Axios San Francisco
May 01, 2026
1 big thing: 🎨 Art Bash fashion frenzy
San Francisco does not have a reputation for dressing up. But on occasion, the city proves otherwise.
The big picture: One of those rarefied occasions is during Art Bash, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's most anticipated party of the year and its biggest annual fundraiser.
- Wednesday's event drew more than 3,000 attendees and generated a record-breaking $4.2 million for the museum. It's a who's who of artists, collectors, politicos, tech leaders and partygoers who — for at least one night — decide to go all out.
- Here were some of our favorite looks:
Art educator Gabriel Mellan showed up in a full black outfit covered in protruding tubes, which he made himself using industrial materials that weighed about 20 pounds.
- "I've been into tubes and studs for a long time, so it's kind of a recycled and remixed outfit," he told Axios. "I also design things based on how they move when I dance."
Callie Peck, a New York-based creative director working for the Huntington Hotel, framed her maximalist Art Bash look around comfort. She paired her menswear-inspired mauve velour pantsuit with accessories including a green silk scarf and repurposed costume jewelry to elevate the look.
- "I'm from New York so there's a lot of black, but when we travel, we wear color," she said.
- She's visited San Francisco at least two to three times a year over the past decade and has seen the city's style evolve from what she once saw as boring to something more expressive, where people are starting to make more deliberate fashion choices.
- "San Francisco style was an oxymoron," she said. "I now see people that are inventing unique looks that don't feel like it was just purchased out of the Patagonia catalog or a show of money."
A group of friends attending described their looks as a mix of Paris fashion, vintage pieces and designer staples. As nurses, they joked that their day jobs are far less glamorous, making nights like this a chance to fully lean into self-expression.
- "We are fulfilling our repressed childhood dreams of who we are and what we should have been," Marlon Salali, who wore a satin tan turban, a crop top and pearls, told Axios.
- "The only thing on me tonight that's mine is my underwear, socks and jewelry," added Mark Flores, who let his friend style him in a couture-inspired look centered on a sharply tailored white vest with a deep v-cut.
Local resident Kim Nguyen was inspired by the high-fashion brand Schiaparelli. She's typically drawn to visceral and expressive designs that center on the human body, but she emphasized that fashion should feel accessible and authentic — not just like a status symbol.
Argentine native Hugo Schmitt paired his pink linen suit with a textured knit tie inherited from his dad. The mixing of old and new makes an outfit feel more unique, he said.
- "This event is like a human art show," Schimitt's friend and attendee Tony Harkins, who was dressed in a black velvet suit, told Axios. "It's so much fun and there's no experience like it."
Tech worker Ishani Ashok thinks about fashion as something more personal than performative. She often borrows clothes from friends, reuses pieces or focuses on silhouettes and small details that make an outfit feel like her own.
- Her colleague Andrew Masciarelli draws inspiration from Savant Studios and likes leaning into distinctive, unconventional pieces that stand out without feeling overdone.
- "I was just feeling like being the pinstripe Prince," he told Axios. "It's something that nobody else is going to be wearing."
The bottom line: The myth has been debunked. San Francisco can dress up. It just needs a reason.
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Axios San Francisco
