San Francisco’s Unofficial Fashion Week Is About to Hit the Runway

In mid-April, young designers at three San Francisco schools were busy ripping out seams, running their purring sewing machines and organizing their models. They were in the final weeks before the city’s unofficial fashion week (May 9–16), and it was crunch time at San Francisco State University, California College of the Arts and Academy of Art University.

Andre Aberin, 23, was hunched over a pair of two-toned workwear pants in a room lined with half-clothed mannequins at SFSU on a Wednesday night. “My collection is based upon my love for video games and everything science fiction and also utilitarian wear,” he said.

Elsewhere in San Francisco, Pamela Alcala, 22, was sorting through a rack of colorful crocheted wool garments at CCA. “My collection is a menswear take on my grandmother,” she said. “It’s about the appreciation for hand-crafting and playfulness and oversized garments.”

At Academy of Art, Haydee Quesedo was fitting her model into a flamenco-inspired ruffled denim skirt as other designers and instructors bustled around the studio with sewing needles between their lips. While most of her fellow designers have five or six looks, Quesedo is aiming for 12.

“I work here in the studio from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., eat, sleep and come back,” she laughed. Quesado’s flamenco denim is just one of the looks that will debut on three different runways from fashion students at CCA, SFSU and Academy of Art University, which have a mixture of undergraduate and graduate design programs showcasing their work.