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"content": "\u003cp>As a child, Laura Miyano celebrated Obon with her family in Sacramento County by wearing a pink kimono with red and black stripes, passed down by her mother. There were prayers, traditional songs, rehearsed dances and great uncles who drank whiskey and smoked cigars. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Saturday, Miyano’s 12-year-old daughter Maile wore the same kimono, albeit at a slightly different Obon celebration in San Francisco’s Japantown known as BonPOP, which Miyano helped organize. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933957\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68331_20230826-BonPop-26-JY-10-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Buddhist Church members Chiemi Silver and her mom Nanayo Silver help 11-year-old Maile Bellet dress in her grandmother’s kimono before KOHO’s BonPop Obon Festival in the Japantown East Mall in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933957\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68331_20230826-BonPop-26-JY-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68331_20230826-BonPop-26-JY-10-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68331_20230826-BonPop-26-JY-10-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68331_20230826-BonPop-26-JY-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68331_20230826-BonPop-26-JY-10-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68331_20230826-BonPop-26-JY-10-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68331_20230826-BonPop-26-JY-10-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Buddhist Church members Chiemi Silver and her mom Nanayo Silver help 11-year-old Maile Bellet dress in her grandmother’s kimono before KOHO’s BonPop Obon Festival in the Japantown East Mall in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Our Obon reminds me of the one from when I was a kid, but, you know, it’s a bunch of aunties,” Miyano laughed. “We were like, ‘Let’s get everyone involved and make it fun!’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under Japantown’s Peace Pagoda and a setting sun, Miyano, her family and a large crowd of community members honored the ancestors with dancing and singing, but also pop songs and a fashion contest that “remixed” traditional Japanese yukata with contemporary pieces like sneakers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want young people to learn traditional dances and the meaning of Obon, but to put their own spin on it,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933964\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68372_20230826-BonPop-69-JY-2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"KOHO founder Susie Kagami speaks on stage during KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933964\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68372_20230826-BonPop-69-JY-2-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68372_20230826-BonPop-69-JY-2-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68372_20230826-BonPop-69-JY-2-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68372_20230826-BonPop-69-JY-2-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68372_20230826-BonPop-69-JY-2-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68372_20230826-BonPop-69-JY-2-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68372_20230826-BonPop-69-JY-2-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KOHO founder Susie Kagami speaks on stage during KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Under the stewardship of Susie Kagami, the Executive Director of KOHO SF, BonPOP aims to put a modern twist on the over 500-year-old Japanese holiday, when people all over Japan return to their familial villages to honor their ancestors. The hope is to reconnect young people with their culture by welcoming creative expression into an age-old tradition, says Kagami, who wore a floral yukata gathered above her knees — leather cowboy boots on full display.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of folks in the younger generation are starting to question their roots, and we should have a place for them to do that,” Kagami said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933962\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68361_20230826-BonPop-60-JY-7-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Japantown Task Force intern Kanata Chatana dances at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933962\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68361_20230826-BonPop-60-JY-7-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68361_20230826-BonPop-60-JY-7-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68361_20230826-BonPop-60-JY-7-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68361_20230826-BonPop-60-JY-7-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68361_20230826-BonPop-60-JY-7-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68361_20230826-BonPop-60-JY-7-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68361_20230826-BonPop-60-JY-7-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Japantown Task Force intern Kanata Chatana dances at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As dancers and elders got dressed in their yukatas, Eryn Kimura, a KOHO advisory board member alongside Miyano, reflected on how a history of displacement has weighed heavily on the Bay Area’s Japanese American community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That piece is always going to be looming, that lack of self-determination and ownership over your own space,” Kimura said. “And there’s also joy and something special about folks coming together and having these cultural events to anchor and soundboard their identity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933955\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68317_20230826-BonPop-12-JY-9-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Karen Kai (left) and Keyana Stevens (right) stand on stage after winning the Yukata remix contest at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. Stevens created her outfit herself upon learning about the contest.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933955\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68317_20230826-BonPop-12-JY-9-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68317_20230826-BonPop-12-JY-9-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68317_20230826-BonPop-12-JY-9-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68317_20230826-BonPop-12-JY-9-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68317_20230826-BonPop-12-JY-9-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68317_20230826-BonPop-12-JY-9-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68317_20230826-BonPop-12-JY-9-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Karen Kai (left) and Keyana Stevens (right) stand on stage after winning the Yukata remix contest at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. Stevens created her outfit herself upon learning about the contest. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Born and raised in San Francisco, Kenny Okakagi, 27, got involved with BonPOP through his clothing boutique shop in the Japantown mall called Chameleon Vintage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With Japanese Incarceration and Urban Renewal, not a lot of us live in Japantown anymore,” said Okagaki, who now lives in Oakland. “This event that brings people back to Japantown — and brings in new people, too — is a really beautiful thing.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>More photos below.\u003c/em> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933953\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68313_20230826-BonPop-08-JY-3-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Buddhist Church member Aaron Lum carries his 7-year-old son Kazuhito Jue on his shoulders while dancing during KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933953\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68313_20230826-BonPop-08-JY-3-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68313_20230826-BonPop-08-JY-3-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68313_20230826-BonPop-08-JY-3-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68313_20230826-BonPop-08-JY-3-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68313_20230826-BonPop-08-JY-3-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68313_20230826-BonPop-08-JY-3-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68313_20230826-BonPop-08-JY-3-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Buddhist Church member Aaron Lum carries his 7-year-old son Kazuhito Jue on his shoulders while dancing during KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933963\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68367_20230826-BonPop-66-JY-5-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"KOHO volunteers Eli Pehwan (left) and Khan Chu (right) hang memorial lanterns in the Japantown Peace Plaza during KOHO’s BonPop Obon in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933963\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68367_20230826-BonPop-66-JY-5-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68367_20230826-BonPop-66-JY-5-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68367_20230826-BonPop-66-JY-5-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68367_20230826-BonPop-66-JY-5-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68367_20230826-BonPop-66-JY-5-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68367_20230826-BonPop-66-JY-5-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68367_20230826-BonPop-66-JY-5-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KOHO volunteers Eli Pehwan (left) and Khan Chu (right) hang memorial lanterns in the Japantown Peace Plaza during KOHO’s BonPop Obon in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933954\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68314_20230826-BonPop-09-JY-8-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Buddhist Church dance leader Karen Kai demonstrates an Obon dance at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933954\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68314_20230826-BonPop-09-JY-8-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68314_20230826-BonPop-09-JY-8-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68314_20230826-BonPop-09-JY-8-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68314_20230826-BonPop-09-JY-8-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68314_20230826-BonPop-09-JY-8-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68314_20230826-BonPop-09-JY-8-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68314_20230826-BonPop-09-JY-8-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Buddhist Church dance leader Karen Kai demonstrates an Obon dance at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933959\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68343_20230826-BonPop-44-JY-4-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Spectators watch Obon dancing at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933959\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68343_20230826-BonPop-44-JY-4-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68343_20230826-BonPop-44-JY-4-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68343_20230826-BonPop-44-JY-4-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68343_20230826-BonPop-44-JY-4-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68343_20230826-BonPop-44-JY-4-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68343_20230826-BonPop-44-JY-4-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68343_20230826-BonPop-44-JY-4-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Spectators watch Obon dancing at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933961\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68353_20230826-BonPop-50-JY-6-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"GenRyu Arts founder Melody Takata plays taiko during KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933961\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68353_20230826-BonPop-50-JY-6-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68353_20230826-BonPop-50-JY-6-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68353_20230826-BonPop-50-JY-6-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68353_20230826-BonPop-50-JY-6-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68353_20230826-BonPop-50-JY-6-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68353_20230826-BonPop-50-JY-6-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68353_20230826-BonPop-50-JY-6-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">GenRyu Arts founder Melody Takata plays taiko during KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933958\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68341_20230826-BonPop-36-JY-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"People dance in KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933958\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68341_20230826-BonPop-36-JY-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68341_20230826-BonPop-36-JY-11-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68341_20230826-BonPop-36-JY-11-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68341_20230826-BonPop-36-JY-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68341_20230826-BonPop-36-JY-11-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68341_20230826-BonPop-36-JY-11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68341_20230826-BonPop-36-JY-11-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People dance in KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933960\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68348_20230826-BonPop-45-JY-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"People dance in KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933960\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68348_20230826-BonPop-45-JY-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68348_20230826-BonPop-45-JY-13-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68348_20230826-BonPop-45-JY-13-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68348_20230826-BonPop-45-JY-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68348_20230826-BonPop-45-JY-13-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68348_20230826-BonPop-45-JY-13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68348_20230826-BonPop-45-JY-13-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People dance in KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933956\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68320_20230826-BonPop-15-JY-12-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Buddhist Church dance leader Talia Low (center) demonstrates an Obon dance at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933956\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68320_20230826-BonPop-15-JY-12-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68320_20230826-BonPop-15-JY-12-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68320_20230826-BonPop-15-JY-12-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68320_20230826-BonPop-15-JY-12-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68320_20230826-BonPop-15-JY-12-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68320_20230826-BonPop-15-JY-12-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68320_20230826-BonPop-15-JY-12-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Buddhist Church dance leader Talia Low (center) demonstrates an Obon dance at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n",
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"title": "PHOTOS: BonPOP Obon Celebration, Japantown San Francisco | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As a child, Laura Miyano celebrated Obon with her family in Sacramento County by wearing a pink kimono with red and black stripes, passed down by her mother. There were prayers, traditional songs, rehearsed dances and great uncles who drank whiskey and smoked cigars. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Saturday, Miyano’s 12-year-old daughter Maile wore the same kimono, albeit at a slightly different Obon celebration in San Francisco’s Japantown known as BonPOP, which Miyano helped organize. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933957\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68331_20230826-BonPop-26-JY-10-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Buddhist Church members Chiemi Silver and her mom Nanayo Silver help 11-year-old Maile Bellet dress in her grandmother’s kimono before KOHO’s BonPop Obon Festival in the Japantown East Mall in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933957\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68331_20230826-BonPop-26-JY-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68331_20230826-BonPop-26-JY-10-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68331_20230826-BonPop-26-JY-10-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68331_20230826-BonPop-26-JY-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68331_20230826-BonPop-26-JY-10-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68331_20230826-BonPop-26-JY-10-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68331_20230826-BonPop-26-JY-10-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Buddhist Church members Chiemi Silver and her mom Nanayo Silver help 11-year-old Maile Bellet dress in her grandmother’s kimono before KOHO’s BonPop Obon Festival in the Japantown East Mall in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Our Obon reminds me of the one from when I was a kid, but, you know, it’s a bunch of aunties,” Miyano laughed. “We were like, ‘Let’s get everyone involved and make it fun!’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under Japantown’s Peace Pagoda and a setting sun, Miyano, her family and a large crowd of community members honored the ancestors with dancing and singing, but also pop songs and a fashion contest that “remixed” traditional Japanese yukata with contemporary pieces like sneakers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want young people to learn traditional dances and the meaning of Obon, but to put their own spin on it,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933964\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68372_20230826-BonPop-69-JY-2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"KOHO founder Susie Kagami speaks on stage during KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933964\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68372_20230826-BonPop-69-JY-2-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68372_20230826-BonPop-69-JY-2-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68372_20230826-BonPop-69-JY-2-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68372_20230826-BonPop-69-JY-2-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68372_20230826-BonPop-69-JY-2-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68372_20230826-BonPop-69-JY-2-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68372_20230826-BonPop-69-JY-2-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KOHO founder Susie Kagami speaks on stage during KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Under the stewardship of Susie Kagami, the Executive Director of KOHO SF, BonPOP aims to put a modern twist on the over 500-year-old Japanese holiday, when people all over Japan return to their familial villages to honor their ancestors. The hope is to reconnect young people with their culture by welcoming creative expression into an age-old tradition, says Kagami, who wore a floral yukata gathered above her knees — leather cowboy boots on full display.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of folks in the younger generation are starting to question their roots, and we should have a place for them to do that,” Kagami said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933962\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68361_20230826-BonPop-60-JY-7-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Japantown Task Force intern Kanata Chatana dances at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933962\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68361_20230826-BonPop-60-JY-7-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68361_20230826-BonPop-60-JY-7-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68361_20230826-BonPop-60-JY-7-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68361_20230826-BonPop-60-JY-7-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68361_20230826-BonPop-60-JY-7-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68361_20230826-BonPop-60-JY-7-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68361_20230826-BonPop-60-JY-7-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Japantown Task Force intern Kanata Chatana dances at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As dancers and elders got dressed in their yukatas, Eryn Kimura, a KOHO advisory board member alongside Miyano, reflected on how a history of displacement has weighed heavily on the Bay Area’s Japanese American community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That piece is always going to be looming, that lack of self-determination and ownership over your own space,” Kimura said. “And there’s also joy and something special about folks coming together and having these cultural events to anchor and soundboard their identity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933955\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68317_20230826-BonPop-12-JY-9-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Karen Kai (left) and Keyana Stevens (right) stand on stage after winning the Yukata remix contest at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. Stevens created her outfit herself upon learning about the contest.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933955\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68317_20230826-BonPop-12-JY-9-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68317_20230826-BonPop-12-JY-9-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68317_20230826-BonPop-12-JY-9-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68317_20230826-BonPop-12-JY-9-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68317_20230826-BonPop-12-JY-9-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68317_20230826-BonPop-12-JY-9-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68317_20230826-BonPop-12-JY-9-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Karen Kai (left) and Keyana Stevens (right) stand on stage after winning the Yukata remix contest at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. Stevens created her outfit herself upon learning about the contest. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Born and raised in San Francisco, Kenny Okakagi, 27, got involved with BonPOP through his clothing boutique shop in the Japantown mall called Chameleon Vintage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With Japanese Incarceration and Urban Renewal, not a lot of us live in Japantown anymore,” said Okagaki, who now lives in Oakland. “This event that brings people back to Japantown — and brings in new people, too — is a really beautiful thing.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>More photos below.\u003c/em> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933953\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68313_20230826-BonPop-08-JY-3-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Buddhist Church member Aaron Lum carries his 7-year-old son Kazuhito Jue on his shoulders while dancing during KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933953\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68313_20230826-BonPop-08-JY-3-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68313_20230826-BonPop-08-JY-3-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68313_20230826-BonPop-08-JY-3-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68313_20230826-BonPop-08-JY-3-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68313_20230826-BonPop-08-JY-3-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68313_20230826-BonPop-08-JY-3-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68313_20230826-BonPop-08-JY-3-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Buddhist Church member Aaron Lum carries his 7-year-old son Kazuhito Jue on his shoulders while dancing during KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933963\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68367_20230826-BonPop-66-JY-5-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"KOHO volunteers Eli Pehwan (left) and Khan Chu (right) hang memorial lanterns in the Japantown Peace Plaza during KOHO’s BonPop Obon in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933963\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68367_20230826-BonPop-66-JY-5-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68367_20230826-BonPop-66-JY-5-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68367_20230826-BonPop-66-JY-5-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68367_20230826-BonPop-66-JY-5-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68367_20230826-BonPop-66-JY-5-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68367_20230826-BonPop-66-JY-5-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68367_20230826-BonPop-66-JY-5-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KOHO volunteers Eli Pehwan (left) and Khan Chu (right) hang memorial lanterns in the Japantown Peace Plaza during KOHO’s BonPop Obon in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933954\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68314_20230826-BonPop-09-JY-8-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Buddhist Church dance leader Karen Kai demonstrates an Obon dance at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933954\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68314_20230826-BonPop-09-JY-8-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68314_20230826-BonPop-09-JY-8-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68314_20230826-BonPop-09-JY-8-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68314_20230826-BonPop-09-JY-8-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68314_20230826-BonPop-09-JY-8-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68314_20230826-BonPop-09-JY-8-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68314_20230826-BonPop-09-JY-8-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Buddhist Church dance leader Karen Kai demonstrates an Obon dance at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933959\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68343_20230826-BonPop-44-JY-4-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Spectators watch Obon dancing at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933959\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68343_20230826-BonPop-44-JY-4-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68343_20230826-BonPop-44-JY-4-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68343_20230826-BonPop-44-JY-4-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68343_20230826-BonPop-44-JY-4-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68343_20230826-BonPop-44-JY-4-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68343_20230826-BonPop-44-JY-4-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68343_20230826-BonPop-44-JY-4-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Spectators watch Obon dancing at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933961\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68353_20230826-BonPop-50-JY-6-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"GenRyu Arts founder Melody Takata plays taiko during KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933961\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68353_20230826-BonPop-50-JY-6-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68353_20230826-BonPop-50-JY-6-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68353_20230826-BonPop-50-JY-6-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68353_20230826-BonPop-50-JY-6-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68353_20230826-BonPop-50-JY-6-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68353_20230826-BonPop-50-JY-6-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68353_20230826-BonPop-50-JY-6-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">GenRyu Arts founder Melody Takata plays taiko during KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933958\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68341_20230826-BonPop-36-JY-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"People dance in KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933958\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68341_20230826-BonPop-36-JY-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68341_20230826-BonPop-36-JY-11-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68341_20230826-BonPop-36-JY-11-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68341_20230826-BonPop-36-JY-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68341_20230826-BonPop-36-JY-11-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68341_20230826-BonPop-36-JY-11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68341_20230826-BonPop-36-JY-11-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People dance in KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933960\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68348_20230826-BonPop-45-JY-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"People dance in KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933960\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68348_20230826-BonPop-45-JY-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68348_20230826-BonPop-45-JY-13-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68348_20230826-BonPop-45-JY-13-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68348_20230826-BonPop-45-JY-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68348_20230826-BonPop-45-JY-13-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68348_20230826-BonPop-45-JY-13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68348_20230826-BonPop-45-JY-13-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People dance in KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. This is KOHO’s second year holding Obon in Japantown, a traditional Japanese holiday that honors one’s ancestors. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933956\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68320_20230826-BonPop-15-JY-12-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Buddhist Church dance leader Talia Low (center) demonstrates an Obon dance at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933956\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68320_20230826-BonPop-15-JY-12-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68320_20230826-BonPop-15-JY-12-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68320_20230826-BonPop-15-JY-12-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68320_20230826-BonPop-15-JY-12-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68320_20230826-BonPop-15-JY-12-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68320_20230826-BonPop-15-JY-12-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS68320_20230826-BonPop-15-JY-12-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Buddhist Church dance leader Talia Low (center) demonstrates an Obon dance at KOHO’s BonPop Obon in the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday, August 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "How a San Francisco Family Helped Bring Japanese Denim to the U.S.",
