San Francisco Fashion Is Not Giving Into The Doom Spiral

By now, San Francisco’s doom spiral narrative is well known. Nordstrom has left, Westfield has abandoned its downtown mall, and just this week, federal workers were advised to work remotely because of safety concerns.

But not everyone is giving up on the city.

“We’re trying to hold it down,” said Valerie Santillo, cofounder of the quiet luxury-meets-Bay Area romantic fashion brand Kamperett, which celebrated the opening of its first boutique with a cocktail party last week for local creatives and retailers who are trying to do the same.

Santillo and Anna Chiu founded Kamperett in 2015. They have carved out a niche with their dreamy, made-in-California sheer silk organza volume dresses and blouses with considered details, such as qipao-inspired tie closures, architectural sleeves and intricate seams, beloved by style makers in the Bay Area and beyond including Ayesha Curry, Angelina Jolie, Naomi Biden, Ali Wong, Rashida Jones, Clare Vivier, Meena Harris and Sherri McMullen.

Prices range from $350 for a silk slip to $6,800 for a hand-pleated silver, blush and gold silk metal bodice gown with a low back and ribbon straps.

Their latest collection features their first swimwear assortment in six colors, with a one-piece and bandeau style with convertible straps. Japanese cotton voile shirt dresses come in blue awning stripes, or solid white and black with floating panels that can be tied in front, and a chic linen blazer fastens at the side.

“Valerie likes waist definition and usually I don’t…” Chiu said, “We design together, and somehow…”

“Both of our aesthetics come together,” Santillo finished her sentence. “It’s been eight years and it’s working.”

The brand also has a large wedding business.

Sales have been so strong, in fact, that Kamperett outgrew its Mission District atelier, leased a new building down the street, and transformed the original space into a retail store with a selection of vintage clutches and hair combs, as well as romantic silk bow barrettes.

“It helps we have customers all over the country and internationally and we’re not super reliant on the locals,” said Chiu, acknowledging the difficult environment was a consideration when opening the store, which is by-appointment-only for now.

Kamperett is not the only one still betting on San Francisco.

“People like to hate on the fact that it’s so expensive here; there is this crap show downtown. But in Hayes Valley, all the stores are full, we’re busy all the time,” said Sheri Evans, who moved her Metier fine jewelry business, which stocks pieces by Harwell Godrey, Dezso and Marla Aaron, among others, into a bigger 900 square-foot retail space during the pandemic.

“We just had creatives and product developers in from Target doing a week of research in San Francisco,” she said. Despite the doom spiral narrative, “They were here to do creative things, they went here and there, and ate that and everybody bought something at the store. It’s people coming back to the city and feeling excited again,” she said.

Also in Hayes Valley, which is west of San Francisco’s Civic Center, circa 1980 specialty retailer Modern Appealing Clothing continues to sell Comme des Garçons, Dries Van Noten and Walter Van Beirendonck to alt-style icons such as David and Amy Sedaris, John Waters and Frances McDormand.

“People may not be going downtown but they’re in the neighborhoods because that’s where they’re finding what’s new,” said Ben Ospital, who with his sister Chris Ospital took over the San Francisco fashion institution after their mother, Jeri, died last year, including a second store in Dogpatch.

“One of the downsides to e-commerce is it’s created a same-iness, and when you walk in our doors there is a sense of discovery. We’re focusing on new young designers and haberdashery, which is people coming in to be fitted properly,” he said.

MAC recently supported a showcase of local designers at the Institute of Contemporary Art in San Francisco, featuring Lemon Twist, Benji Mu and Camelia Skikos.

“Lemon Twist we’ve been buying for 20 years; she’s the voice of the young groovy mom in the Mission. Benji Mu has the designer chops of a Calvin Klein. Camelia is from Romania, her clothes are so magical, they are hard to describe,” Ospital said. “We’re putting a lot of focus on local people because you are only as good as the community you support.”

In recent years, Clare V, Faherty, Todd Snyder, Cotopaxi and other national brands have also opened in Hayes, where Lisa Bühler will soon open a Lisa Says Gah store.

On Friday in tony Inner Sunset near Golden Gate Park, Angela Tafoya, a former editor at Refinery29 and Domino, is opening a curated secondhand kids’ clothing shop called NooMoon.

“It’s very colorful, design-driven and experiential. We commissioned oversized pillows from a local artist, and embroidered the size dividers…I’ve been sourcing clothing from people I know, but I’m also going to open it up for others to come sell their stuff to foster relationships in my city which San Francisco needs right now with all the closed storefronts,” she said, adding that one positive has been more affordable leases. “Yeah, it’s a shop but it’s also an incubator for community,” she said, noting that she’ll be stocking high and low, including brands Mini Rodini, Bonpoint and Zara.

“There’s so much waste in this world, I want to give back in a positive way. My husband grew up in this city, we live in the house that was purchased by his great grandparents in the 1950s, my mother-in-law had a shop down the street in the 1970s selling crystals and crochet in the same neighborhood. There’s family heritage and I want to be a part of the conversation of changing things. There’s power in that. If all you can say is ‘everything is closing, it feels like doomsday,’ then participate. Find a way to be an active voice.”

Freda Salvador, the Bay Area artisan accessories brand that wholesales at Shopbop, Bloomingdale’s and a number of specialty stores, is re-entering retail, too, with a new boutique opening in September in Filmore. “We are super excited about making it a community space and featuring some other female-owned brands,” brand president Rachel Wolf said while mingling over cocktails and sweets at the Kamperett party.

The gorgeous Vietnamese thach agar jelly candies and lemongrass cream desserts were prepared by Renee Friedrich, a former retailer who had a store in the very spot where Kamperett now sits.

Covered by the New York Times when it opened in 2015, Anaïse stocked Rachel Comey, A Detacher, Carven and other up-and-coming fashion brands, before they opened their own stores.

Friedrich now owns the Hélène Agency, which represents 34 “non-traditional” models in San Francisco, New York and L.A., many of whom are artists or work in creative fields themselves. She photographed Kamperett’s latest look book, featuring one of her models.

Fashion retail is tough work anywhere, anytime, Friedrich agreed.

“After a decade, COVID[-19] killed it,” she said of Anaïse, which guests were still gushing about at the party on Wednesday night. “I think maybe I’m stuck in the ’90s, and don’t understand the current operations. But it was a good run.”