on blast here (ok well, maybe a little bit) — but a recent story from our friends at SFGATE on San Francisco's aggressively average fashion scene has awakened our inner sartorial critic.
What in the company-branded Patagonia-vest-over-wrinkled-button-down is going on in this city? Jeans and a t-shirt aren't exactly pushing the fashion envelope.
- Look, we love a classic. But let's not confuse baseline functionality with trendsetting.
- SF's general fashion sense is mid, at best.
💭 Nadia's thought bubble: There are a few standouts, I'll admit. You've got the vintage devotees who look straight out of a 1940s fashion spread — thank you, Relic Vintage for those finds.
- Plus, the niche subcultures: the ultra-maximalist art kids, subversive alt-girlies dressed in anything but Brandy Melville, the Cat Club goths looking straight out of Berlin and gender-bending queers — I could say more.
- But largely, yeah, overall it sucks.
💭 Claire's thought bubble: When I first moved to the city I was shocked by how dull the fashion was.
- Hoodies at fine dining restaurants, 50 shades of gray (no not that one) at parties — I remember walking into a Valencia Street cafe and getting double takes because I wore fuchsia when everyone else was in taupe, brown or black.
Hot take: It's like everyone here is in a cult but the spaceship is taking them to an accounting conference.
- Thank goodness some local brands are stemming the tide of boring — shoutout to Nooworks and Tangerine Queen Vintage.
So tell us: What do you make of this normie, ultra-casual look that's come to define our aesthetic? Are we being too harsh or not harsh enough?
📨 Email us at [email protected] to let us know.