"headTitle": "How a San Francisco Family Helped Bring Japanese Denim to the U.S. | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Japanese denim brand Kapital has a global following that includes \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/asaprocky/comments/1336c87/kapital_japanese_brand/\">A$AP Rocky\u003c/a> and Oklahoma City Thunder point guard \u003ca href=\"https://pausemag.co.uk/2021/03/spotted-shai-gilgeous-alexander-in-kapital-patchwork-zeal/\">Shai Gilgeous-Alexander\u003c/a> — so what makes it so special?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thirtytwo-year-old Rue Critchfield explains it to me as we sit on a wooden staircase in the back patio of \u003ca href=\"https://cottonsheep.com/\">Cotton Sheep\u003c/a>, the San Francisco boutique he helps manage with his mother Eiko Mizuhara, sister Aria Mizuhara and father Victor Critchfield. Their store has carried the brand since 2004 and was the first in the United States to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The machines [Kapital] uses to create denim are the old looms that Americans used to use. You have to literally watch over them, they don’t just crank out rolls of fabric at the speed that modern machines do,” Rue tells me. “And they use real Japanese indigo. Sometimes it’s even the plant version, not the chemicalized dye.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re probably the one store where we encourage customers to touch everything,” he adds. “So you can feel the quality.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933467\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13933467\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67966_20230815-CottonSheep-38-JY-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A 32-year-old Asian American man in glasses sits in front of a display of high-end Japanese denim.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67966_20230815-CottonSheep-38-JY-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67966_20230815-CottonSheep-38-JY-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67966_20230815-CottonSheep-38-JY-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67966_20230815-CottonSheep-38-JY-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67966_20230815-CottonSheep-38-JY-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67966_20230815-CottonSheep-38-JY-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rue Critchfield sits for a portrait inside his family’s business, Cotton Sheep, in San Francisco on Tuesday, August 15, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rue speaks with a gentle and understanding tone. He’s wearing a pair of canvas-colored Kapital carpenter pants (he tells me some pairs from the brand have been in his closet since high school), and his dad’s worn-in denim chore coat. It’s vintage, from years ago when his dad was a picker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I was three, my parents bought a van and traveled through America buying vintage sneakers and Levi’s from thrift stores and flea markets to ship to Japan after they realized the Japanese market was crazy for American vintage,” explains Rue. “I remember I had maybe eight VHS tapes I’d watch on repeat on a tiny portable TV in the back of the van while my parents were picking.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a few years of this, Eiko and Victor decided to open Cotton Sheep. Eiko studied fashion at the Mode Gakuen in Nagoya, Japan, and worked as a stylist for TV companies in Tokyo in her youth. With the couple’s experience as pickers, it seemed like a natural next step.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think this sensibility of importing from one culture to the other, in order to provide things that one country has that the other wants, comes from my parent’s picking days,” Rue says. “This store is just a reversal of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933264\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13933264\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67975_20230815-CottonSheep-46-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two people wearing hats looks at wares in a modern-looking clothing store.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67975_20230815-CottonSheep-46-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67975_20230815-CottonSheep-46-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67975_20230815-CottonSheep-46-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67975_20230815-CottonSheep-46-JY-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67975_20230815-CottonSheep-46-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67975_20230815-CottonSheep-46-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67975_20230815-CottonSheep-46-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Employee Marco Verdin (right) helps Benny Raygoza (left) shop for bandanas at Cotton Sheep in San Francisco on August 15, 2023. Cotton Sheep imports denim and cotton items from Japan. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cotton Sheep’s racks are jumbled with tweed coats, patchwork pants, patterned denim, silver jewelry and colorful side-bags from Kapital, Japanese bag-making company Porter, and Japanese jewelry designer Masato. It’s busy, in the way a vintage shop would be. The interior is covered by wood paneling that gives the feeling of a cozy wood cabin. The design of it, Rue tells me, is completely Eiko’s own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She had this vision: ‘I want California mixed with Georgia O’Keeffe’s home,” says Rue. “She got these big redwood slabs and flew in two Japanese carpenters. She housed them while they built it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although Cotton Sheep is now known for being the first store states-side to carry Kapital, becoming a stockist for the brand wasn’t easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When my mom first approached Kapital, they actually refused. They said, ‘We’ve never sold out of the country — we don’t know how it’ll be received or how you’ll style it,’” says Rue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stylistically, Kapital’s clothing features psychedelic patchwork, asymmetric and exaggerated cuts, and traditional Japanese denim-making techniques — like \u003cem>sashiko\u003c/em> stitching and \u003cem>boro\u003c/em> distressing — that the U.S. hadn’t seen prior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933466\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13933466\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67395_20230728-CottonSheep-19-JY-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67395_20230728-CottonSheep-19-JY-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67395_20230728-CottonSheep-19-JY-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67395_20230728-CottonSheep-19-JY-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67395_20230728-CottonSheep-19-JY-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67395_20230728-CottonSheep-19-JY-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67395_20230728-CottonSheep-19-JY-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clothes hang on the walls at Cotton Sheep in San Francisco on Friday, July 28, 2023. Cotton Sheep’s merchandise consists of imported Japanese cotton and denim. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still, Eiko wasn’t discouraged. After several asks, she negotiated a trip to Kapital’s showroom to just look at the clothes without buying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most buyers are rushing during showroom time — they’re throwing things, not taking care. But my mom would button and fold everything nicely again after looking,” says Rue. “So Kiro [Hirata], Kapital’s owner, he’s observing and says, ‘If it’s her, I trust her. Let’s give it a shot — let’s make her our first international buyer.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cotton Sheep found success early, but as Rue notes, it mostly carried what Eiko specialized in: womenswear. That is, until Rue graduated from nearby UC Berkeley and began working at the family store full-time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I started ten years ago, we had maybe a three-foot-wide section of menswear,” says Rue. “Eventually, I convinced my mom to let me go to showrooms in Japan to bring more, and I started curating the men’s side. It’s funny — now that’s most of what we carry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933470\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13933470\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67979_20230815-CottonSheep-51-JY-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67979_20230815-CottonSheep-51-JY-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67979_20230815-CottonSheep-51-JY-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67979_20230815-CottonSheep-51-JY-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67979_20230815-CottonSheep-51-JY-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67979_20230815-CottonSheep-51-JY-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67979_20230815-CottonSheep-51-JY-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adrian Vicente (center) browses at Cotton Sheep with his friends in San Francisco on Tuesday, August 15, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This is one benefit of the store being family-owned: It evolves each time one of the family members steps in to help manage it, as it did when Rue’s 26-year-old sister Aria took the helm for a period a few years back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Aria connected our store — which before had an older clientele — to her aesthetic that appeals to the younger generation who are almost more hypebeast-y,” says Rue. He pauses to laugh: “I remember my mom was so confused. ‘Who are these kids coming in with all this cash? How are they buying $1,000 jackets?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Being family-owned also means the family gets to have more intimate relationships with their customers — who include local fashion enthusiasts like San Francisco \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CrhSaLZpD2A/\">rap star Larry June\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933469\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13933469\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67972_20230815-CottonSheep-44-JY-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A close-up shot of a gift box filled with high-end denim. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67972_20230815-CottonSheep-44-JY-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67972_20230815-CottonSheep-44-JY-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67972_20230815-CottonSheep-44-JY-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67972_20230815-CottonSheep-44-JY-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67972_20230815-CottonSheep-44-JY-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67972_20230815-CottonSheep-44-JY-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rue Critchfield wraps a gift at his family’s store, Cotton Sheep in San Francisco on Tuesday, August 15, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I’ve got customers I’ve sold to for 10 years. I know everything they own,” says Rue. “Sometimes during a showroom, I’ll text one of my customers like, ‘Hey, there’s some crazy stuff coming in — would this interest you?’ It’s very personal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps most importantly of all — considering father-son duo Toshikiyo and Kiro Hirata run Kapital — being family-owned might be what allowed Cotton Sheep to become the brand’s first international stockist in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think they saw we weren’t a corporation,” says Rue. “I believe they don’t want their products to go to just whoever.” [aside postid='arts_13932870']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If being family-owned has one downside, though, it’s the matter of succession. What will become of the store as they age? At least for now, Rue remains unconcerned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t all work here forever. But how can you sell something so precious like this?” says Rue. “It’ll be interesting to see what happens, but for the time being nothing will change. And that’s exciting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://cottonsheep.com/\">Cotton Sheep\u003c/a> is located at 572 Hayes St., San Francisco. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Hayes Valley’s Cotton Sheep stocks rare brands, and counts rap star Larry June among its clients.",
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"title": "How a San Francisco Family Helped Bring Japanese Denim to the U.S. | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Japanese denim brand Kapital has a global following that includes \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/asaprocky/comments/1336c87/kapital_japanese_brand/\">A$AP Rocky\u003c/a> and Oklahoma City Thunder point guard \u003ca href=\"https://pausemag.co.uk/2021/03/spotted-shai-gilgeous-alexander-in-kapital-patchwork-zeal/\">Shai Gilgeous-Alexander\u003c/a> — so what makes it so special?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thirtytwo-year-old Rue Critchfield explains it to me as we sit on a wooden staircase in the back patio of \u003ca href=\"https://cottonsheep.com/\">Cotton Sheep\u003c/a>, the San Francisco boutique he helps manage with his mother Eiko Mizuhara, sister Aria Mizuhara and father Victor Critchfield. Their store has carried the brand since 2004 and was the first in the United States to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The machines [Kapital] uses to create denim are the old looms that Americans used to use. You have to literally watch over them, they don’t just crank out rolls of fabric at the speed that modern machines do,” Rue tells me. “And they use real Japanese indigo. Sometimes it’s even the plant version, not the chemicalized dye.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re probably the one store where we encourage customers to touch everything,” he adds. “So you can feel the quality.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933467\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13933467\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67966_20230815-CottonSheep-38-JY-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A 32-year-old Asian American man in glasses sits in front of a display of high-end Japanese denim.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67966_20230815-CottonSheep-38-JY-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67966_20230815-CottonSheep-38-JY-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67966_20230815-CottonSheep-38-JY-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67966_20230815-CottonSheep-38-JY-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67966_20230815-CottonSheep-38-JY-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67966_20230815-CottonSheep-38-JY-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rue Critchfield sits for a portrait inside his family’s business, Cotton Sheep, in San Francisco on Tuesday, August 15, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rue speaks with a gentle and understanding tone. He’s wearing a pair of canvas-colored Kapital carpenter pants (he tells me some pairs from the brand have been in his closet since high school), and his dad’s worn-in denim chore coat. It’s vintage, from years ago when his dad was a picker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I was three, my parents bought a van and traveled through America buying vintage sneakers and Levi’s from thrift stores and flea markets to ship to Japan after they realized the Japanese market was crazy for American vintage,” explains Rue. “I remember I had maybe eight VHS tapes I’d watch on repeat on a tiny portable TV in the back of the van while my parents were picking.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a few years of this, Eiko and Victor decided to open Cotton Sheep. Eiko studied fashion at the Mode Gakuen in Nagoya, Japan, and worked as a stylist for TV companies in Tokyo in her youth. With the couple’s experience as pickers, it seemed like a natural next step.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think this sensibility of importing from one culture to the other, in order to provide things that one country has that the other wants, comes from my parent’s picking days,” Rue says. “This store is just a reversal of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933264\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13933264\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67975_20230815-CottonSheep-46-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two people wearing hats looks at wares in a modern-looking clothing store.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67975_20230815-CottonSheep-46-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67975_20230815-CottonSheep-46-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67975_20230815-CottonSheep-46-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67975_20230815-CottonSheep-46-JY-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67975_20230815-CottonSheep-46-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67975_20230815-CottonSheep-46-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67975_20230815-CottonSheep-46-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Employee Marco Verdin (right) helps Benny Raygoza (left) shop for bandanas at Cotton Sheep in San Francisco on August 15, 2023. Cotton Sheep imports denim and cotton items from Japan. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cotton Sheep’s racks are jumbled with tweed coats, patchwork pants, patterned denim, silver jewelry and colorful side-bags from Kapital, Japanese bag-making company Porter, and Japanese jewelry designer Masato. It’s busy, in the way a vintage shop would be. The interior is covered by wood paneling that gives the feeling of a cozy wood cabin. The design of it, Rue tells me, is completely Eiko’s own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She had this vision: ‘I want California mixed with Georgia O’Keeffe’s home,” says Rue. “She got these big redwood slabs and flew in two Japanese carpenters. She housed them while they built it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although Cotton Sheep is now known for being the first store states-side to carry Kapital, becoming a stockist for the brand wasn’t easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When my mom first approached Kapital, they actually refused. They said, ‘We’ve never sold out of the country — we don’t know how it’ll be received or how you’ll style it,’” says Rue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stylistically, Kapital’s clothing features psychedelic patchwork, asymmetric and exaggerated cuts, and traditional Japanese denim-making techniques — like \u003cem>sashiko\u003c/em> stitching and \u003cem>boro\u003c/em> distressing — that the U.S. hadn’t seen prior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933466\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13933466\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67395_20230728-CottonSheep-19-JY-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67395_20230728-CottonSheep-19-JY-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67395_20230728-CottonSheep-19-JY-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67395_20230728-CottonSheep-19-JY-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67395_20230728-CottonSheep-19-JY-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67395_20230728-CottonSheep-19-JY-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67395_20230728-CottonSheep-19-JY-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clothes hang on the walls at Cotton Sheep in San Francisco on Friday, July 28, 2023. Cotton Sheep’s merchandise consists of imported Japanese cotton and denim. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still, Eiko wasn’t discouraged. After several asks, she negotiated a trip to Kapital’s showroom to just look at the clothes without buying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most buyers are rushing during showroom time — they’re throwing things, not taking care. But my mom would button and fold everything nicely again after looking,” says Rue. “So Kiro [Hirata], Kapital’s owner, he’s observing and says, ‘If it’s her, I trust her. Let’s give it a shot — let’s make her our first international buyer.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cotton Sheep found success early, but as Rue notes, it mostly carried what Eiko specialized in: womenswear. That is, until Rue graduated from nearby UC Berkeley and began working at the family store full-time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I started ten years ago, we had maybe a three-foot-wide section of menswear,” says Rue. “Eventually, I convinced my mom to let me go to showrooms in Japan to bring more, and I started curating the men’s side. It’s funny — now that’s most of what we carry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933470\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13933470\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67979_20230815-CottonSheep-51-JY-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67979_20230815-CottonSheep-51-JY-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67979_20230815-CottonSheep-51-JY-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67979_20230815-CottonSheep-51-JY-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67979_20230815-CottonSheep-51-JY-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67979_20230815-CottonSheep-51-JY-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67979_20230815-CottonSheep-51-JY-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adrian Vicente (center) browses at Cotton Sheep with his friends in San Francisco on Tuesday, August 15, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This is one benefit of the store being family-owned: It evolves each time one of the family members steps in to help manage it, as it did when Rue’s 26-year-old sister Aria took the helm for a period a few years back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Aria connected our store — which before had an older clientele — to her aesthetic that appeals to the younger generation who are almost more hypebeast-y,” says Rue. He pauses to laugh: “I remember my mom was so confused. ‘Who are these kids coming in with all this cash? How are they buying $1,000 jackets?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Being family-owned also means the family gets to have more intimate relationships with their customers — who include local fashion enthusiasts like San Francisco \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CrhSaLZpD2A/\">rap star Larry June\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933469\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13933469\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67972_20230815-CottonSheep-44-JY-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A close-up shot of a gift box filled with high-end denim. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67972_20230815-CottonSheep-44-JY-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67972_20230815-CottonSheep-44-JY-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67972_20230815-CottonSheep-44-JY-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67972_20230815-CottonSheep-44-JY-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67972_20230815-CottonSheep-44-JY-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67972_20230815-CottonSheep-44-JY-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rue Critchfield wraps a gift at his family’s store, Cotton Sheep in San Francisco on Tuesday, August 15, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I’ve got customers I’ve sold to for 10 years. I know everything they own,” says Rue. “Sometimes during a showroom, I’ll text one of my customers like, ‘Hey, there’s some crazy stuff coming in — would this interest you?’ It’s very personal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps most importantly of all — considering father-son duo Toshikiyo and Kiro Hirata run Kapital — being family-owned might be what allowed Cotton Sheep to become the brand’s first international stockist in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think they saw we weren’t a corporation,” says Rue. “I believe they don’t want their products to go to just whoever.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If being family-owned has one downside, though, it’s the matter of succession. What will become of the store as they age? At least for now, Rue remains unconcerned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t all work here forever. But how can you sell something so precious like this?” says Rue. “It’ll be interesting to see what happens, but for the time being nothing will change. And that’s exciting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://cottonsheep.com/\">Cotton Sheep\u003c/a> is located at 572 Hayes St., San Francisco. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Adorned: Sophia Mitty Stitches Her Pride for the 415",
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"headTitle": "Adorned: Sophia Mitty Stitches Her Pride for the 415 | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sophiamitty/?hl=en\">Sophia Mitty\u003c/a> first started to sew, she was making it work from her bedroom. She’d place a wooden board on top of her bed as a makeshift table in order to cut out patterns. Nowadays, Mitty has her own work space to really spread out and create. Located in South San Francisco, her studio complete with heavy duty industrial sewing machines, affectionately dubbed “Sew City” (or “The Stu” for short) is a playground of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13932878\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13932878\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67285_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-22-BL-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67285_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-22-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67285_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-22-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67285_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-22-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67285_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-22-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67285_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-22-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67285_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-22-BL-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fabric lines a shelf at the shop of clothing maker Sophia Mitty in South San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Goofy tchotchkes and other knick knacks line the studio’s beams and sewing tables, creating mini rainbows. There’s so much to look at! In one corner there’s a shelf with vibrant retro fabrics, and across from that are peg boards with large spools of thread organized by hue. All the sewing chairs have bright fuzzy covers with big googly eyes on them- very much giving PeeWee Herman’s Playhouse. “I’m just always chasing color, basically, trying to figure out ways to get it in my life,” says the San Francisco bred artist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13932875\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13932875 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67287_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-24-BL-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Sketches of outfits and fabric samples for future designs. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67287_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-24-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67287_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-24-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67287_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-24-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67287_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-24-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67287_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-24-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67287_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-24-BL-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sophia Mitty dyes her fabrics and makes patterns of jackets and pants that pay homage to San Francisco, preserving stories of the city that are fleeting due to gentrification. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In foggy frisco, where gray skies are plentiful, Mitty’s colorful hand-dyed and painted garments pop. Her line of denim jackets and utility pants for femmes offer classic and clean silhouettes with a funky twist. They come in shades like tangerine, cherry red, kiwi green, even earthy pigments like rust. Marbled patterns are options too. “I use clothing as therapy, as a way to set the mood of the day. It’s the easiest way to change your everyday life or make some kind of difference.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13932873\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13932873 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67257_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-12-BL-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67257_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-12-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67257_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-12-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67257_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-12-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67257_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-12-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67257_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-12-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67257_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-12-BL-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clothing and pattern maker Sophia Mitty pulls out a jacket she made with a Doggie Diner design.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While the clothing industry is infamous for creating waste, Mitty prioritizes sustainability. She’ll often source fabric remnants from \u003ca href=\"https://www.scrap-sf.org/home\">SCRAP\u003c/a> (a creative reuse warehouse in the Bayview) and upcycle them into tops and bottoms. “When I started, I was mostly making zero waste sets. So I’d get a roll of fabric for a dollar, then have to keep using the fabric until it’s gone. If I still have extra, I’d make a top, hat or something.