The city’s finest socialized at the SFMOMA Modern Ball Wednesday evening. They took part in a highly anticipated fundraising gala with three amazing venues!

The night took off at the Gala Dinner where guests wined and dined at a five-star spread catered by McCalls catering and were also entertained by the Hot Club of San Francisco. Google executive Marissa Mayer was spotted wearing Badgley Mischka and another fashionable woman was spotted wearing a print inspired by artist Jeff Koons, Catherine Bigelow reported in the Chronicle.

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Fashion Editors in the Front Row. Photo Courtesy of Getty.

 Calling all fashion writers! Mark your calendars for Sunday, March 25th for an event that is sure to inspire your fashion journalist potential!

“This workshop is very much a hands-on affair. No details will be spared,

all pertinent secrets will be revealed.” – 826 News

826 Valencia is holding a Fashion Writing Seminar where you will learn tips and tricks from a handful of writers and editors from your favorite fashion sites: Katie Hintz-Zambrano (Refinery29), Laura Vrcek (ModCloth), Lorraine Sanders (Sf Indie Fashion & San Francisco Chronicle), Gina Pell (Splendora & Joyus), and more! They will be discussing the ins-and-outs of fashion writing and how to get your work published.

The event will be held from 7:00pm-9:30pm at the 826 Valencia Writers Lab. You can buy your discounted student ticket here for $35, general admission is $50, and all of the proceeds will benefit free student writing programs at 826 Valencia.

For more information, please contact Yalie Kamara, 415-642-5905 ext.204.

 Written By: Ashley Castanos

The Academy of Art University Fall ’12 Fashion Show was featured in this Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle! Looks from Farida Khan, Wu Di, and Donghyuk Dan Kim graced the cover of the Style Section, and a two page spread featured behind-the-scenes photos, runway images, and interviews with the designers. Here are a few highlights from the article!

Working with black and ivory, Amy Bond’s intriguing collection was full of complex, sensuous shapes, particularly an ivory silk dress with a bustled hem.

Donghyuk Dan Kim gave military uniforms a wearable twist, combining oilcloth cotton shirts with tailored wool pants that mixed fabrics, most memorably in wool plaid pants and jackets with leather grid-like accents and stripes.

Kate Y. K. Lee’s layered wool and leather pieces, ranging from a luxe quilted leather jacket with a stand-up collar to pants and leggings, were a modern take on suiting.

Jade Juanyu Liu presented lightweight, menswear-inspired pieces crafted from Swiss bonded wool, as well as terrific vests and coast in a fur-like copper fabric that added texture and dimension.

Deanna Pei-Ju Lo worked leather into pleats, and also used two saturation of navy along with black and velvet blocks – a subtle take on color blocking and fabric mixing.

Congratulations designers!!

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We are so excited to announce that School of Fashion alumnae Bethany Meuleners and Sabah Mansoor Husain have been selected to participate in the Macy’s Fashion Incubator program in San Francisco! The program, sponsored by Macy’s West, allows designers to rent sewing workshops at Macy’s and work with fashion, business, and retail experts to build their line.

Bethany and Sabah both graduated from the Academy of Art University in 2010 with Master’s of Fine Arts degrees in Fashion and Knitwear Design. Both designers showed their collections during the Academy of Art University Fall ’10 Fashion Show at New York Fashion Week.

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It’s always fun to sift through the online photo archives of any newspaper — specifically the San Francisco Chronicle.

Here are some images of skateboarders that we scrounged up — which makes skateboarding history unbelievably cool:

Kids skateboard down the hill near the Cliff House in San Francisco. July 16, 1976. (Susan Ehmer/Chronicle 1976)

Kids skateboard down a makeshift ramp. Photo taken Dec. 1, 1976. (Gary Fong/Chronicle 1976)

Pretty groovy, huh?

To read more about these photographs and to look at more visit SFGate.com.

Last week San Francisco Chronicle reporter, Lorraine Sanders wrote an article for the Sunday Style section titled “S.F. schools put fashion theory into action” where she featured the annual spring fashion shows of five San Francisco fashion schools — one of them being ours.

Here’s what she wrote about the Academy of Art University:

Substantive style took on new meaning in the collection of Academy of Art University’s Drew Williams, who set out after high school to study molecular biology but eventually enrolled in the academy’s knitwear design program. Inspired by gel electrophoresis, commonly used to separate DNA, Williams created knitwear coated in silicone.

“My collection was based on science, and that was what I initially thought I would be doing with my life. … It was a very personal thing for me,” Williams said.

On the runway during the school’s May graduation show and awards ceremony, Williams’ clinical take on classic shapes mingled with ocean-inspired knitwear by Maggie Mo Luo, strikingly dyed apparel by Lisa Relth, and fancifully layered dresses by Brittany Burggraff and Wendy Tam.

A look by Lisa Relth.

A look by Brittany Burggraff and Wendy Tam

Click here to read the entire article.

2003 BFA Fashion and Textile Design Alumnus, Norman Ambrose, had a trunk show in Neiman Marcus and was featured in the August issue of SF IS. At the Academy of Art University Graduation Fashion Show in 2003, honored guest Josie Natori selected Norman for an internship with her company. After leaving fashion school, Norman worked for Versace and Bottega Veneta before launching his own collection. Here are some photos of Norman’s collection from the 2003 show. To see more of his work, visit his website.

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Ashleigh Tucker’s “Shredded” dress made of 100% recyclable French Rabbit packaging was included in San Francisco Chronicle coverage of Macy’s Passport!

Here is the look from our April 2007 San Francisco Fashion Show on model Atong. Photo by Randy Brooke.