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aside from the rich color palette, Mitty’s clothes are often embellished with chain stitched embroidery. For a \u003ca href=\"https://somarts.org/muniraisedme-virtual/\">recent exhibition\u003c/a> at SOMArts, she created a series of embroidered jackets and tops that paid homage to the San Francisco that raised her. Memories of eating at \u003ca href=\"https://www.doggiediner.info/\">Doggie Dinner\u003c/a> in the Sunset, buying hauls of clothes in the Mission at the inexpensive \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2017/03/thrift-town-on-mission-shutters-after-45-years/\">Thrift Town\u003c/a>, and Muni rides across town are woven into Mitty’s garments. [aside tag ='adorned' label= 'More From the Adorned Series' num='5']In this way, her clothes tell stories. They chronicle the love and heartbreak of what it means to remain in a city that is rapidly gentrifying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sunday August 13th, Mitty will be vending some of these embroidered jackets along with other “Mitsfits” (her line of tops and bottoms) at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/suckaflea/\">Sucka Flea Market\u003c/a> on 18th and Valencia in the Mission. Each garment is a one of one, so no two pants or jackets are the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On this episode of Rightnowish, clothing maker Sophia Mitty talks about stitching her pride for the 415, how color therapy influences her wardrobe, and why leaning into goofiness can help us dress for joy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13932872\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13932872\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67252_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-06-BL-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with long wavy hair looks downward as she stitches white fabric with an industrial sewing machine. Colorful garments on a rack hang in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67252_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-06-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67252_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-06-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67252_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-06-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67252_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-06-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67252_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-06-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67252_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-06-BL-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clothing and pattern maker Sophia Mitty sews in her shop in South San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC4525424937&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[sound of cross stitch sewing machine ] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty, Guest:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yeah. It’s basically you can draw with thread. But it’s pretty labor intensive. But I like it because it lasts forever, as you know, when it’s on the fabric. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[sound of cross stitch sewing machine ] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena, Host: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hey friends, today on Rightnowish, we’re hanging out in the studio of clothing maker, Sophia Mitty. “The Stu” as she calls it is where she creates her line of utility pants and denim jackets. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s kind of like if a rainbow kind of just exploded in, like, a perfectly organized garage. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Mhmm! That’s the vibe! [laughs] I’ve heard it’s like Pee Wee’s Playhouse or, like, the backstage of a theater… yeah i’ve heard a lot of weird stuff. [laughs] People come through the door and they’re like, “What is going on in here” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Her space is a wonderland of color! In one corner, there’s a shelf filled from top to bottom with bright vintage floral fabrics. Her thread and scissors are hung up on these peg boards organized by hue, kinda creating mini rainbows.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Plus she’s got a spray painted rainbow covering one wall with the phrase written, “Do it For the City”.The sewing chairs also got these funny googly eyes. There’s a lot going on in this space but it’s all really cute! You can’t help but feel inspired here. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I use clothing as therapy, as a way to set the mood of the day. It’s the easiest way to change your everyday life or make some kind of difference.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The clothes Sophia makes are classic silhouettes – boxy denim jackets and high waisted utility pants – the kind with deep pockets and straight legs that offer room and comfort around the thighs. But the colors are anything but simple, they really pop! And as a woman, it’s hard out here to buy pants that are sturdy, but colorful, functionable, but also cute and that’s what Sophia’s line is all about. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yeah so I make everything from scratch, so I also make the pattern. Like I draft the paper pattern, fit it adjust the.. all that, then sew the actual piece. So it is like a lot of, there’s a lot of parts to it [laughs] \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is probably the machine I use the most. It’s an industrial. So it’s made to, like, be used in factories and stuff. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[sewing machine sound effects] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> In this episode we talk to Sophia about adorning ourselves through clothes, what stories our garments tell, and how colorful clothes can shift our mood and bring in some much needed playful energy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m your host Marisol Medina-Cadena, go put on your flyest threads and stay with us. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Walk me through, like, how you approach dressing yourself.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It’s about the weather for me mostly. And then also, like what I’m doing that day. So I’m one of those people that tries on like seven things and like I have a huge pile of clothes in my room. So it’s like it has to feel right. So there’s definitely a lot of emotion. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m a big pants person. I usually start with the pants and then go from there and the rest of it usually falls together. I have a lot of like fits that I’ve already, like figured out. So I have like things that I’ll default to. But yeah, I try to mix it up as much as I can. I also, I love wearing stuff that I just made that’s always the most fun, but I also have clothes that I’ve made like five years ago that I still wear all the time. And I think that’s cool.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Today is kind of a basic fit. I’m wearing these pants they’re… they’re like parrot tropical pants that I made. And just like a white shirt. I think the process of dressing is.. it’s like a ritual, and it’s a way to set your intentions for the day. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since you’re wearing something you made, why don’t you tell us how you got into making clothes in the first place? \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I got my first machine when I was 18, and I was probably about like 25, I’d say, when I started really getting into sewing. But yeah, I started making clothes because I could never find what I was looking for and I was always broke. So I started with, just like, the YouTube university style. Like, I definitely would take my clothes, trace them and make patterns like that, very experimental for a long time. Yeah, I started taking classes at City College. That’s really where I learned how to sew.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I basically got rid of all the clothes I had that I didn’t make, and I was like, I have to make all everything I wear all the time, in a way to like, force myself to learn everything. So basically I would just wear like these weird things that I made all the time. And I literally got rid of all the clothes in my closet to force myself to learn how to make everything. And it kind of worked. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shopping, like you said, can be stressful because it’s like, this doesn’t fit me or like it’s a lot of emotions that come with shopping. But like when you’re able to craft your own thing, it’s like, “This is how I want it.” It’s not this like I need to conform to fit into this. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty: \u003c/b>\u003cb>\u003ci> \u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, it changes your mindset. It’s not like, what can I buy? Like what can I get? It’s like, what can I make? It’s… it feels different, like wearing stuff that you made and you know how it was made. I mean I do buy some basics sometimes like T-shirts and stuff like that, but I know how to make a T-shirt too. It’s like I could… I could technically not buy anything ever again. And that’s really exciting for me.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sustainability is important to Sophia. She buys fabric from SCRAP, it’s this recycling art depot off of Bayshore Boulevard in San Francisco and she upcycles it into tops and bottoms. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> So this is like the fabric wall. And then I, like, thicker. I’m super into, like, twill and denim and stuff that’s more usable for like pants and stuff. But yeah, I really love patterns, especially like vintage patterns. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yeah, these are like very seventies color palettes, the florals. Yeah, you don’t… you don’t see fabric like that nowadays if you go. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m super obsessed with florals. Anytime I see, like, see a floral, I get it. And also fish. I really… These are like, all fish patterns. I’m a Pisces. So, you know, I got to collect the fish. For me, it’s either about the… either I really like the fabric and I’m like, I need to use this fabric or I’ve drawn something and I’m like, I need to make this happen. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m really obsessed with, like, storytelling through textiles. And if it’s possible to embed like, memories and stuff into fabric, which is kind of weird, but I think it’s possible.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sophia has joined forces with other dope local artists and screen printers to design and print fabric. Like this one \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Chm5p91pX-O/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">pair of white pants\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> she made for singer La Doña. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s got big blue roses printed on it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[sounds of her going through the hanged items on rack] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sophia then proceeds to show me some of her works in progress that are hanging on the racks lining her studio. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I really like the work pants style I’ve been kind of working on, but I feel like work pants are usually for the… the fit is for men. And I’ve been trying to work on pants that are more fitted for women, but also utilitarian. So they, the pockets are big, everything is baggy where it should be. Cause I feel like women’s pants are very constrictive. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I really resonate with what you’re saying about work pants. Not always. Like, like they don’t make that for women. Like, all the work pants I’ve had to buy are, like, from the men’s departments, which doesn’t bug me, but it just makes figuring out the sizing really hard. Yeah, because the sizing doesn’t translate. And I just wish like women’s pants was more, uh, boxy…do you feel like the way to make to kind of just blur all of that is by making your own clothes? \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yes\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I mean, with pants specifically, I think the pay off is the biggest. Just because trying to thrift pants is impossible. Buying pants like it’s also just like it’s a headache and it stresses me out. So just being… having that control over that little part of my life\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">it helps me. I don’t know if I’m wearing bad, like, pants that don’t fit. It can like, ruin my whole day. Like it makes me so uncomfortable. I’m like, one of those people is like, super sensitive to, like, my senses. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These are kind of cool. These are like quilted checker. So like, I quilted the fabric first and then made the pants. But yeah, I’m super into trying to make pants that are just like as cool as the other parts of your clothes. I feel like people forget about pants. Oh, they’re just like, there’s jeans and that’s it. But that’s also like half your body and you can express a lot with your pants. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think im a huge color person. And I think, like, I believe in color therapy, like trying to have as much color in my life as possible \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That’s why I’m really drawn to your clothes. Like you got indigo, tangerine, kiwi green pants. Like, that’s what I’m trying to get my closet to look like.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yeah, I do feel like overall clothes have become like they’ve tried to take all the color out. It’s like very neutral now. I’m just always chasing color. Basically, or like trying to figure out ways to put it, get it in my life. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But yeah, I have a lot of friends that are very expressive and they really showed me how how powerful it can be to just, like, do your own thing and express yourself fully. And I feel like a lot of people hold back a lot. And it’s really sad. Especially, I don’t know, I feel like the techies… They don’t have that much, like, expression. And it shows like shows in the city. You can feel it. It’s a different vibe. But yeah just trying to use your clothes as like a protest to the draining of color and expression and people of color too though, like all of it. I feel like it’s connected.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sophia’s garments are not only reminders to take up space and be colorful through self expression but they are also about preserving Frisco culture and 415 pride. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This year she made a series of embroidered jackets and tops for an exhibit at SOMArts called “Muni Raised Me” These jackets are for sale now and on the racks back in her studio. She shows me one that has color blocks of orange, blue and red… \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This one was one of my favorites. This is the Muni Raised me. I made this jacket for the show. So it has like the muni bus and it’s made of scraps from other projects…colors that I identify with the city, like orange and red. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Muni bus colors and the Giants. \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Old school Muni colors. Yeah. And the orange also. Just like poppies and monarch butterflies. Orange, I feel like is really strong and also red I really identify like with the Mission and just like, yeah, all that kind of culture.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Uh, what else we got in here? We got the Thrift Town. This is the Thrift Town one.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cb>\u003ci> \u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For folks who don’t know what\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thrift Town was. Can you tell us?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, Thrift Town was basically, like, the best thrift store we had in the Mission. It was like, two stories, super big, very accessible. Like, everything was usually, like, under $10. So, yeah, I was raised. I went there like every Tuesday, I think, because they had some sale or something. Then there’s like other ones, this is like the Doggie Diner one. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yess!! Doggie Diner is like this chain of Bay Area burger joints. And they had that iconic plastic. I don’t even know what it’s made out of, but these huge dogs with cute a** noses, hat funny hats. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah they’re super cute. And I just think they’re goofy. And I think that’s a part of the city, too. Just like the goofiness.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">My favorite part of making clothes is wearing them. That’s the fun part. Also, sewing is fun, but yeah, I really enjoy having it on the body. Feeling, you know what I mean? Where you get to, like, experience them. And that’s also where you learn a lot, I think as someone that, like, makes the actual pattern, the way it fits is really important. And you can’t really get good at it unless you’re wearing the clothes you make. So yeah, I think it’s an important part of the process. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I think, like, our generation didn’t grow up with like, sewing offered in schools. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> And so to make go, to go out of your way and learn it, whether you learned it from someone or you’re just online, you know, like that’s a very active rebellion in my opinion. You know, because you’re like, “I’m taking charge of making my own clothes.” For you was it kind of like that… that radical act? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The moment I realized that I could make my own clothes was very transformational. It was very freeing. It was like, it’s no longer about how much money you have. It’s about how… what you can do. And like that was really empowering for me because I always felt very, like, limited. I feel like you learn a lot about who you are as a person and what you want to create.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I know you’re teaching sewing now to high school students at Youth Art Exchange in the Excelsior. What’s it like watching them when they realize, like, “Yo, I’m capable of making something!”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yeah, that’s like, really why I got into sewing just for that moment of, like, where they realize that they can do it and that it’s, like, not as hard as they thought it was. Once you start, you just start making whatever you can. And I really just I love working with them because they’re so excited. Sometimes I forget why I’m doing it and then I realize I remember that “why” when I work with them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like it seems like you have a lot of fun with your closet. And so I’m wondering, how does it feel to see other people wear your garments, adorn themselves with your garments that you, like, put so much love and intention behind? \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yeah, it’s always like the best feeling. I love seeing people wear the clothes that I make. It’s like the full circle moment. And especially when they’re, like, happy and comfortable and it’s like, I feel like I did what I needed to do. Um. But yeah, it’s always so, um, so beautiful to see. I be crying [giggles] \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Do your garments have, like, tags on them? Like with your name? Yeah, cause they’re literally wearing your name!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yeah, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">it’s like Mitsfits. My last name is Mitty. Um, yeh Mitsfits [giggles] \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I’m exploring this theme of adornment, because in my personal life, I’m just not feeling like my best self. Feeling a little disconnected. And I’m like, kind of searching for different tools at my disposal to, like, feel more playful, feel more alive, feel more goofy. Do you have any advice for how I could use clothes in that way? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Trying things that you normally don’t is super powerful. I think it’s easy to get stuck in the same patterns with clothing where it’s like stuff that you’re used to wearing. But yeah, it can take a lot of confidence to wear stuff that’s kind of weird. But at the same time, I think that’s the stuff that’s the most beneficial to people as, like, as a development of self to do something not because you think someone thinks it’s cool, but because you think it’s cool is super important to style in general. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> If it triggers joy for you, like that, there’s something there that you should investigate and try to figure out or, you know, not take it so seriously. I feel like clothes, as you get older, people are just so serious about it all the time and it’s like it’s not! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It doesn’t have to be like that. I think it’s… it can be super fun, it can be weird.Um And that’s like, I like making clothes because I have the control over what fabrics and like, what cuts and stuff. So there’s literally no limit. It’s being able to tell a story without having to say anything. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m kind of a quiet person off the bat, but wearing certain clothes can help me feel comfortable and able to be who I really am I guess. I think it’s also just a way to show up in the world as what you want to see. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ya know, talking to Sophia, I’m reminded about the time and care that my own mom put into making clothes for me. The sounds of the machines, the magic of taking a piece of fabric and turning it into a wearable garment. That transformation of regular materials into something with character and personality. Sophia’s work absolutely has both of those traits. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Huge thanks to Sophia Mitty for inviting me over to your studio to see your original clothes and all that goes into making them. It’s a lot! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you’re interested in supporting Sophia’s work, she’ll actually be vending some of her pieces at the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/suckaflea/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sucka Flea Market\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> this coming Sunday on Valencia & 18th street in the Mission. You can also check out her clothes and order on Instagram \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sophiamitty/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">@sophiamitty.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That’s spelled s-o-p-h-i-a-m-i-t-t-y. Thanks again, Sophia!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now time to give thanks to the whole squad that makes this show possible. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Xorje Olivares produced this episode. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Chris Hambrick is our editor. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our engineer is Christopher Beale. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Rightnowish team also includes Pendarvis Harshaw, Sheree Bishop, and Ryce Stoughtenborough. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Cesar Saldaña. and Holly Kernan.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m your host Marisol Medina-Cadena. Go out and wear what makes you feel fly. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rightnowish is a KQED production.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Rightnowish is an arts and culture podcast produced at KQED. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or click the play button at the top of this page and subscribe to the show on \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/721590300/rightnowish\">NPR One\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/show/7kEJuafTzTVan7B78ttz1I\">Spotify\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rightnowish/id1482187648\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://tunein.com/podcasts/Arts--Culture-Podcasts/Rightnowish-p1258245/\">TuneIn\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/rightnowish\">Stitcher\u003c/a> or wherever you get your podcasts. \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]=\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Adorned: Sophia Mitty Stitches Her Pride for the 415 | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sophiamitty/?hl=en\">Sophia Mitty\u003c/a> first started to sew, she was making it work from her bedroom. She’d place a wooden board on top of her bed as a makeshift table in order to cut out patterns. Nowadays, Mitty has her own work space to really spread out and create. Located in South San Francisco, her studio complete with heavy duty industrial sewing machines, affectionately dubbed “Sew City” (or “The Stu” for short) is a playground of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13932878\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13932878\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67285_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-22-BL-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67285_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-22-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67285_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-22-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67285_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-22-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67285_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-22-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67285_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-22-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67285_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-22-BL-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fabric lines a shelf at the shop of clothing maker Sophia Mitty in South San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Goofy tchotchkes and other knick knacks line the studio’s beams and sewing tables, creating mini rainbows. There’s so much to look at! In one corner there’s a shelf with vibrant retro fabrics, and across from that are peg boards with large spools of thread organized by hue. All the sewing chairs have bright fuzzy covers with big googly eyes on them- very much giving PeeWee Herman’s Playhouse. “I’m just always chasing color, basically, trying to figure out ways to get it in my life,” says the San Francisco bred artist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13932875\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13932875 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67287_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-24-BL-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Sketches of outfits and fabric samples for future designs. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67287_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-24-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67287_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-24-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67287_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-24-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67287_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-24-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67287_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-24-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67287_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-24-BL-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sophia Mitty dyes her fabrics and makes patterns of jackets and pants that pay homage to San Francisco, preserving stories of the city that are fleeting due to gentrification. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In foggy frisco, where gray skies are plentiful, Mitty’s colorful hand-dyed and painted garments pop. Her line of denim jackets and utility pants for femmes offer classic and clean silhouettes with a funky twist. They come in shades like tangerine, cherry red, kiwi green, even earthy pigments like rust. Marbled patterns are options too. “I use clothing as therapy, as a way to set the mood of the day. It’s the easiest way to change your everyday life or make some kind of difference.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13932873\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13932873 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67257_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-12-BL-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67257_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-12-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67257_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-12-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67257_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-12-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67257_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-12-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67257_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-12-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67257_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-12-BL-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clothing and pattern maker Sophia Mitty pulls out a jacket she made with a Doggie Diner design.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While the clothing industry is infamous for creating waste, Mitty prioritizes sustainability. She’ll often source fabric remnants from \u003ca href=\"https://www.scrap-sf.org/home\">SCRAP\u003c/a> (a creative reuse warehouse in the Bayview) and upcycle them into tops and bottoms. “When I started, I was mostly making zero waste sets. So I’d get a roll of fabric for a dollar, then have to keep using the fabric until it’s gone. If I still have extra, I’d make a top, hat or something.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aside from the rich color palette, Mitty’s clothes are often embellished with chain stitched embroidery. For a \u003ca href=\"https://somarts.org/muniraisedme-virtual/\">recent exhibition\u003c/a> at SOMArts, she created a series of embroidered jackets and tops that paid homage to the San Francisco that raised her. Memories of eating at \u003ca href=\"https://www.doggiediner.info/\">Doggie Dinner\u003c/a> in the Sunset, buying hauls of clothes in the Mission at the inexpensive \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2017/03/thrift-town-on-mission-shutters-after-45-years/\">Thrift Town\u003c/a>, and Muni rides across town are woven into Mitty’s garments. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In this way, her clothes tell stories. They chronicle the love and heartbreak of what it means to remain in a city that is rapidly gentrifying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sunday August 13th, Mitty will be vending some of these embroidered jackets along with other “Mitsfits” (her line of tops and bottoms) at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/suckaflea/\">Sucka Flea Market\u003c/a> on 18th and Valencia in the Mission. Each garment is a one of one, so no two pants or jackets are the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On this episode of Rightnowish, clothing maker Sophia Mitty talks about stitching her pride for the 415, how color therapy influences her wardrobe, and why leaning into goofiness can help us dress for joy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13932872\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13932872\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67252_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-06-BL-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with long wavy hair looks downward as she stitches white fabric with an industrial sewing machine. Colorful garments on a rack hang in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67252_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-06-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67252_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-06-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67252_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-06-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67252_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-06-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67252_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-06-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS67252_230725-SophiaMittyRightnowish-06-BL-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clothing and pattern maker Sophia Mitty sews in her shop in South San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC4525424937&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-content post-body\">\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[sound of cross stitch sewing machine ] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty, Guest:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yeah. It’s basically you can draw with thread. But it’s pretty labor intensive. But I like it because it lasts forever, as you know, when it’s on the fabric. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[sound of cross stitch sewing machine ] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena, Host: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hey friends, today on Rightnowish, we’re hanging out in the studio of clothing maker, Sophia Mitty. “The Stu” as she calls it is where she creates her line of utility pants and denim jackets. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s kind of like if a rainbow kind of just exploded in, like, a perfectly organized garage. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Mhmm! That’s the vibe! [laughs] I’ve heard it’s like Pee Wee’s Playhouse or, like, the backstage of a theater… yeah i’ve heard a lot of weird stuff. [laughs] People come through the door and they’re like, “What is going on in here” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Her space is a wonderland of color! In one corner, there’s a shelf filled from top to bottom with bright vintage floral fabrics. Her thread and scissors are hung up on these peg boards organized by hue, kinda creating mini rainbows.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Plus she’s got a spray painted rainbow covering one wall with the phrase written, “Do it For the City”.The sewing chairs also got these funny googly eyes. There’s a lot going on in this space but it’s all really cute! You can’t help but feel inspired here. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I use clothing as therapy, as a way to set the mood of the day. It’s the easiest way to change your everyday life or make some kind of difference.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The clothes Sophia makes are classic silhouettes – boxy denim jackets and high waisted utility pants – the kind with deep pockets and straight legs that offer room and comfort around the thighs. But the colors are anything but simple, they really pop! And as a woman, it’s hard out here to buy pants that are sturdy, but colorful, functionable, but also cute and that’s what Sophia’s line is all about. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yeah so I make everything from scratch, so I also make the pattern. Like I draft the paper pattern, fit it adjust the.. all that, then sew the actual piece. So it is like a lot of, there’s a lot of parts to it [laughs] \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is probably the machine I use the most. It’s an industrial. So it’s made to, like, be used in factories and stuff. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[sewing machine sound effects] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> In this episode we talk to Sophia about adorning ourselves through clothes, what stories our garments tell, and how colorful clothes can shift our mood and bring in some much needed playful energy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m your host Marisol Medina-Cadena, go put on your flyest threads and stay with us. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Walk me through, like, how you approach dressing yourself.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It’s about the weather for me mostly. And then also, like what I’m doing that day. So I’m one of those people that tries on like seven things and like I have a huge pile of clothes in my room. So it’s like it has to feel right. So there’s definitely a lot of emotion. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m a big pants person. I usually start with the pants and then go from there and the rest of it usually falls together. I have a lot of like fits that I’ve already, like figured out. So I have like things that I’ll default to. But yeah, I try to mix it up as much as I can. I also, I love wearing stuff that I just made that’s always the most fun, but I also have clothes that I’ve made like five years ago that I still wear all the time. And I think that’s cool.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Today is kind of a basic fit. I’m wearing these pants they’re… they’re like parrot tropical pants that I made. And just like a white shirt. I think the process of dressing is.. it’s like a ritual, and it’s a way to set your intentions for the day. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since you’re wearing something you made, why don’t you tell us how you got into making clothes in the first place? \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I got my first machine when I was 18, and I was probably about like 25, I’d say, when I started really getting into sewing. But yeah, I started making clothes because I could never find what I was looking for and I was always broke. So I started with, just like, the YouTube university style. Like, I definitely would take my clothes, trace them and make patterns like that, very experimental for a long time. Yeah, I started taking classes at City College. That’s really where I learned how to sew.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I basically got rid of all the clothes I had that I didn’t make, and I was like, I have to make all everything I wear all the time, in a way to like, force myself to learn everything. So basically I would just wear like these weird things that I made all the time. And I literally got rid of all the clothes in my closet to force myself to learn how to make everything. And it kind of worked. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shopping, like you said, can be stressful because it’s like, this doesn’t fit me or like it’s a lot of emotions that come with shopping. But like when you’re able to craft your own thing, it’s like, “This is how I want it.” It’s not this like I need to conform to fit into this. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty: \u003c/b>\u003cb>\u003ci> \u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, it changes your mindset. It’s not like, what can I buy? Like what can I get? It’s like, what can I make? It’s… it feels different, like wearing stuff that you made and you know how it was made. I mean I do buy some basics sometimes like T-shirts and stuff like that, but I know how to make a T-shirt too. It’s like I could… I could technically not buy anything ever again. And that’s really exciting for me.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sustainability is important to Sophia. She buys fabric from SCRAP, it’s this recycling art depot off of Bayshore Boulevard in San Francisco and she upcycles it into tops and bottoms. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> So this is like the fabric wall. And then I, like, thicker. I’m super into, like, twill and denim and stuff that’s more usable for like pants and stuff. But yeah, I really love patterns, especially like vintage patterns. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yeah, these are like very seventies color palettes, the florals. Yeah, you don’t… you don’t see fabric like that nowadays if you go. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m super obsessed with florals. Anytime I see, like, see a floral, I get it. And also fish. I really… These are like, all fish patterns. I’m a Pisces. So, you know, I got to collect the fish. For me, it’s either about the… either I really like the fabric and I’m like, I need to use this fabric or I’ve drawn something and I’m like, I need to make this happen. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m really obsessed with, like, storytelling through textiles. And if it’s possible to embed like, memories and stuff into fabric, which is kind of weird, but I think it’s possible.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sophia has joined forces with other dope local artists and screen printers to design and print fabric. Like this one \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Chm5p91pX-O/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">pair of white pants\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> she made for singer La Doña. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s got big blue roses printed on it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[sounds of her going through the hanged items on rack] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sophia then proceeds to show me some of her works in progress that are hanging on the racks lining her studio. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I really like the work pants style I’ve been kind of working on, but I feel like work pants are usually for the… the fit is for men. And I’ve been trying to work on pants that are more fitted for women, but also utilitarian. So they, the pockets are big, everything is baggy where it should be. Cause I feel like women’s pants are very constrictive. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I really resonate with what you’re saying about work pants. Not always. Like, like they don’t make that for women. Like, all the work pants I’ve had to buy are, like, from the men’s departments, which doesn’t bug me, but it just makes figuring out the sizing really hard. Yeah, because the sizing doesn’t translate. And I just wish like women’s pants was more, uh, boxy…do you feel like the way to make to kind of just blur all of that is by making your own clothes? \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yes\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I mean, with pants specifically, I think the pay off is the biggest. Just because trying to thrift pants is impossible. Buying pants like it’s also just like it’s a headache and it stresses me out. So just being… having that control over that little part of my life\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">it helps me. I don’t know if I’m wearing bad, like, pants that don’t fit. It can like, ruin my whole day. Like it makes me so uncomfortable. I’m like, one of those people is like, super sensitive to, like, my senses. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These are kind of cool. These are like quilted checker. So like, I quilted the fabric first and then made the pants. But yeah, I’m super into trying to make pants that are just like as cool as the other parts of your clothes. I feel like people forget about pants. Oh, they’re just like, there’s jeans and that’s it. But that’s also like half your body and you can express a lot with your pants. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think im a huge color person. And I think, like, I believe in color therapy, like trying to have as much color in my life as possible \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That’s why I’m really drawn to your clothes. Like you got indigo, tangerine, kiwi green pants. Like, that’s what I’m trying to get my closet to look like.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yeah, I do feel like overall clothes have become like they’ve tried to take all the color out. It’s like very neutral now. I’m just always chasing color. Basically, or like trying to figure out ways to put it, get it in my life. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But yeah, I have a lot of friends that are very expressive and they really showed me how how powerful it can be to just, like, do your own thing and express yourself fully. And I feel like a lot of people hold back a lot. And it’s really sad. Especially, I don’t know, I feel like the techies… They don’t have that much, like, expression. And it shows like shows in the city. You can feel it. It’s a different vibe. But yeah just trying to use your clothes as like a protest to the draining of color and expression and people of color too though, like all of it. I feel like it’s connected.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sophia’s garments are not only reminders to take up space and be colorful through self expression but they are also about preserving Frisco culture and 415 pride. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This year she made a series of embroidered jackets and tops for an exhibit at SOMArts called “Muni Raised Me” These jackets are for sale now and on the racks back in her studio. She shows me one that has color blocks of orange, blue and red… \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This one was one of my favorites. This is the Muni Raised me. I made this jacket for the show. So it has like the muni bus and it’s made of scraps from other projects…colors that I identify with the city, like orange and red. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Muni bus colors and the Giants. \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Old school Muni colors. Yeah. And the orange also. Just like poppies and monarch butterflies. Orange, I feel like is really strong and also red I really identify like with the Mission and just like, yeah, all that kind of culture.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Uh, what else we got in here? We got the Thrift Town. This is the Thrift Town one.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cb>\u003ci> \u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For folks who don’t know what\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thrift Town was. Can you tell us?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, Thrift Town was basically, like, the best thrift store we had in the Mission. It was like, two stories, super big, very accessible. Like, everything was usually, like, under $10. So, yeah, I was raised. I went there like every Tuesday, I think, because they had some sale or something. Then there’s like other ones, this is like the Doggie Diner one. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yess!! Doggie Diner is like this chain of Bay Area burger joints. And they had that iconic plastic. I don’t even know what it’s made out of, but these huge dogs with cute a** noses, hat funny hats. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah they’re super cute. And I just think they’re goofy. And I think that’s a part of the city, too. Just like the goofiness.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">My favorite part of making clothes is wearing them. That’s the fun part. Also, sewing is fun, but yeah, I really enjoy having it on the body. Feeling, you know what I mean? Where you get to, like, experience them. And that’s also where you learn a lot, I think as someone that, like, makes the actual pattern, the way it fits is really important. And you can’t really get good at it unless you’re wearing the clothes you make. So yeah, I think it’s an important part of the process. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I think, like, our generation didn’t grow up with like, sewing offered in schools. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> And so to make go, to go out of your way and learn it, whether you learned it from someone or you’re just online, you know, like that’s a very active rebellion in my opinion. You know, because you’re like, “I’m taking charge of making my own clothes.” For you was it kind of like that… that radical act? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The moment I realized that I could make my own clothes was very transformational. It was very freeing. It was like, it’s no longer about how much money you have. It’s about how… what you can do. And like that was really empowering for me because I always felt very, like, limited. I feel like you learn a lot about who you are as a person and what you want to create.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I know you’re teaching sewing now to high school students at Youth Art Exchange in the Excelsior. What’s it like watching them when they realize, like, “Yo, I’m capable of making something!”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yeah, that’s like, really why I got into sewing just for that moment of, like, where they realize that they can do it and that it’s, like, not as hard as they thought it was. Once you start, you just start making whatever you can. And I really just I love working with them because they’re so excited. Sometimes I forget why I’m doing it and then I realize I remember that “why” when I work with them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like it seems like you have a lot of fun with your closet. And so I’m wondering, how does it feel to see other people wear your garments, adorn themselves with your garments that you, like, put so much love and intention behind? \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yeah, it’s always like the best feeling. I love seeing people wear the clothes that I make. It’s like the full circle moment. And especially when they’re, like, happy and comfortable and it’s like, I feel like I did what I needed to do. Um. But yeah, it’s always so, um, so beautiful to see. I be crying [giggles] \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Do your garments have, like, tags on them? Like with your name? Yeah, cause they’re literally wearing your name!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yeah, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">it’s like Mitsfits. My last name is Mitty. Um, yeh Mitsfits [giggles] \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I’m exploring this theme of adornment, because in my personal life, I’m just not feeling like my best self. Feeling a little disconnected. And I’m like, kind of searching for different tools at my disposal to, like, feel more playful, feel more alive, feel more goofy. Do you have any advice for how I could use clothes in that way? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Trying things that you normally don’t is super powerful. I think it’s easy to get stuck in the same patterns with clothing where it’s like stuff that you’re used to wearing. But yeah, it can take a lot of confidence to wear stuff that’s kind of weird. But at the same time, I think that’s the stuff that’s the most beneficial to people as, like, as a development of self to do something not because you think someone thinks it’s cool, but because you think it’s cool is super important to style in general. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sophia Mitty:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> If it triggers joy for you, like that, there’s something there that you should investigate and try to figure out or, you know, not take it so seriously. I feel like clothes, as you get older, people are just so serious about it all the time and it’s like it’s not! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It doesn’t have to be like that. I think it’s… it can be super fun, it can be weird.Um And that’s like, I like making clothes because I have the control over what fabrics and like, what cuts and stuff. So there’s literally no limit. It’s being able to tell a story without having to say anything. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m kind of a quiet person off the bat, but wearing certain clothes can help me feel comfortable and able to be who I really am I guess. I think it’s also just a way to show up in the world as what you want to see. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ya know, talking to Sophia, I’m reminded about the time and care that my own mom put into making clothes for me. The sounds of the machines, the magic of taking a piece of fabric and turning it into a wearable garment. That transformation of regular materials into something with character and personality. Sophia’s work absolutely has both of those traits. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Huge thanks to Sophia Mitty for inviting me over to your studio to see your original clothes and all that goes into making them. It’s a lot! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you’re interested in supporting Sophia’s work, she’ll actually be vending some of her pieces at the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/suckaflea/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sucka Flea Market\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> this coming Sunday on Valencia & 18th street in the Mission. You can also check out her clothes and order on Instagram \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sophiamitty/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">@sophiamitty.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That’s spelled s-o-p-h-i-a-m-i-t-t-y. Thanks again, Sophia!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now time to give thanks to the whole squad that makes this show possible. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Xorje Olivares produced this episode. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Chris Hambrick is our editor. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our engineer is Christopher Beale. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Rightnowish team also includes Pendarvis Harshaw, Sheree Bishop, and Ryce Stoughtenborough. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Cesar Saldaña. and Holly Kernan.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m your host Marisol Medina-Cadena. Go out and wear what makes you feel fly. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rightnowish is a KQED production.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Rightnowish is an arts and culture podcast produced at KQED. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or click the play button at the top of this page and subscribe to the show on \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/721590300/rightnowish\">NPR One\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/show/7kEJuafTzTVan7B78ttz1I\">Spotify\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rightnowish/id1482187648\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://tunein.com/podcasts/Arts--Culture-Podcasts/Rightnowish-p1258245/\">TuneIn\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/rightnowish\">Stitcher\u003c/a> or wherever you get your podcasts. \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>=\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>"
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"title": "Princess Diana’s Iconic Sheep Sweater Could Fetch at Least $50,000 at Auction",
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"content": "\u003cp>A red sweater adorned with a flock of sheep worn by the young Princess Diana is expected to sell for more than $50,000 at auction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The playfully patterned wool jumper featuring a single black sheep amid a pattern of white ones headlines Sotheby’s online Fashion Icons sale in September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13918461']The 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer was photographed in the garment at a polo match in June 1981, soon after her engagement to Prince Charles, who was then heir to the British throne.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diana was already becoming a style icon — and one of the world’s most photographed women — and the moment gave a big boost to designers Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne, who made the sweater for their small knitwear label \u003ca href=\"https://warmandwonderful.com/\">Warm & Wonderful\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few weeks later, Muir and Osborne received an official letter from Buckingham Palace explaining that Diana had damaged the sweater and asking whether it could be repaired or replaced. The original was returned, showing damage to a sleeve the designers thought might have been caused by snagging on Diana’s diamond and sapphire engagement ring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A new sweater was knitted and dispatched, and Diana was photographed wearing it with white jeans and a black ribbon tie at an event in 1983.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13931706\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13931706\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/GettyImages-109346553-scaled-e1689612304213-800x531.jpg\" alt=\"Two women sit in the back row of the stands at a sporting event. Both are engaged in conversation and smiling. One wears a floral blouse, the other a sweater adorned with sheep.\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/GettyImages-109346553-scaled-e1689612304213-800x531.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/GettyImages-109346553-scaled-e1689612304213-1020x677.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/GettyImages-109346553-scaled-e1689612304213-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/GettyImages-109346553-scaled-e1689612304213-768x510.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/GettyImages-109346553-scaled-e1689612304213-1536x1020.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/GettyImages-109346553-scaled-e1689612304213.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Diana, Princess of Wales with Sarah Ferguson at the Guard’s Polo Club, Windsor, June 1983. \u003ccite>(Georges De Keerle/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some have speculated Diana liked the “black sheep” pattern because she felt like an outsider in the royal family. Emma Corrin sported a replica as the young Diana in season four of \u003cem>The Crown\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13866072']Warm & Wonderful still makes a cotton version of the design, which sells for 190 pounds ($250). Osborne discovered the original lying forgotten in a box in an attic earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cynthia Houlton, Sotheby’s global head of fashion and accessories, said “this exceptional garment, meticulously preserved, carries the whispers of Princess Diana’s grace, charm, and her keen eye for fashion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sweater, which has an estimated price of $50,000 to $80,000, will be on display at Sotheby’s New York showroom from Sept. 7-13. Online bidding opens Aug. 31 and runs to Sept. 14.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The record for a piece of Diana memorabilia is $604,800 for a Victor Edelstein-designed ballgown sold by Sotheby’s in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2023 Associated Press. To see more, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/\" rel=\"noopener\">visit AP\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Warm & Wonderful still makes a cotton version of the design, which sells for 190 pounds ($250). Osborne discovered the original lying forgotten in a box in an attic earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cynthia Houlton, Sotheby’s global head of fashion and accessories, said “this exceptional garment, meticulously preserved, carries the whispers of Princess Diana’s grace, charm, and her keen eye for fashion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sweater, which has an estimated price of $50,000 to $80,000, will be on display at Sotheby’s New York showroom from Sept. 7-13. Online bidding opens Aug. 31 and runs to Sept. 14.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The record for a piece of Diana memorabilia is $604,800 for a Victor Edelstein-designed ballgown sold by Sotheby’s in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2023 Associated Press. To see more, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/\" rel=\"noopener\">visit AP\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Sewing New Life Into Levi's Jeans",
"headTitle": "Sewing New Life Into Levi’s Jeans | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>If I were asked to name some of San Francisco’s technological contributions, I’d probably cringe at the immediate examples: \u003ca href=\"https://theintercept.com/2023/01/10/tesla-crash-footage-autopilot/\">self-driving cars that cause pile-up crashes\u003c/a> on the Bay Bridge and an artificial intelligence platform that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13928457/chatgpt-says-these-are-the-best-bay-area-rap-albums-of-all-time\">thinks Eazy-E is from the Bay Area\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, one of the dopest local innovations has nothing to do with computers or startups. It’s actually something much simpler, though equally revolutionary at the time, and with a massive worldwide impact: Levi’s blue denim jeans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, some longtime locals have never forgiven Levi’s for shifting production overseas and \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Levi-Strauss-buttoning-up-its-S-F-operations-2853739.php\">closing down its Valencia Street plant in 2002\u003c/a>, resulting in 100 people being laid off. Now, four blocks away, the company is looking to stitch up any damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.levi.com/US/en_US/features/501experience\">501 Experience\u003c/a> is a 10-day pop-up with workshops, vendors, music and a 150-year retrospective on the influence of Levi’s jeans. The event includes a full-sized loom that can pump out customized jeans, live musicians and DJs, and a rotating cast of artisans and designers who embody the brand’s creative spirit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of those makers is \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/paocarisweat/\">Paolo Cui\u003c/a>, a Filipino San Franciscan whose independent clothing company, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/idle.worship/\">Idle Worship\u003c/a>, specializes in dyeing clothes. In his spare time, Cui upcycles tattered jeans with Japanese techniques like sashiko — an ancient geometric quilting method for repairing ripped materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Cui, working with Levi’s is a way to showcase his niche passion while leading workshops for others to learn about his craft and mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s called visible mending,” Cui says about the art of repairing jeans. “It’s about giving new life to [fabric] that has been shredded. Repairing brings more years to materials that are old. It’s literally sustainable. It’s expressive. It’s custom. It’s one-of-one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cui will have seven specially made jeans available as part of the pop-up with \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/silverlakemarket/\">Silverlake Market\u003c/a>, an LA-based outlet that offers vintage denim. Other vendors include \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/shoprelove/\">ReLove\u003c/a>, a Black-owned consignment shop in SF and Oakland, neighborhood food makers like \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/humphryslocombe/?hl=en\">Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/vervecoffee/\">Verve Coffee Roasters\u003c/a>, and Ocean Beach outpost \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tunnelrecords/\">Tunnel Records\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Naturally, the iconic work pants with rivets and pockets, patented in San Francisco after the Gold Rush in 1873, are the event’s main focus. From Harvey Milk’s actual jeans to never-before-seen garments being made in real-time, the anniversary celebration is a reminder that San Francisco’s tech developments shouldn’t always be measured by the height of the Salesforce Tower or the algorithmic potency of an app; there are many creators here who are cutting edges with their hands, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s something I really enjoy because it takes a long time to do. You can’t do it by machine really, and you can tell when it’s by hand,” says Cui. “If you’ve ever worn a pair of Levi’s, you should go to this exhibit. It’s like a full-circle thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Levi’s 501 Experience runs daily through Saturday, May 27, at the Armory in San Francisco, with a closing performance on May 27 by Tommy Guerrero. Admission is free. \u003ca href=\"https://www.levi.com/US/en_US/features/501experience\">Details here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Idle Worship is \u003ca href=\"https://idle-worship.com/\">available online\u003c/a>. Cui also leads “Softwear Patch,” a denim sustainability and upcycling workshop, this summer in San Francisco. Check for \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/paocarisweat\">updates\u003c/a> on times and locations.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>If I were asked to name some of San Francisco’s technological contributions, I’d probably cringe at the immediate examples: \u003ca href=\"https://theintercept.com/2023/01/10/tesla-crash-footage-autopilot/\">self-driving cars that cause pile-up crashes\u003c/a> on the Bay Bridge and an artificial intelligence platform that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13928457/chatgpt-says-these-are-the-best-bay-area-rap-albums-of-all-time\">thinks Eazy-E is from the Bay Area\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, one of the dopest local innovations has nothing to do with computers or startups. It’s actually something much simpler, though equally revolutionary at the time, and with a massive worldwide impact: Levi’s blue denim jeans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, some longtime locals have never forgiven Levi’s for shifting production overseas and \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Levi-Strauss-buttoning-up-its-S-F-operations-2853739.php\">closing down its Valencia Street plant in 2002\u003c/a>, resulting in 100 people being laid off. Now, four blocks away, the company is looking to stitch up any damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.levi.com/US/en_US/features/501experience\">501 Experience\u003c/a> is a 10-day pop-up with workshops, vendors, music and a 150-year retrospective on the influence of Levi’s jeans. The event includes a full-sized loom that can pump out customized jeans, live musicians and DJs, and a rotating cast of artisans and designers who embody the brand’s creative spirit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of those makers is \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/paocarisweat/\">Paolo Cui\u003c/a>, a Filipino San Franciscan whose independent clothing company, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/idle.worship/\">Idle Worship\u003c/a>, specializes in dyeing clothes. In his spare time, Cui upcycles tattered jeans with Japanese techniques like sashiko — an ancient geometric quilting method for repairing ripped materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Cui, working with Levi’s is a way to showcase his niche passion while leading workshops for others to learn about his craft and mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s called visible mending,” Cui says about the art of repairing jeans. “It’s about giving new life to [fabric] that has been shredded. Repairing brings more years to materials that are old. It’s literally sustainable. It’s expressive. It’s custom. It’s one-of-one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cui will have seven specially made jeans available as part of the pop-up with \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/silverlakemarket/\">Silverlake Market\u003c/a>, an LA-based outlet that offers vintage denim. Other vendors include \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/shoprelove/\">ReLove\u003c/a>, a Black-owned consignment shop in SF and Oakland, neighborhood food makers like \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/humphryslocombe/?hl=en\">Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/vervecoffee/\">Verve Coffee Roasters\u003c/a>, and Ocean Beach outpost \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tunnelrecords/\">Tunnel Records\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Naturally, the iconic work pants with rivets and pockets, patented in San Francisco after the Gold Rush in 1873, are the event’s main focus. From Harvey Milk’s actual jeans to never-before-seen garments being made in real-time, the anniversary celebration is a reminder that San Francisco’s tech developments shouldn’t always be measured by the height of the Salesforce Tower or the algorithmic potency of an app; there are many creators here who are cutting edges with their hands, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s something I really enjoy because it takes a long time to do. You can’t do it by machine really, and you can tell when it’s by hand,” says Cui. “If you’ve ever worn a pair of Levi’s, you should go to this exhibit. It’s like a full-circle thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Levi’s 501 Experience runs daily through Saturday, May 27, at the Armory in San Francisco, with a closing performance on May 27 by Tommy Guerrero. Admission is free. \u003ca href=\"https://www.levi.com/US/en_US/features/501experience\">Details here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Idle Worship is \u003ca href=\"https://idle-worship.com/\">available online\u003c/a>. Cui also leads “Softwear Patch,” a denim sustainability and upcycling workshop, this summer in San Francisco. Check for \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/paocarisweat\">updates\u003c/a> on times and locations.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "It's Met Gala 2023! Let's All Pretend Karl Lagerfeld Was Cool!",
"headTitle": "It’s Met Gala 2023! Let’s All Pretend Karl Lagerfeld Was Cool! | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Oh, hey, look everybody! It’s the first Monday in May! That can mean only one thing: Celebrities trying to out-fashion each other on the Metropolitan Museum’s red carpet in New York. Except that this year’s Met Gala also happened to fall on \u003ca href=\"https://www.britannica.com/topic/May-Day-international-observance\">May Day\u003c/a> — a day traditionally dedicated to the workers of the world uniting and pushing back against the powers that be. (Somewhere, in the back of a limo, someone’s assistant was wearing Fruit of the Loom underwear in solidarity.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13912817']Also making the 2023 Met Gala even weirder this year? The damn theme: \u003cem>Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty\u003c/em>. Lagerfeld was a hateful little man who proudly wore his misogyny, fatphobia and \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/nov/13/karl-lagerfeld-sparks-outrage-over-migrant-holocaust-comments\">Islamaphobia\u003c/a> on his impeccably tailored sleeve. He also spent 36 years of his life working for Chanel — the fashion house founded by \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/stories/articles/2022/1/3/coco-chanel-fashion-designer-and-nazi-informant#:~:text=Gabrielle%20%E2%80%9CCoco%E2%80%9D%20Chanel%20was%20a,a%20Nazi%20sympathizer%20and%20informer.\">known Nazi sympathizer and secret agent, Coco Chanel\u003c/a>. Oh, and then there was that time in 2013 when \u003ca href=\"https://theweek.com/articles/493757/claudia-schiffers-blackface-photos-defensible\">he put Claudia Schiffer in blackface and an afro\u003c/a>. Hurray!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Is everyone feeling super awkward and uncomfortable yet? Like Kim Kardashian in that \u003ca href=\"https://www.wmagazine.com/story/kim-kardashian-met-gala-corset-mugler-mr-pearl\">very corseted Thierry Mugler dress\u003c/a> at 2019’s Met Gala? Good. Then let’s take a look at the fashion!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Penélope Cruz and Dua Lipa\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928511\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928511\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486910904-scaled-e1682979054617-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two women with pale flawless skin and dark brown hair stand side by side. One is wearing a corseted white dress with black stitching. The other is a wearing a plunging, belted white dress with a transparent white hood.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486910904-scaled-e1682979054617-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486910904-scaled-e1682979054617-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486910904-scaled-e1682979054617-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486910904-scaled-e1682979054617-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486910904-scaled-e1682979054617-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486910904-scaled-e1682979054617.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A nun and a milkmaid walk into a museum… \u003ccite>(Matt Winkelmeyer/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Penélope Cruz arrived in a Chanel take on Elsa from \u003cem>Frozen,\u003c/em> while Dua Lipa donned 1992 Chanel that was giving fancy-ass milkmaid. Cruz is a mom of two and therefore a reminder of that time Lagerfeld told a journalist at \u003cem>Interview \u003c/em>magazine\u003cem>: “\u003c/em>You’re lucky because [your children] are very beautiful. \u003ca href=\"https://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/carine-roitfeld\">It would have been difficult to have an ugly daughter\u003c/a>.” He continued: “If I were a woman, I would love to have lots of kids. But for men, I don’t believe in it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nice!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Salma Hayek\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928518\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928518\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486926230-scaled-e1682985176606-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A striking movie star stands on a red carpet wearing a red, tiered gown and bodice, hand on her hip. Photographers are lined up behind her.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486926230-scaled-e1682985176606-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486926230-scaled-e1682985176606-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486926230-scaled-e1682985176606-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486926230-scaled-e1682985176606-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486926230-scaled-e1682985176606-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486926230-scaled-e1682985176606.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Salma Hayek: 10 out of 10, no notes. \u003ccite>(Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The iconic actress provided a rare pop of color to the black and white-centric gala, in a stunning red, tiered, full-length gown and rubber bodice. For some reason — maybe because Hayek survived nightmarish harassment by Harvey Weinstein and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/13/opinion/contributors/salma-hayek-harvey-weinstein.html?smid=tw-nytopinion&smtyp=cur&mtrref=t.co&assetType=opinion&mtrref=theplaylist.net&gwh=58685C1FA7FF98DAD582641F4BB2C2C9&gwt=pay&assetType=PAYWALL\">wrote a powerful essay about it\u003c/a>? — I can’t help but think about that time Karl Lagerfeld said he was “fed up” with the #MeToo movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What shocks me most in all of this,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/style/karl-lagerfeld-metoo-comments-you-don-t-want-your-pants-pulled-don-t-become-a-model-1102596/\">the designer said\u003c/a>, “are the starlets who have taken 20 years to remember what happened.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Literally stunning!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Cara Delevingne\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928520\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928520\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486932554-scaled-e1682987052540-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A white woman with cropped shaggy silver hair stands on a red carpet surrounded by photographers, fanning out a huge white cape from a mini dress. Her legs are covered with black leather sheaths.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486932554-scaled-e1682987052540-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486932554-scaled-e1682987052540-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486932554-scaled-e1682987052540-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486932554-scaled-e1682987052540-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486932554-scaled-e1682987052540-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486932554-scaled-e1682987052540.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cara Delevingne being di(la)vine at the 2023 Met Gala. \u003ccite>(Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cara Delevingne is one of the most in-demand models in the world not just because of her looks, but because of her tough persona and assertive edge. I wonder if she remembers that time in 2018 when \u003ca href=\"https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/style/karl-lagerfeld-metoo-comments-you-don-t-want-your-pants-pulled-don-t-become-a-model-1102596/\">Karl Lagerfeld wanted models to stop speaking up for themselves\u003c/a>?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I read somewhere that now you must ask a model if she is comfortable with posing,” Lagerfeld said. “It’s simply too much; from now on, as a designer, you can’t do anything. It’s unbelievable. If you don’t want your pants pulled about, don’t become a model. Join a nunnery. There’ll always be a place for you in the convent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sensational!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Cardi B\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928522\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928522\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486936357-800x554.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman wearing a dramatic black gown with white sleeveless collared shirt and black tie underneath, stands on the red carpet, gloved arms outstretched. She is wearing a long, straight, silver wig.\" width=\"800\" height=\"554\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486936357-800x554.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486936357-1020x707.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486936357-160x111.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486936357-768x532.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486936357-1536x1064.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486936357-2048x1419.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486936357-1920x1330.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Talented rapper and tattooed human, Cardi B. \u003ccite>(Matt Winkelmeyer/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The rapper arrived in a bell-shaped gown paired with boss-lady collared shirt and black tie. Cardi’s silver wig was a nod to Lagerfeld’s own strange mane, which is super fun when you think about that time the designer said: “I think tattoos are horrible. It’s like living in a Pucci dress full-time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hope you like Pucci, Cardi!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Janelle Monáe\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928521\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928521\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486933737-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman wearing a stunned facial expression stands wearing an oversized conical black and white suit coat, held up by a wired underskirt.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486933737-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486933737-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486933737-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486933737-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486933737-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486933737-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486933737-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Janelle Monáe doing iconic weeble business. \u003ccite>(Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Janelle Monáe upped the theatricality with an avant-garde, oversized, conical-shaped, black and white coat that she later whipped off to reveal a structured, mesh underskirt. While there is zero evidence to support this theory, I am hoping this illusion of largeness was a nod to the time Karl Lagerfeld said: “The hole in social security, it’s also [because of] all the diseases caught by people who are too fat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cool!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>David Byrne\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928512\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928512\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486913679-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a crisp white suit and casual sneakers stands on a red carpet with a bicycle, smiling.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486913679-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486913679-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486913679-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486913679-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486913679-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486913679-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486913679-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Byrne and his bicycle. \u003ccite>(Mike Coppola/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Talking Heads legend David Byrne showed up in a crisp white suit with his bicycle — an excellent accessory, tailor-made to get grease all over your couture as you haul it up the stairs. Something about this striking look was reminiscent of the time Karl Lagerfeld declared: “\u003ca href=\"https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/designers/a26405187/karl-lagerfeld-quotes/\">I hate intellectual conversation with intellectuals because I only care about my opinion\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perfection!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Lil Nas X\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928517\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928517\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486925234-800x559.jpg\" alt=\"A man in silver body paint and crystal-encrusted face mask strikes a pose in front of a white curtain. He is wearing only a loin cloth.\" width=\"800\" height=\"559\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486925234-800x559.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486925234-1020x712.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486925234-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486925234-768x536.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486925234-1536x1073.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486925234-2048x1431.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486925234-1920x1341.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lil Nas X in a typically understated silver ensemble. \u003ccite>(Matt Winkelmeyer/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lil Nas X showed up in a subtle silver number that emphasized his, uh, assets. Because of his status as a queer icon, it’s hard not to think about the time Karl Lagerfeld endorsed marriage equality on the runway, then immediately told everyone \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2013/jan/22/karl-lagerfeld-chanel-gay-marriage\">he was “less keen” on gay couples being allowed to adopt\u003c/a> children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So awesome!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Michaela Coel\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928516\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928516\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486916795-scaled-e1682984031541-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A beautiful black woman with feline features and cornrows wears a heavily beaded gold gown.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486916795-scaled-e1682984031541-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486916795-scaled-e1682984031541-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486916795-scaled-e1682984031541-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486916795-scaled-e1682984031541-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486916795-scaled-e1682984031541-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486916795-scaled-e1682984031541.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A look so perfect, it would have rendered even Karl Lagerfeld speechless. \u003ccite>(Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Holy crap. Michaela Coel looked so dazzling, I briefly stopped thinking about what a troll Karl Lagerfeld was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thank you, Michaela Coel, for allowing me to not think about Karl Lagerfeld for three minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Gisele Bündchen\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928514\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928514\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486917532-scaled-e1682982093446-800x570.jpg\" alt=\"A beautiful woman spins on the red carpet wearing a full-length crystal-beaded gown and a full length feather shrug.\" width=\"800\" height=\"570\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486917532-scaled-e1682982093446-800x570.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486917532-scaled-e1682982093446-1020x727.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486917532-scaled-e1682982093446-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486917532-scaled-e1682982093446-768x548.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486917532-scaled-e1682982093446-1536x1095.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486917532-scaled-e1682982093446.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gisele Bündchen wearing about 57,000 birds. \u003ccite>(Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Giselle had a sparkly, swan-inspired moment on the red carpet, spinning her full-length feather cape for awaiting photographers. It was hard to see all those feathers without recalling the time in 2009 when Karl Lagerfeld insisted on \u003ca href=\"http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG4075783/Karl-Lagerfeld-defends-fur-industry-saying-beasts-would-kill-us-if-we-didnt-kill-them.html\">giving his two cents about the use of animal products\u003c/a> in couture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In a meat-eating world, wearing leather for shoes and clothes and even handbags, the discussion of fur is childish.” He was also careful to note that the dead animals in question were merely “beasts who would kill us if they could.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Screw you, fluffy animals!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Lizzo and Jared Leto\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928519\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928519\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486928126-scaled-e1682986187433-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A plus-sized Black woman in a full-length black gown covered in strings of white pearls stands on a busy red carpet talking to someone in a giant fluffy cat costume.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486928126-scaled-e1682986187433-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486928126-scaled-e1682986187433-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486928126-scaled-e1682986187433-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486928126-scaled-e1682986187433-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486928126-scaled-e1682986187433-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486928126-scaled-e1682986187433.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jared Leto, dressed as Karl Lagerfeld’s cat Choupette, chats with Lizzo. \u003ccite>(Mike Coppola/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I was super into watching Lizzo converse with a human-sized cat until I:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(a) found out that the cat costume was, in fact, inhabited by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13865555/thirty-seconds-to-mars-jared-leto-started-a-cult-because-of-course-he-did\">human pretension factory Jared Leto\u003c/a>, and,\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(b) remembered that time Karl Lagerfeld said of another plus-sized songstress, Adele: “She’s a little too fat but she has a beautiful face.” Later Lagerfeld implied that his unsolicited comments about her physique actually did Adele a favor. “After that,” he said, “she lost eight kilos [17.6 pounds] so I think the message was not that bad.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Give me strength, Lord.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Doja Cat\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928523\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928523\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486937845-scaled-e1682989079658-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman wearing face enhancements that make her look like a cat poses on the red carpet. She's wearing a silver gown with hood that has cat ear embellishments.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486937845-scaled-e1682989079658-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486937845-scaled-e1682989079658-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486937845-scaled-e1682989079658-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486937845-scaled-e1682989079658-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486937845-scaled-e1682989079658-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486937845-scaled-e1682989079658.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Doja Cat = Literal cat now. Cool. \u003ccite>(Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Karl Lagerfeld)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One time, offering unsolicited commentary about Lana Del Rey’s appearance, Karl Lagerfeld said: “In her photos, she is beautiful. Is she a construct with all her implants?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How’s this for a construct, Karl? Doja Cat is an actual cat now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mic drop!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Ashley Graham\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928515\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928515\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486923634-800x593.jpg\" alt=\"A beautiful white woman wearing a tight fitting pink and black off-the-shoulder gown with embellishments around her ankles, hips and elbows to emphasize her curves.\" width=\"800\" height=\"593\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486923634-800x593.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486923634-1020x757.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486923634-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486923634-768x570.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486923634-1536x1139.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486923634-2048x1519.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486923634-1920x1424.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ashley Graham in a stunning pink and black off-the-shoulder gown. \u003ccite>(Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Karl Lagerfeld)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Body positivity leader and plus-sized model Ashley Graham was stunning in a figure-hugging gown with embellishments that served to emphasize her curves. One can’t help but wonder how Karl Lagerfeld would receive this look today, given his 2009 statement that: “\u003ca href=\"https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/no-one-wants-to-see-curvy-women-karl-lagerfeld-20091012-gskk.html\">No one wants to see curvy women\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Get outta here, you!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>May next year’s theme be much, much easier to not think about.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The most prestigious night in fashion pays homage to a guy who hated almost everyone and couldn't wait to talk about it. Stunning!",
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"title": "It's Met Gala 2023! Let's All Pretend Karl Lagerfeld Was Cool! | KQED",
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"headline": "It's Met Gala 2023! Let's All Pretend Karl Lagerfeld Was Cool!",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Oh, hey, look everybody! It’s the first Monday in May! That can mean only one thing: Celebrities trying to out-fashion each other on the Metropolitan Museum’s red carpet in New York. Except that this year’s Met Gala also happened to fall on \u003ca href=\"https://www.britannica.com/topic/May-Day-international-observance\">May Day\u003c/a> — a day traditionally dedicated to the workers of the world uniting and pushing back against the powers that be. (Somewhere, in the back of a limo, someone’s assistant was wearing Fruit of the Loom underwear in solidarity.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Also making the 2023 Met Gala even weirder this year? The damn theme: \u003cem>Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty\u003c/em>. Lagerfeld was a hateful little man who proudly wore his misogyny, fatphobia and \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/nov/13/karl-lagerfeld-sparks-outrage-over-migrant-holocaust-comments\">Islamaphobia\u003c/a> on his impeccably tailored sleeve. He also spent 36 years of his life working for Chanel — the fashion house founded by \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/stories/articles/2022/1/3/coco-chanel-fashion-designer-and-nazi-informant#:~:text=Gabrielle%20%E2%80%9CCoco%E2%80%9D%20Chanel%20was%20a,a%20Nazi%20sympathizer%20and%20informer.\">known Nazi sympathizer and secret agent, Coco Chanel\u003c/a>. Oh, and then there was that time in 2013 when \u003ca href=\"https://theweek.com/articles/493757/claudia-schiffers-blackface-photos-defensible\">he put Claudia Schiffer in blackface and an afro\u003c/a>. Hurray!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Is everyone feeling super awkward and uncomfortable yet? Like Kim Kardashian in that \u003ca href=\"https://www.wmagazine.com/story/kim-kardashian-met-gala-corset-mugler-mr-pearl\">very corseted Thierry Mugler dress\u003c/a> at 2019’s Met Gala? Good. Then let’s take a look at the fashion!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Penélope Cruz and Dua Lipa\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928511\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928511\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486910904-scaled-e1682979054617-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two women with pale flawless skin and dark brown hair stand side by side. One is wearing a corseted white dress with black stitching. The other is a wearing a plunging, belted white dress with a transparent white hood.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486910904-scaled-e1682979054617-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486910904-scaled-e1682979054617-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486910904-scaled-e1682979054617-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486910904-scaled-e1682979054617-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486910904-scaled-e1682979054617-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486910904-scaled-e1682979054617.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A nun and a milkmaid walk into a museum… \u003ccite>(Matt Winkelmeyer/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Penélope Cruz arrived in a Chanel take on Elsa from \u003cem>Frozen,\u003c/em> while Dua Lipa donned 1992 Chanel that was giving fancy-ass milkmaid. Cruz is a mom of two and therefore a reminder of that time Lagerfeld told a journalist at \u003cem>Interview \u003c/em>magazine\u003cem>: “\u003c/em>You’re lucky because [your children] are very beautiful. \u003ca href=\"https://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/carine-roitfeld\">It would have been difficult to have an ugly daughter\u003c/a>.” He continued: “If I were a woman, I would love to have lots of kids. But for men, I don’t believe in it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nice!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Salma Hayek\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928518\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928518\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486926230-scaled-e1682985176606-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A striking movie star stands on a red carpet wearing a red, tiered gown and bodice, hand on her hip. Photographers are lined up behind her.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486926230-scaled-e1682985176606-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486926230-scaled-e1682985176606-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486926230-scaled-e1682985176606-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486926230-scaled-e1682985176606-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486926230-scaled-e1682985176606-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486926230-scaled-e1682985176606.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Salma Hayek: 10 out of 10, no notes. \u003ccite>(Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The iconic actress provided a rare pop of color to the black and white-centric gala, in a stunning red, tiered, full-length gown and rubber bodice. For some reason — maybe because Hayek survived nightmarish harassment by Harvey Weinstein and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/13/opinion/contributors/salma-hayek-harvey-weinstein.html?smid=tw-nytopinion&smtyp=cur&mtrref=t.co&assetType=opinion&mtrref=theplaylist.net&gwh=58685C1FA7FF98DAD582641F4BB2C2C9&gwt=pay&assetType=PAYWALL\">wrote a powerful essay about it\u003c/a>? — I can’t help but think about that time Karl Lagerfeld said he was “fed up” with the #MeToo movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What shocks me most in all of this,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/style/karl-lagerfeld-metoo-comments-you-don-t-want-your-pants-pulled-don-t-become-a-model-1102596/\">the designer said\u003c/a>, “are the starlets who have taken 20 years to remember what happened.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Literally stunning!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Cara Delevingne\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928520\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928520\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486932554-scaled-e1682987052540-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A white woman with cropped shaggy silver hair stands on a red carpet surrounded by photographers, fanning out a huge white cape from a mini dress. Her legs are covered with black leather sheaths.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486932554-scaled-e1682987052540-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486932554-scaled-e1682987052540-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486932554-scaled-e1682987052540-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486932554-scaled-e1682987052540-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486932554-scaled-e1682987052540-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486932554-scaled-e1682987052540.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cara Delevingne being di(la)vine at the 2023 Met Gala. \u003ccite>(Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cara Delevingne is one of the most in-demand models in the world not just because of her looks, but because of her tough persona and assertive edge. I wonder if she remembers that time in 2018 when \u003ca href=\"https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/style/karl-lagerfeld-metoo-comments-you-don-t-want-your-pants-pulled-don-t-become-a-model-1102596/\">Karl Lagerfeld wanted models to stop speaking up for themselves\u003c/a>?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I read somewhere that now you must ask a model if she is comfortable with posing,” Lagerfeld said. “It’s simply too much; from now on, as a designer, you can’t do anything. It’s unbelievable. If you don’t want your pants pulled about, don’t become a model. Join a nunnery. There’ll always be a place for you in the convent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sensational!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Cardi B\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928522\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928522\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486936357-800x554.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman wearing a dramatic black gown with white sleeveless collared shirt and black tie underneath, stands on the red carpet, gloved arms outstretched. She is wearing a long, straight, silver wig.\" width=\"800\" height=\"554\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486936357-800x554.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486936357-1020x707.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486936357-160x111.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486936357-768x532.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486936357-1536x1064.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486936357-2048x1419.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486936357-1920x1330.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Talented rapper and tattooed human, Cardi B. \u003ccite>(Matt Winkelmeyer/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The rapper arrived in a bell-shaped gown paired with boss-lady collared shirt and black tie. Cardi’s silver wig was a nod to Lagerfeld’s own strange mane, which is super fun when you think about that time the designer said: “I think tattoos are horrible. It’s like living in a Pucci dress full-time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hope you like Pucci, Cardi!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Janelle Monáe\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928521\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928521\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486933737-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman wearing a stunned facial expression stands wearing an oversized conical black and white suit coat, held up by a wired underskirt.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486933737-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486933737-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486933737-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486933737-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486933737-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486933737-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486933737-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Janelle Monáe doing iconic weeble business. \u003ccite>(Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Janelle Monáe upped the theatricality with an avant-garde, oversized, conical-shaped, black and white coat that she later whipped off to reveal a structured, mesh underskirt. While there is zero evidence to support this theory, I am hoping this illusion of largeness was a nod to the time Karl Lagerfeld said: “The hole in social security, it’s also [because of] all the diseases caught by people who are too fat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cool!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>David Byrne\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928512\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928512\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486913679-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a crisp white suit and casual sneakers stands on a red carpet with a bicycle, smiling.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486913679-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486913679-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486913679-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486913679-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486913679-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486913679-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486913679-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Byrne and his bicycle. \u003ccite>(Mike Coppola/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Talking Heads legend David Byrne showed up in a crisp white suit with his bicycle — an excellent accessory, tailor-made to get grease all over your couture as you haul it up the stairs. Something about this striking look was reminiscent of the time Karl Lagerfeld declared: “\u003ca href=\"https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/designers/a26405187/karl-lagerfeld-quotes/\">I hate intellectual conversation with intellectuals because I only care about my opinion\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perfection!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Lil Nas X\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928517\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928517\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486925234-800x559.jpg\" alt=\"A man in silver body paint and crystal-encrusted face mask strikes a pose in front of a white curtain. He is wearing only a loin cloth.\" width=\"800\" height=\"559\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486925234-800x559.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486925234-1020x712.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486925234-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486925234-768x536.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486925234-1536x1073.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486925234-2048x1431.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486925234-1920x1341.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lil Nas X in a typically understated silver ensemble. \u003ccite>(Matt Winkelmeyer/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lil Nas X showed up in a subtle silver number that emphasized his, uh, assets. Because of his status as a queer icon, it’s hard not to think about the time Karl Lagerfeld endorsed marriage equality on the runway, then immediately told everyone \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2013/jan/22/karl-lagerfeld-chanel-gay-marriage\">he was “less keen” on gay couples being allowed to adopt\u003c/a> children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So awesome!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Michaela Coel\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928516\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928516\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486916795-scaled-e1682984031541-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A beautiful black woman with feline features and cornrows wears a heavily beaded gold gown.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486916795-scaled-e1682984031541-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486916795-scaled-e1682984031541-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486916795-scaled-e1682984031541-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486916795-scaled-e1682984031541-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486916795-scaled-e1682984031541-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486916795-scaled-e1682984031541.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A look so perfect, it would have rendered even Karl Lagerfeld speechless. \u003ccite>(Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Holy crap. Michaela Coel looked so dazzling, I briefly stopped thinking about what a troll Karl Lagerfeld was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thank you, Michaela Coel, for allowing me to not think about Karl Lagerfeld for three minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Gisele Bündchen\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928514\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928514\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486917532-scaled-e1682982093446-800x570.jpg\" alt=\"A beautiful woman spins on the red carpet wearing a full-length crystal-beaded gown and a full length feather shrug.\" width=\"800\" height=\"570\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486917532-scaled-e1682982093446-800x570.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486917532-scaled-e1682982093446-1020x727.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486917532-scaled-e1682982093446-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486917532-scaled-e1682982093446-768x548.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486917532-scaled-e1682982093446-1536x1095.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486917532-scaled-e1682982093446.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gisele Bündchen wearing about 57,000 birds. \u003ccite>(Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Giselle had a sparkly, swan-inspired moment on the red carpet, spinning her full-length feather cape for awaiting photographers. It was hard to see all those feathers without recalling the time in 2009 when Karl Lagerfeld insisted on \u003ca href=\"http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG4075783/Karl-Lagerfeld-defends-fur-industry-saying-beasts-would-kill-us-if-we-didnt-kill-them.html\">giving his two cents about the use of animal products\u003c/a> in couture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In a meat-eating world, wearing leather for shoes and clothes and even handbags, the discussion of fur is childish.” He was also careful to note that the dead animals in question were merely “beasts who would kill us if they could.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Screw you, fluffy animals!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Lizzo and Jared Leto\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928519\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928519\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486928126-scaled-e1682986187433-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A plus-sized Black woman in a full-length black gown covered in strings of white pearls stands on a busy red carpet talking to someone in a giant fluffy cat costume.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486928126-scaled-e1682986187433-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486928126-scaled-e1682986187433-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486928126-scaled-e1682986187433-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486928126-scaled-e1682986187433-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486928126-scaled-e1682986187433-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486928126-scaled-e1682986187433.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jared Leto, dressed as Karl Lagerfeld’s cat Choupette, chats with Lizzo. \u003ccite>(Mike Coppola/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I was super into watching Lizzo converse with a human-sized cat until I:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(a) found out that the cat costume was, in fact, inhabited by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13865555/thirty-seconds-to-mars-jared-leto-started-a-cult-because-of-course-he-did\">human pretension factory Jared Leto\u003c/a>, and,\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(b) remembered that time Karl Lagerfeld said of another plus-sized songstress, Adele: “She’s a little too fat but she has a beautiful face.” Later Lagerfeld implied that his unsolicited comments about her physique actually did Adele a favor. “After that,” he said, “she lost eight kilos [17.6 pounds] so I think the message was not that bad.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Give me strength, Lord.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Doja Cat\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928523\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928523\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486937845-scaled-e1682989079658-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman wearing face enhancements that make her look like a cat poses on the red carpet. She's wearing a silver gown with hood that has cat ear embellishments.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486937845-scaled-e1682989079658-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486937845-scaled-e1682989079658-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486937845-scaled-e1682989079658-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486937845-scaled-e1682989079658-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486937845-scaled-e1682989079658-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486937845-scaled-e1682989079658.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Doja Cat = Literal cat now. Cool. \u003ccite>(Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Karl Lagerfeld)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One time, offering unsolicited commentary about Lana Del Rey’s appearance, Karl Lagerfeld said: “In her photos, she is beautiful. Is she a construct with all her implants?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How’s this for a construct, Karl? Doja Cat is an actual cat now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mic drop!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Ashley Graham\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928515\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928515\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486923634-800x593.jpg\" alt=\"A beautiful white woman wearing a tight fitting pink and black off-the-shoulder gown with embellishments around her ankles, hips and elbows to emphasize her curves.\" width=\"800\" height=\"593\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486923634-800x593.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486923634-1020x757.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486923634-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486923634-768x570.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486923634-1536x1139.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486923634-2048x1519.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-1486923634-1920x1424.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ashley Graham in a stunning pink and black off-the-shoulder gown. \u003ccite>(Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Karl Lagerfeld)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Body positivity leader and plus-sized model Ashley Graham was stunning in a figure-hugging gown with embellishments that served to emphasize her curves. One can’t help but wonder how Karl Lagerfeld would receive this look today, given his 2009 statement that: “\u003ca href=\"https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/no-one-wants-to-see-curvy-women-karl-lagerfeld-20091012-gskk.html\">No one wants to see curvy women\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Get outta here, you!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>May next year’s theme be much, much easier to not think about.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "san-jose-chopsticks-alley-gallery-southeast-asian-artists",
"title": "San José’s Chopsticks Alley Centers the Work of Southeast Asian Artists",
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"headTitle": "San José’s Chopsticks Alley Centers the Work of Southeast Asian Artists | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Behind the storefront windows of the former Zanotto’s grocery store in San José sits a new gallery with an elongated, narrow design — not unlike an alley. Its name, then, is fitting: Chopsticks Alley Gallery, which showcases the work of emerging and established Southeast Asian artists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside, the current solo exhibition from Santa Rosa designer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tuantsf/\">Tuan Tran\u003c/a> features haute couture designs that fuse Vietnamese culture and recycled materials. Sculptures made from electrical wire echo the traditional weaves of fishing nets. A luminescent dress pays homage to powerful female warriors like \u003ca href=\"https://vietnamtrips.com/the-trung-sisters-of-vietnam\">the Trung Sisters\u003c/a>, who successfully rebelled against the Chinese Han in 40 A.D.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13926203,arts_13923743' label='More from San José']In fact, each beautiful and skillfully crafted piece in \u003cem>Mẹ Earth: Past, Present, Future\u003c/em> tells a story of Vietnam’s rich heritage and the ingenuity of its people. It’s exactly the type of show that Trami Cron, the gallery’s founder and executive director, wants to see more of in San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Born to artistic parents in Saigon toward the end of the Vietnam War, Cron has taken an indirect path to organizing visual art exhibitions. “My mom was always worried about the ‘starving artist’ path for me and encouraged me towards medicine or law,” she explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cron followed the corporate track for a few years, but ultimately left her job in pharmaceutical and medical device sales to pursue her own passions. She’s since become an important advocate for San José’s Southeast Asian residents, a demographic that makes up 18% of the city’s population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chopsticks Alley began as an online foodie group, which Cron formed to share Vietnamese recipes and to promote her 2016 book, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.vietnameazy.com/\">VietnamEazy: A Novel About Mothers, Daughters and Food\u003c/a>\u003c/em>. Explaining the name, Cron notes that “alleys in Asia aren’t scary places like here. Alleys are where things happen; they are busy places where people get together over food, gamble, and do other fun stuff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the group grew to 3,500 members, it expanded to include cook-offs, food contests to raise money for unhoused children, and a publication for young people to learn more about their Vietnamese culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13926493\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/ChopsticksAlley_installationview_byCherriLakey-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Sunny view of long gallery space with four mannequins in dresses\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1896\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13926493\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/ChopsticksAlley_installationview_byCherriLakey-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/ChopsticksAlley_installationview_byCherriLakey-800x592.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/ChopsticksAlley_installationview_byCherriLakey-1020x755.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/ChopsticksAlley_installationview_byCherriLakey-160x118.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/ChopsticksAlley_installationview_byCherriLakey-768x569.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/ChopsticksAlley_installationview_byCherriLakey-1536x1137.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/ChopsticksAlley_installationview_byCherriLakey-2048x1517.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/ChopsticksAlley_installationview_byCherriLakey-1920x1422.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Installation view of ‘Mẹ Earth: Past, Present, Future’ at Chopsticks Alley. \u003ccite>(Cherri Lakey)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then, in 2016, Cron met with the San José Museum of Art, which had received a grant for a Vietnamese community outreach initiative. Cron quickly realized that Southeast Asian artists were underrepresented at the institution, and accepted a position as project coordinator. Since making the jump into visual arts, she has coordinated two exhibitions per year, in partnership with South Bay venues like ArtObject Gallery, Evergreen College and the Triton Museum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just traveled to places, and in many ways it worked out because we brought our work to where the people are,” Cron recalls. “And because of those pop-up exhibits, people learned about us and already knew who we were when we opened this gallery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cron’s curatorial vision for the Chopsticks Alley Gallery is to bring emerging artists together with established elders, bridging the generational gap in the Southeast Asian community. Cron believes that elders’ work is often overlooked or thought of as a hobby, while the younger generation is pushed away from their artistic passions towards careers in engineering and other practical fields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13926942\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Dragondetail_TuanTran_web_sq.jpg\" alt=\"Mesh origami-like sculpture of a dragon on shoulder of mannequin\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13926942\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Dragondetail_TuanTran_web_sq.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Dragondetail_TuanTran_web_sq-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Dragondetail_TuanTran_web_sq-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sculpted dragon detail on one of Tuan Tran’s dresses at Chopsticks Alley. \u003ccite>(Cherri Lakey)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This de-emphasis on art leads to a lack of representation, Cron explains. “You get to see a lot of voices from other communities, but none from the Southeast Asian perspective — because we’re not allowed to make art,” she points out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, Cron believes the generational gap in the Southeast Asian community has left its youth feeling distant from their culture and heritage. “I introduce the elders so that the young people know — ‘Look, we’ve always been here, we’ve always created art’ — and for the older folks to see how amazing the young people are,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the focus at Chopsticks Alley is on Southeast Asian artists, the gallery’s first exhibit, which opened Dec. 2, 2022, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.chopsticksalleyart.org/xanh\">Xanh / Are you feeling blue?\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, included artists from the broader community — something Cron plans to do annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the gallery continues to develop its program, Cron is committed to mentoring young art administrators who can stay with the gallery in leadership roles. She hopes to create a strong foundation for Chopsticks Alley before she seeks out her next passion project: mentoring women professionals in achieving work-life balance and overall well-being.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Mẹ Earth: Past, Present, Future’ is on view through May 21, 2023. \u003ca href=\"https://www.chopsticksalleyart.org/\">Details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Behind the storefront windows of the former Zanotto’s grocery store in San José sits a new gallery with an elongated, narrow design — not unlike an alley. Its name, then, is fitting: Chopsticks Alley Gallery, which showcases the work of emerging and established Southeast Asian artists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside, the current solo exhibition from Santa Rosa designer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tuantsf/\">Tuan Tran\u003c/a> features haute couture designs that fuse Vietnamese culture and recycled materials. Sculptures made from electrical wire echo the traditional weaves of fishing nets. A luminescent dress pays homage to powerful female warriors like \u003ca href=\"https://vietnamtrips.com/the-trung-sisters-of-vietnam\">the Trung Sisters\u003c/a>, who successfully rebelled against the Chinese Han in 40 A.D.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In fact, each beautiful and skillfully crafted piece in \u003cem>Mẹ Earth: Past, Present, Future\u003c/em> tells a story of Vietnam’s rich heritage and the ingenuity of its people. It’s exactly the type of show that Trami Cron, the gallery’s founder and executive director, wants to see more of in San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Born to artistic parents in Saigon toward the end of the Vietnam War, Cron has taken an indirect path to organizing visual art exhibitions. “My mom was always worried about the ‘starving artist’ path for me and encouraged me towards medicine or law,” she explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cron followed the corporate track for a few years, but ultimately left her job in pharmaceutical and medical device sales to pursue her own passions. She’s since become an important advocate for San José’s Southeast Asian residents, a demographic that makes up 18% of the city’s population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chopsticks Alley began as an online foodie group, which Cron formed to share Vietnamese recipes and to promote her 2016 book, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.vietnameazy.com/\">VietnamEazy: A Novel About Mothers, Daughters and Food\u003c/a>\u003c/em>. Explaining the name, Cron notes that “alleys in Asia aren’t scary places like here. Alleys are where things happen; they are busy places where people get together over food, gamble, and do other fun stuff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the group grew to 3,500 members, it expanded to include cook-offs, food contests to raise money for unhoused children, and a publication for young people to learn more about their Vietnamese culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13926493\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/ChopsticksAlley_installationview_byCherriLakey-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Sunny view of long gallery space with four mannequins in dresses\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1896\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13926493\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/ChopsticksAlley_installationview_byCherriLakey-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/ChopsticksAlley_installationview_byCherriLakey-800x592.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/ChopsticksAlley_installationview_byCherriLakey-1020x755.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/ChopsticksAlley_installationview_byCherriLakey-160x118.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/ChopsticksAlley_installationview_byCherriLakey-768x569.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/ChopsticksAlley_installationview_byCherriLakey-1536x1137.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/ChopsticksAlley_installationview_byCherriLakey-2048x1517.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/ChopsticksAlley_installationview_byCherriLakey-1920x1422.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Installation view of ‘Mẹ Earth: Past, Present, Future’ at Chopsticks Alley. \u003ccite>(Cherri Lakey)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then, in 2016, Cron met with the San José Museum of Art, which had received a grant for a Vietnamese community outreach initiative. Cron quickly realized that Southeast Asian artists were underrepresented at the institution, and accepted a position as project coordinator. Since making the jump into visual arts, she has coordinated two exhibitions per year, in partnership with South Bay venues like ArtObject Gallery, Evergreen College and the Triton Museum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just traveled to places, and in many ways it worked out because we brought our work to where the people are,” Cron recalls. “And because of those pop-up exhibits, people learned about us and already knew who we were when we opened this gallery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cron’s curatorial vision for the Chopsticks Alley Gallery is to bring emerging artists together with established elders, bridging the generational gap in the Southeast Asian community. Cron believes that elders’ work is often overlooked or thought of as a hobby, while the younger generation is pushed away from their artistic passions towards careers in engineering and other practical fields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13926942\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Dragondetail_TuanTran_web_sq.jpg\" alt=\"Mesh origami-like sculpture of a dragon on shoulder of mannequin\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13926942\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Dragondetail_TuanTran_web_sq.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Dragondetail_TuanTran_web_sq-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Dragondetail_TuanTran_web_sq-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sculpted dragon detail on one of Tuan Tran’s dresses at Chopsticks Alley. \u003ccite>(Cherri Lakey)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This de-emphasis on art leads to a lack of representation, Cron explains. “You get to see a lot of voices from other communities, but none from the Southeast Asian perspective — because we’re not allowed to make art,” she points out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, Cron believes the generational gap in the Southeast Asian community has left its youth feeling distant from their culture and heritage. “I introduce the elders so that the young people know — ‘Look, we’ve always been here, we’ve always created art’ — and for the older folks to see how amazing the young people are,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the focus at Chopsticks Alley is on Southeast Asian artists, the gallery’s first exhibit, which opened Dec. 2, 2022, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.chopsticksalleyart.org/xanh\">Xanh / Are you feeling blue?\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, included artists from the broader community — something Cron plans to do annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the gallery continues to develop its program, Cron is committed to mentoring young art administrators who can stay with the gallery in leadership roles. She hopes to create a strong foundation for Chopsticks Alley before she seeks out her next passion project: mentoring women professionals in achieving work-life balance and overall well-being.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Mẹ Earth: Past, Present, Future’ is on view through May 21, 2023. \u003ca href=\"https://www.chopsticksalleyart.org/\">Details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Pharrell Named New Louis Vuitton Menswear Creative Director",
"headTitle": "Pharrell Named New Louis Vuitton Menswear Creative Director | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Louis Vuitton has named multitalented singer-songwriter-philanthropist Pharrell Williams creative director of its menswear division, replacing the late Virgil Abloh, the company said Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13925110']“Pharrell Williams is a visionary whose creative universes expand from music, to art and to fashion — establishing himself as a cultural, global icon over the past 20 years,” the luxury house said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Word on the appointment first broke in\u003cem> The Wall Street Journal\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Le Figaro\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The “Happy” singer is a 13-time Grammy winner and two-time Oscar nominee with experience working with luxury brands and designers like the late Karl Lagerfeld.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The appointment is effective immediately. Williams’ first collection is scheduled to be shown during Paris Men’s Fashion Week in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13925140\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13925140\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/GettyImages-1463596849-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A slender Black man wearing a red leather tracksuit and full length fur coat stands on the red carpet wearing bejeweled sunglasses. At his side is a beautiful mixed race woman with long dark hair. She is wearing a black version of the red tracksuit.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/GettyImages-1463596849-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/GettyImages-1463596849-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/GettyImages-1463596849-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/GettyImages-1463596849-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/GettyImages-1463596849-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/GettyImages-1463596849-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/GettyImages-1463596849-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pharrell Williams and Helen Lasichanh attend the 65th GRAMMY Awards, February 2023 in LA. \u003ccite>(Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The position had been left vacant since November 2021, when Abloh died of cancer at age 41. He was a groundbreaking designer and tastemaker known for merging streetwear and high fashion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Abloh’s ubiquitous, consumer-friendly presence in culture was wide-ranging and dynamic. Some compared him to Jeff Koons. Others hailed him as his generation’s Lagerfeld, Chanel’s longtime creative director who died in 2019. Abloh was the first Black director of menswear at Louis Vuitton, one of France’s most storied fashion houses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13925119']After Abloh’s death, the brand carried on with splashy men’s shows, largely without a creative director. Abloh, a DJ and founder of the brand Off-White, turned the job at Louis Vuitton into that of “curator,” rather than simply “designer,” as he expanded his interests into housewares, art, jewelry, industrial design and architecture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams collaborated with the luxury group LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) in 2004 and 2008. He had a massively popular sneaker collaboration with Chanel in 2017 and a unisex clothing collection in 2019 that he designed with Lagerfeld. He also has his own fashion brands, including Billionaire Boys Club and Icecream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“His creative vision beyond fashion will undoubtedly lead Louis Vuitton towards a new and very exciting chapter,” the brand’s new chairman and CEO, Pietro Beccari, said in the statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2023 AP. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the AP\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Louis Vuitton has named multitalented singer-songwriter-philanthropist Pharrell Williams creative director of its menswear division, replacing the late Virgil Abloh, the company said Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Pharrell Williams is a visionary whose creative universes expand from music, to art and to fashion — establishing himself as a cultural, global icon over the past 20 years,” the luxury house said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Word on the appointment first broke in\u003cem> The Wall Street Journal\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Le Figaro\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The “Happy” singer is a 13-time Grammy winner and two-time Oscar nominee with experience working with luxury brands and designers like the late Karl Lagerfeld.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The appointment is effective immediately. Williams’ first collection is scheduled to be shown during Paris Men’s Fashion Week in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13925140\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13925140\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/GettyImages-1463596849-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A slender Black man wearing a red leather tracksuit and full length fur coat stands on the red carpet wearing bejeweled sunglasses. At his side is a beautiful mixed race woman with long dark hair. She is wearing a black version of the red tracksuit.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/GettyImages-1463596849-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/GettyImages-1463596849-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/GettyImages-1463596849-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/GettyImages-1463596849-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/GettyImages-1463596849-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/GettyImages-1463596849-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/GettyImages-1463596849-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pharrell Williams and Helen Lasichanh attend the 65th GRAMMY Awards, February 2023 in LA. \u003ccite>(Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The position had been left vacant since November 2021, when Abloh died of cancer at age 41. He was a groundbreaking designer and tastemaker known for merging streetwear and high fashion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Abloh’s ubiquitous, consumer-friendly presence in culture was wide-ranging and dynamic. Some compared him to Jeff Koons. Others hailed him as his generation’s Lagerfeld, Chanel’s longtime creative director who died in 2019. Abloh was the first Black director of menswear at Louis Vuitton, one of France’s most storied fashion houses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>After Abloh’s death, the brand carried on with splashy men’s shows, largely without a creative director. Abloh, a DJ and founder of the brand Off-White, turned the job at Louis Vuitton into that of “curator,” rather than simply “designer,” as he expanded his interests into housewares, art, jewelry, industrial design and architecture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams collaborated with the luxury group LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) in 2004 and 2008. He had a massively popular sneaker collaboration with Chanel in 2017 and a unisex clothing collection in 2019 that he designed with Lagerfeld. He also has his own fashion brands, including Billionaire Boys Club and Icecream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“His creative vision beyond fashion will undoubtedly lead Louis Vuitton towards a new and very exciting chapter,” the brand’s new chairman and CEO, Pietro Beccari, said in the statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2023 AP. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the AP\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Rihanna’s Maternity Style Isn’t Just Fashionable. It’s Revolutionary, Experts Say",
"headTitle": "Rihanna’s Maternity Style Isn’t Just Fashionable. It’s Revolutionary, Experts Say | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Rihanna has already been praised for redefining maternity fashion, having rocked crop tops, low-rise pants and \u003ca href=\"https://www.glamour.com/story/rihanna-pregnancy-style-lingerie-dior\">lingerie\u003c/a> during her first pregnancy last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So after the singer-slash-business-mogul-slash-fashion-icon revealed her baby bump at Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime show, fans were quick to share their excitement — not just for her growing family, but about her future outfits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/allurequinn/status/1624960758911213568\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rihanna has described her maternity style as “rebellious,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.bustle.com/style/rihanna-pregnancy-style\">telling \u003cem>Bustle \u003c/em>\u003c/a>last year that she had challenged herself to be creative and didn’t want to buy maternity clothes or do “whatever society told me to do before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m hoping that we were able to redefine what’s considered ‘decent’ for pregnant women,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.vogue.com/article/rihanna-cover-may-2022\">Rihanna told \u003cem>Vogue\u003c/em>\u003c/a> in April. “My body is doing incredible things right now, and I’m not going to be ashamed of that. This time should feel celebratory. Because why should you be hiding your pregnancy?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And pregnancy No. 2 appears to be off to a similar start, given that she announced it in an all-red flight suit/breastplate/puffer coat ensemble while suspended on a glass platform high in the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13847561']Rihanna’s influence as an “executive and visual mastermind” makes her pregnancy style “impactful and worth discussing,” Solange Franklin, a stylist and consultant, told NPR via email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Her unabashed style is a flair to the world that says ‘look at me, look at us’ and to be seen on your own terms is powerful and thrilling,” Franklin added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rihanna isn’t the first celebrity to show off her pregnancy, or the only pregnant person to have worn a mesh top.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she has a massive platform, and design experts and historians tell NPR that what she’s doing is significant: By challenging society’s long-held notion that pregnant people should dress or look a certain way, she’s sparking a conversation about their role and rights — and one that advocates hope will lead to substantive change.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A brief history of maternity fashion\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Maternity wear as we know it has only been around since the 19th century, explains Serena Dyer, \u003ca href=\"https://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/academic-staff/art-design-humanities/serena-dyer/serena-dyer.aspx\">a historian of design\u003c/a> and material culture at De Montfort University in England.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before that, there wasn’t a clear distinction between maternity and regular fashion, in part because it was the norm for women to be married and spend a lot of their lives pregnant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clothes were made to be adaptable, with waistlines and other elements that could be added or removed as women’s sizes changed. (Dyer notes that stays, the precursor to corsets, weren’t actually as rigid as we tend to think nowadays.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13874517']The 19th century saw the commercialization of fashion and the emergence of distinct maternity clothes — as well as more “moralizing” around pregnancy as something to be concealed rather than celebrated, Dyer explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then as we go into the 20th century, it becomes even more commercialized,” she adds. “And the invention of things like lycra, spandex, elastane allow for these more specifically kind of stretchy maternity garments that are separate from the more kind of figure-revealing garments of a normal everyday fashion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13925121\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13925121\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1372824237-b7ad1946ad16aae8891719989edb4b9561ca8c82-scaled-e1676399084962-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A Black man wearing an all black outfit of jeans, t-shirt and denim jacket sits next to a heavily pregnant Black woman. She is wearing black pants, a black lace fitted crop top and a lilac fake fur stole.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1372824237-b7ad1946ad16aae8891719989edb4b9561ca8c82-scaled-e1676399084962-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1372824237-b7ad1946ad16aae8891719989edb4b9561ca8c82-scaled-e1676399084962-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1372824237-b7ad1946ad16aae8891719989edb4b9561ca8c82-scaled-e1676399084962-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1372824237-b7ad1946ad16aae8891719989edb4b9561ca8c82-scaled-e1676399084962-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1372824237-b7ad1946ad16aae8891719989edb4b9561ca8c82-scaled-e1676399084962-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1372824237-b7ad1946ad16aae8891719989edb4b9561ca8c82-scaled-e1676399084962.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rihanna and her partner A$AP Rocky pictured at Milan Fashion Week in February 2022. \u003ccite>(Victor Boyko/Getty Images for Gucci)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While there has been a recent push towards more “fashion-centered” lines, most modern maternity wear caters to comfort, Dyer says. Of course, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with sticking to stretchy, lose clothes during pregnancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, she says, there should be more options for pregnant people who want to show their identity through fashion — and that goes hand-in-hand with cultural acceptance. Dyer says we’re not quite there yet, but getting closer as stars \u003ca href=\"https://www.nme.com/news/music/beyonces-pregnancy-photo-named-instagrams-liked-2017-2166729\">like Beyoncé\u003c/a> and Rihanna have challenged the assumption that pregnant women need to dress modestly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re seeing more of a resistance to that and more women wanting to celebrate that changing body, show off that changing body and not necessarily feel like they have to cover themselves up or change who they are as women because they’re going through this process,” she adds.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Rihanna isn’t the first or only person to challenge the norm\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Rihanna stands on the shoulders of other women who have fought to make their pregnancies more visible, says \u003ca href=\"https://michellemillarfisher.com/\">Michelle Millar Fisher\u003c/a>, a curator at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and co-author of \u003cem>Designing Motherhood: Things That Make and Break Our Births\u003c/em> (she also leads an art and education program by the same name).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 20th century saw several pivotal moments in maternity fashion, she explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of them came in 1952, when Lucille Ball convinced her producers to let her keep acting on \u003cem>I Love Lucy \u003c/em>during her pregnancy. She used maternity fashion — most notably, \u003ca href=\"https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/10/invention-tie-waist-skirt-history-maternity-wear.html\">the tie-waist skirt\u003c/a> — to keep doing her job, and became the first pregnant person to be seen by a major TV audience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13925122\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13925122\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1238884308-c2a45ccececf3e7c7d832c24b1c141621332dcc2-scaled-e1676398933282-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A black and white image of a suave man in 1950s-era suit, holding the hand of a pregnant woman sitting on a couch. She is wearing a billowing pregnancy shirt. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1238884308-c2a45ccececf3e7c7d832c24b1c141621332dcc2-scaled-e1676398933282-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1238884308-c2a45ccececf3e7c7d832c24b1c141621332dcc2-scaled-e1676398933282-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1238884308-c2a45ccececf3e7c7d832c24b1c141621332dcc2-scaled-e1676398933282-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1238884308-c2a45ccececf3e7c7d832c24b1c141621332dcc2-scaled-e1676398933282-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1238884308-c2a45ccececf3e7c7d832c24b1c141621332dcc2-scaled-e1676398933282-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1238884308-c2a45ccececf3e7c7d832c24b1c141621332dcc2-scaled-e1676398933282.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In 1953, Lucille Ball became the first pregnant person to be seen by a major TV audience, on the ‘I Love Lucy’ show. \u003ccite>(CBS Photo Archive/CBS via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 1988, Afro-Swedish singer Neneh Cherry performed on the BBC series \u003cem>Top of The Pops \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/buffalo-stance.html\">while eight months pregnant\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And she was asked then, ‘Are you going to hurt the baby? Is this a worry for you?’ And she very bluntly and shortly said, ‘I’m not sick. I’m just pregnant. Get over it, basically,’ ” Fisher says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVVTTXGQNJo&t=1s\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several years later, a pregnant Demi Moore posed nude for the August 1991 \u003ca href=\"https://www.yahoo.com/video/demi-moore-pregnant-vanity-fair-cover-223924088.html\">cover of \u003cem>Vanity Fair\u003c/em>\u003c/a> magazine, which is considered one of photographer Annie Leibovitz’s most iconic and (at least at the time) controversial shoots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It helped change cultural perceptions around pregnancy, with Moore reflecting decades later on the impact it had on “on our permission to embrace ourselves in a pregnant state.” It also popularized the pregnancy photoshoot — though Dyer, the historian, says posing for “pregnancy portraits” was a trend back in the 16th and 17th centuries, before pregnancy became something to hide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More recently, Beyoncé broke the internet in 2017 with her Instagram pregnancy announcement — and Rihanna broke her news with a photoshoot in \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/01/31/1077002465/rihanna-pregnant\">Jan. 2022 too\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/BP-rXUGBPJa/?hl=en\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What Rihanna is doing with her wardrobe isn’t new, but it’s on a level that many non-celebrities can’t access, says Gabriella Nelson, a member of the Designing Motherhood collective who works in maternal health policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says throughout her life she’s seen women of color wearing mesh or crop tops while pregnant, but getting shamed instead of praised for it. Black women have been at the forefront of style and innovation for a long time, she adds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Imma stan Rihanna because I can,” Nelson says. “But I’m going to also stan the girls … that maybe will never see a Super Bowl stage or a runway fashion show or be in \u003cem>Vogue \u003c/em>or have their names mentioned in an article, because I know that they are also the vanguards of all of this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>How clothes could lead to change\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>All of the experts interviewed for this story say the point isn’t that pregnant people should all be donning red bodysuits or striving to dress like Rihanna (who happens to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2021/08/04/fentys-fortune-rihanna-is-now-officially-a-billionaire/\">one of the richest women\u003c/a> in the world).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='pop_88718']It’s that pregnant people — and all people, really — should feel comfortable doing whatever is right for their own bodies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whether we’re pregnant or not, whether we gained weight or lost weight or had surgery or whatever it is — however, our bodies change — we have the opportunity to express ourselves through what we adorn our bodies with,” Nelson says. “And so I want folks to get that from what Rihanna has done: Just be yourself. Do what you want to do, make your own lane and just have fun with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And part of the conversation should be about more than just fashion, Fisher says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She would like to see the celebration of Rihanna’s pregnancy spark more discussion of Black maternal mortality in the U.S. — which spends more money per capita on healthcare than any developed country in the world but has worse maternal and infant health outcomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. maternal mortality rate for Black women is \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2022/us-maternal-mortality-crisis-continues-worsen-international-comparison\">nearly three times higher\u003c/a> than the rate for white women. A recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/02/12/upshot/child-maternal-mortality-rich-poor.html\">\u003cem>New York Times \u003c/em>investigation\u003c/a> found that the risk remains disproportionately higher regardless of socioeconomic status: Even the richest Black mothers and their babies are twice as likely to die as the richest white mothers and babies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very easy for us to celebrate these moments when we have a ‘win’ for being able to see pregnancy in public,” Fisher says. “But they are often at the expense of real substantive policy change and real understanding of the ways in which it’s incredibly not just difficult, but dangerous, to be a birthing person — but specifically a birthing person of color — in the United States today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Substantial changes could include making medicine accessible to more Black doctors, investing more in doulas and passing a nationwide family leave policy. Fisher says she’d love it if every time someone reposted the picture of Rihanna’s Super Bowl outfit, they’d include some of those statistics and solutions too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s what I would like to see people really get a handle on,” she says. “Because otherwise it’s really just dressing up the issue in some very fancy clothes and not really getting to the heart of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">visit NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Rihanna%27s+maternity+style+isn%27t+just+fashionable.+It%27s+revolutionary%2C+experts+say&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Rihanna has already been praised for redefining maternity fashion, having rocked crop tops, low-rise pants and \u003ca href=\"https://www.glamour.com/story/rihanna-pregnancy-style-lingerie-dior\">lingerie\u003c/a> during her first pregnancy last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So after the singer-slash-business-mogul-slash-fashion-icon revealed her baby bump at Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime show, fans were quick to share their excitement — not just for her growing family, but about her future outfits.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Rihanna has described her maternity style as “rebellious,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.bustle.com/style/rihanna-pregnancy-style\">telling \u003cem>Bustle \u003c/em>\u003c/a>last year that she had challenged herself to be creative and didn’t want to buy maternity clothes or do “whatever society told me to do before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m hoping that we were able to redefine what’s considered ‘decent’ for pregnant women,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.vogue.com/article/rihanna-cover-may-2022\">Rihanna told \u003cem>Vogue\u003c/em>\u003c/a> in April. “My body is doing incredible things right now, and I’m not going to be ashamed of that. This time should feel celebratory. Because why should you be hiding your pregnancy?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And pregnancy No. 2 appears to be off to a similar start, given that she announced it in an all-red flight suit/breastplate/puffer coat ensemble while suspended on a glass platform high in the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Rihanna’s influence as an “executive and visual mastermind” makes her pregnancy style “impactful and worth discussing,” Solange Franklin, a stylist and consultant, told NPR via email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Her unabashed style is a flair to the world that says ‘look at me, look at us’ and to be seen on your own terms is powerful and thrilling,” Franklin added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rihanna isn’t the first celebrity to show off her pregnancy, or the only pregnant person to have worn a mesh top.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she has a massive platform, and design experts and historians tell NPR that what she’s doing is significant: By challenging society’s long-held notion that pregnant people should dress or look a certain way, she’s sparking a conversation about their role and rights — and one that advocates hope will lead to substantive change.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A brief history of maternity fashion\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Maternity wear as we know it has only been around since the 19th century, explains Serena Dyer, \u003ca href=\"https://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/academic-staff/art-design-humanities/serena-dyer/serena-dyer.aspx\">a historian of design\u003c/a> and material culture at De Montfort University in England.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before that, there wasn’t a clear distinction between maternity and regular fashion, in part because it was the norm for women to be married and spend a lot of their lives pregnant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clothes were made to be adaptable, with waistlines and other elements that could be added or removed as women’s sizes changed. (Dyer notes that stays, the precursor to corsets, weren’t actually as rigid as we tend to think nowadays.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The 19th century saw the commercialization of fashion and the emergence of distinct maternity clothes — as well as more “moralizing” around pregnancy as something to be concealed rather than celebrated, Dyer explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then as we go into the 20th century, it becomes even more commercialized,” she adds. “And the invention of things like lycra, spandex, elastane allow for these more specifically kind of stretchy maternity garments that are separate from the more kind of figure-revealing garments of a normal everyday fashion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13925121\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13925121\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1372824237-b7ad1946ad16aae8891719989edb4b9561ca8c82-scaled-e1676399084962-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A Black man wearing an all black outfit of jeans, t-shirt and denim jacket sits next to a heavily pregnant Black woman. She is wearing black pants, a black lace fitted crop top and a lilac fake fur stole.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1372824237-b7ad1946ad16aae8891719989edb4b9561ca8c82-scaled-e1676399084962-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1372824237-b7ad1946ad16aae8891719989edb4b9561ca8c82-scaled-e1676399084962-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1372824237-b7ad1946ad16aae8891719989edb4b9561ca8c82-scaled-e1676399084962-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1372824237-b7ad1946ad16aae8891719989edb4b9561ca8c82-scaled-e1676399084962-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1372824237-b7ad1946ad16aae8891719989edb4b9561ca8c82-scaled-e1676399084962-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1372824237-b7ad1946ad16aae8891719989edb4b9561ca8c82-scaled-e1676399084962.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rihanna and her partner A$AP Rocky pictured at Milan Fashion Week in February 2022. \u003ccite>(Victor Boyko/Getty Images for Gucci)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While there has been a recent push towards more “fashion-centered” lines, most modern maternity wear caters to comfort, Dyer says. Of course, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with sticking to stretchy, lose clothes during pregnancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, she says, there should be more options for pregnant people who want to show their identity through fashion — and that goes hand-in-hand with cultural acceptance. Dyer says we’re not quite there yet, but getting closer as stars \u003ca href=\"https://www.nme.com/news/music/beyonces-pregnancy-photo-named-instagrams-liked-2017-2166729\">like Beyoncé\u003c/a> and Rihanna have challenged the assumption that pregnant women need to dress modestly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re seeing more of a resistance to that and more women wanting to celebrate that changing body, show off that changing body and not necessarily feel like they have to cover themselves up or change who they are as women because they’re going through this process,” she adds.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Rihanna isn’t the first or only person to challenge the norm\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Rihanna stands on the shoulders of other women who have fought to make their pregnancies more visible, says \u003ca href=\"https://michellemillarfisher.com/\">Michelle Millar Fisher\u003c/a>, a curator at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and co-author of \u003cem>Designing Motherhood: Things That Make and Break Our Births\u003c/em> (she also leads an art and education program by the same name).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 20th century saw several pivotal moments in maternity fashion, she explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of them came in 1952, when Lucille Ball convinced her producers to let her keep acting on \u003cem>I Love Lucy \u003c/em>during her pregnancy. She used maternity fashion — most notably, \u003ca href=\"https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/10/invention-tie-waist-skirt-history-maternity-wear.html\">the tie-waist skirt\u003c/a> — to keep doing her job, and became the first pregnant person to be seen by a major TV audience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13925122\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13925122\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1238884308-c2a45ccececf3e7c7d832c24b1c141621332dcc2-scaled-e1676398933282-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A black and white image of a suave man in 1950s-era suit, holding the hand of a pregnant woman sitting on a couch. She is wearing a billowing pregnancy shirt. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1238884308-c2a45ccececf3e7c7d832c24b1c141621332dcc2-scaled-e1676398933282-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1238884308-c2a45ccececf3e7c7d832c24b1c141621332dcc2-scaled-e1676398933282-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1238884308-c2a45ccececf3e7c7d832c24b1c141621332dcc2-scaled-e1676398933282-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1238884308-c2a45ccececf3e7c7d832c24b1c141621332dcc2-scaled-e1676398933282-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1238884308-c2a45ccececf3e7c7d832c24b1c141621332dcc2-scaled-e1676398933282-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/02/gettyimages-1238884308-c2a45ccececf3e7c7d832c24b1c141621332dcc2-scaled-e1676398933282.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In 1953, Lucille Ball became the first pregnant person to be seen by a major TV audience, on the ‘I Love Lucy’ show. \u003ccite>(CBS Photo Archive/CBS via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 1988, Afro-Swedish singer Neneh Cherry performed on the BBC series \u003cem>Top of The Pops \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/buffalo-stance.html\">while eight months pregnant\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And she was asked then, ‘Are you going to hurt the baby? Is this a worry for you?’ And she very bluntly and shortly said, ‘I’m not sick. I’m just pregnant. Get over it, basically,’ ” Fisher says.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/gVVTTXGQNJo'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/gVVTTXGQNJo'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Several years later, a pregnant Demi Moore posed nude for the August 1991 \u003ca href=\"https://www.yahoo.com/video/demi-moore-pregnant-vanity-fair-cover-223924088.html\">cover of \u003cem>Vanity Fair\u003c/em>\u003c/a> magazine, which is considered one of photographer Annie Leibovitz’s most iconic and (at least at the time) controversial shoots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It helped change cultural perceptions around pregnancy, with Moore reflecting decades later on the impact it had on “on our permission to embrace ourselves in a pregnant state.” It also popularized the pregnancy photoshoot — though Dyer, the historian, says posing for “pregnancy portraits” was a trend back in the 16th and 17th centuries, before pregnancy became something to hide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More recently, Beyoncé broke the internet in 2017 with her Instagram pregnancy announcement — and Rihanna broke her news with a photoshoot in \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/01/31/1077002465/rihanna-pregnant\">Jan. 2022 too\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>What Rihanna is doing with her wardrobe isn’t new, but it’s on a level that many non-celebrities can’t access, says Gabriella Nelson, a member of the Designing Motherhood collective who works in maternal health policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says throughout her life she’s seen women of color wearing mesh or crop tops while pregnant, but getting shamed instead of praised for it. Black women have been at the forefront of style and innovation for a long time, she adds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Imma stan Rihanna because I can,” Nelson says. “But I’m going to also stan the girls … that maybe will never see a Super Bowl stage or a runway fashion show or be in \u003cem>Vogue \u003c/em>or have their names mentioned in an article, because I know that they are also the vanguards of all of this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>How clothes could lead to change\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>All of the experts interviewed for this story say the point isn’t that pregnant people should all be donning red bodysuits or striving to dress like Rihanna (who happens to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2021/08/04/fentys-fortune-rihanna-is-now-officially-a-billionaire/\">one of the richest women\u003c/a> in the world).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>It’s that pregnant people — and all people, really — should feel comfortable doing whatever is right for their own bodies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whether we’re pregnant or not, whether we gained weight or lost weight or had surgery or whatever it is — however, our bodies change — we have the opportunity to express ourselves through what we adorn our bodies with,” Nelson says. “And so I want folks to get that from what Rihanna has done: Just be yourself. Do what you want to do, make your own lane and just have fun with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And part of the conversation should be about more than just fashion, Fisher says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She would like to see the celebration of Rihanna’s pregnancy spark more discussion of Black maternal mortality in the U.S. — which spends more money per capita on healthcare than any developed country in the world but has worse maternal and infant health outcomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. maternal mortality rate for Black women is \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2022/us-maternal-mortality-crisis-continues-worsen-international-comparison\">nearly three times higher\u003c/a> than the rate for white women. A recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/02/12/upshot/child-maternal-mortality-rich-poor.html\">\u003cem>New York Times \u003c/em>investigation\u003c/a> found that the risk remains disproportionately higher regardless of socioeconomic status: Even the richest Black mothers and their babies are twice as likely to die as the richest white mothers and babies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very easy for us to celebrate these moments when we have a ‘win’ for being able to see pregnancy in public,” Fisher says. “But they are often at the expense of real substantive policy change and real understanding of the ways in which it’s incredibly not just difficult, but dangerous, to be a birthing person — but specifically a birthing person of color — in the United States today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Substantial changes could include making medicine accessible to more Black doctors, investing more in doulas and passing a nationwide family leave policy. Fisher says she’d love it if every time someone reposted the picture of Rihanna’s Super Bowl outfit, they’d include some of those statistics and solutions too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s what I would like to see people really get a handle on,” she says. “Because otherwise it’s really just dressing up the issue in some very fancy clothes and not really getting to the heart of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">visit NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Rihanna%27s+maternity+style+isn%27t+just+fashionable.+It%27s+revolutionary%2C+experts+say&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Black Designer Stella Jean Quits Milan Fashion Week Over Lack of Inclusion",
"headTitle": "Black Designer Stella Jean Quits Milan Fashion Week Over Lack of Inclusion | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The only Black designer belonging to Italy’s fashion council is withdrawing from this month’s Milan Fashion Week citing a lack of commitment to diversity and inclusion, and on Wednesday announced a hunger strike out of concern that other minority designers associated with her will suffer a backlash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stella Jean told The Associated Press that the Italian National Fashion Chamber had significantly cut back support for the We Are Made in Italy collective of young designers of color working in Italy after she made an impassioned speech about the personal price she had paid for highlighting racial injustice in Italy during a runway show last September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13920956']Along with Stella Jean, the WAMI collective is withdrawing from fashion week, which they were to open with a digital presentation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Italian Fashion Chamber President Carlo Capasa told the AP that he regretted Stella Jean’s decision, adding that the final fashion week calendar being presented Wednesday is “full of diversity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the calendar that we are presenting today, you will see all that we are doing for people of color who are working in Italy,″ Capasa told the AP. A news conference was scheduled for later Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jean sent a letter to Capasa informing him of her hunger strike, which she said would be revoked only with his written assurance that no professional harm would come to the WAMI designers and supports “as a result of our history of misunderstanding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This admittedly extreme measure of mine stems from having heard several voices from the collective worried about ‘soft’ or ‘hard’ repercussions, including difficulty in securing funding and services from sponsors and partners, given the power wielded by you as president of the chamber in the industry,” she wrote in a letter obtained by the AP.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13916547']Capasa said he hadn’t yet read the letter and was unaware of the hunger strike and WAMI’s withdrawal. Both Stella Jean and WAMI appeared on a draft of the Milan Fashion Week calendar of mostly womenswear previews for next winter released last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>WAMI was launched on the heels of the Black Lives Matters movement in 2020 by Jean, African-American designer Edward Buchanan and the head of Afro Fashion Week Milano, Michelle Ngonmo, to draw attention to the lack of minority representation in the Italian fashion world. It followed some racial gaffes by major fashion houses that made global headlines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ngonmo told the AP that financial support for the project from the chamber had dwindled over the three years it has run so far, and that Afro Fashion Week Milano wasn’t able to come up with the 20,000 euros ($21,000) it would have cost to support the five young designers in making solid looks to present, plus a video.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Italian fashion chamber fully supported the collections for the two WAMI classes, each with five designers, but that the third generation hasn’t received any funding from the chamber, Ngonmo and Jean said. The September show featuring Jean, Buchanan and WAMI was financed through other allies and their own contributions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe the message is the whole industry needs to open their eyes and say what can we do to make that happen?” Ngonmo told the AP.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13905720']A WAMI designer, Joy Meribe, opened Milan Fashion Week previews for spring-summer 2022, in a major milestone for the movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Jean said that such moves had turned out to be “performative.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They used WAMI as a free pass of safe conduct for diversity,” Jean told the AP. She said she was withdrawing out of fatigue with the “continual fight” for recognition for designers of color in Italy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am a fighter by nature, but I cannot be this way all the time,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2023 AP. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the AP\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Jean charges that Milan Fashion Week’s DEI efforts have so far amounted to performative gestures and tokenism.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The only Black designer belonging to Italy’s fashion council is withdrawing from this month’s Milan Fashion Week citing a lack of commitment to diversity and inclusion, and on Wednesday announced a hunger strike out of concern that other minority designers associated with her will suffer a backlash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stella Jean told The Associated Press that the Italian National Fashion Chamber had significantly cut back support for the We Are Made in Italy collective of young designers of color working in Italy after she made an impassioned speech about the personal price she had paid for highlighting racial injustice in Italy during a runway show last September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Along with Stella Jean, the WAMI collective is withdrawing from fashion week, which they were to open with a digital presentation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Italian Fashion Chamber President Carlo Capasa told the AP that he regretted Stella Jean’s decision, adding that the final fashion week calendar being presented Wednesday is “full of diversity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the calendar that we are presenting today, you will see all that we are doing for people of color who are working in Italy,″ Capasa told the AP. A news conference was scheduled for later Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jean sent a letter to Capasa informing him of her hunger strike, which she said would be revoked only with his written assurance that no professional harm would come to the WAMI designers and supports “as a result of our history of misunderstanding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This admittedly extreme measure of mine stems from having heard several voices from the collective worried about ‘soft’ or ‘hard’ repercussions, including difficulty in securing funding and services from sponsors and partners, given the power wielded by you as president of the chamber in the industry,” she wrote in a letter obtained by the AP.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Capasa said he hadn’t yet read the letter and was unaware of the hunger strike and WAMI’s withdrawal. Both Stella Jean and WAMI appeared on a draft of the Milan Fashion Week calendar of mostly womenswear previews for next winter released last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>WAMI was launched on the heels of the Black Lives Matters movement in 2020 by Jean, African-American designer Edward Buchanan and the head of Afro Fashion Week Milano, Michelle Ngonmo, to draw attention to the lack of minority representation in the Italian fashion world. It followed some racial gaffes by major fashion houses that made global headlines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ngonmo told the AP that financial support for the project from the chamber had dwindled over the three years it has run so far, and that Afro Fashion Week Milano wasn’t able to come up with the 20,000 euros ($21,000) it would have cost to support the five young designers in making solid looks to present, plus a video.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Italian fashion chamber fully supported the collections for the two WAMI classes, each with five designers, but that the third generation hasn’t received any funding from the chamber, Ngonmo and Jean said. The September show featuring Jean, Buchanan and WAMI was financed through other allies and their own contributions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe the message is the whole industry needs to open their eyes and say what can we do to make that happen?” Ngonmo told the AP.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>A WAMI designer, Joy Meribe, opened Milan Fashion Week previews for spring-summer 2022, in a major milestone for the movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Jean said that such moves had turned out to be “performative.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They used WAMI as a free pass of safe conduct for diversity,” Jean told the AP. She said she was withdrawing out of fatigue with the “continual fight” for recognition for designers of color in Italy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am a fighter by nature, but I cannot be this way all the time,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2023 AP. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the AP\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "the-bay-area-was-hip-hop-before-there-was-hip-hop",
"title": "The Bay Area Was Hip-Hop Before There Was Hip-Hop",
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"headTitle": "The Bay Area Was Hip-Hop Before There Was Hip-Hop | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924127\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13924127\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HipHopPreschool.16.9-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HipHopPreschool.16.9-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HipHopPreschool.16.9-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HipHopPreschool.16.9-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HipHopPreschool.16.9-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HipHopPreschool.16.9-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HipHopPreschool.16.9.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clockwise from upper left: Women of the Black Panther Party (BAMPFA/Pirkle Jones Foundation); the Black Resurgents (artist photo); Ntozake Shange (John Kisch Archive/Getty Images); Sun Ra in ‘Space is the Place’ (Harte Recordings); Sly Stone (CBS Records).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Editor’s note:\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> This story is part of\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/bayareahiphop\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s My Word\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, KQED’s year-long exploration of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">Bay Area hip-hop\u003c/a> history, with new content dropping all throughout 2023.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“People in the house, this is just for you/ A little rap to make you boogaloo”\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n—The Sugarhill Gang, 1979\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grandmaster Caz, the Bronx pioneer who ghostwrote the Sugarhill Gang’s groundbreaking 1979 single “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKTUAESacQM\">Rapper’s Delight\u003c/a>,” once said, “Hip-hop didn’t invent anything. Hop-hop reinvented everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That statement rings truer than ever as we approach the 50th anniversary of Kool Herc’s first party in the Bronx, where the globally influential music and culture were born. And it especially rings true here in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hip-hop wasn’t fully formed in 1973. In fact, it didn’t have an official name until 1982, the year the \u003ci>Village Voice\u003c/i> published a \u003ca href=\"https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/ss:16057641\">profile of Zulu Nation founder Afrika Bambaataa\u003c/a>. Before Bambaataa joined the Black Spades street gang as a teenager, he hung out at the local Black Panther Information Center, and “his political leanings were encouraged by the appearance of songs like ‘Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud’ by James Brown and ‘Stand!’ by Sly and the Family Stone,” Steven Hager wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other words, two of the three cultural influences cited in one of the earliest known print references to hip-hop are from the Bay Area. Oh word? Say that then.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No one would dispute that hip-hop emerged from the Bronx, or that James Brown was one of its godfathers. But the impact the Bay Area had on hip-hop’s early sound, aesthetic and ideology is less widely recognized. A thorough exploration of the Bay’s cultural and political movements of the 1960s and ’70s strongly suggests the Bay was hip-hop before there was hip-hop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924550\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13924550\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HueyNewton.SlyStone.ShomariSmith-800x426.jpg\" alt=\"illustrations of huey newton and sly stone\" width=\"800\" height=\"426\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HueyNewton.SlyStone.ShomariSmith-800x426.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HueyNewton.SlyStone.ShomariSmith-1020x543.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HueyNewton.SlyStone.ShomariSmith-160x85.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HueyNewton.SlyStone.ShomariSmith-768x409.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HueyNewton.SlyStone.ShomariSmith-1536x818.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HueyNewton.SlyStone.ShomariSmith.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the Bay Area, both Huey Newton and Sly Stone (L–R) helped sow the seeds of what would later be referred to as hip-hop. \u003ccite>(Illustrations by Shomari Smith)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Consider this: Before he became a funk superstar, Sly Stone was a fast-talking radio personality whose \u003ca href=\"https://soundcloud.com/djstef415/sly-stone-on-ksol-1967\">on-air patter\u003c/a>, laden with hep phrases, took the form of rapping before rap music. When it came to dance, the Bay Area had boogaloo, robotting and strutting, whose innovative moves preceded b-boying by almost 10 years. (There’s even evidence of breakdancing crews at local talent shows prior to nationwide releases of \u003cem>Breakin’\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Beat Street\u003c/em>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_of_Respect\">community mural movement\u003c/a>, which parallels the \u003ca href=\"https://blogs.cuit.columbia.edu/ijt2106/moment-of-departure/the-emergence-of-modern-graffiti/\">modern graffiti movement\u003c/a>, took root in the Bay before wildstyle frescoes appeared on New York subway trains. The Bay Area’s \u003ca href=\"https://legionsofboom.com/\">Filipino American mobile DJ scene\u003c/a> dates back to garage parties in the 1970s in South San Francisco and Daly City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consider also that the iconography of hip-hop was shaped by Bay Area activists, as well as street-level archetypes of badmen and tricksters whose legend became \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsXK4_D6ByA\">urban folklore\u003c/a>. A key reason the Bay Area became an early adopter of hip-hop was because its culture not only anticipated its arrival, but contributed to its essence during its developmental stages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924289\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 615px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13924289\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/BPP2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"615\" height=\"829\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/BPP2.png 615w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/BPP2-160x216.png 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 615px) 100vw, 615px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A 1971 flyer for a Black Panther Party rally calling for Bobby Seale, Ericka Huggins, Angela Davis and Ruchell Magee to be freed from prison. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Black Panther Party Alumni Legacy Network)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>The Black Panthers lay hip-hop’s ideological foundation\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Hip-hop began as an underground artform created by inner city youth with few resources, who were dynamic in how they expressed their style and identity. Much of its ideology and political viewpoints were shaped by the Black Panthers, who were founded in Oakland in 1966 and grew to 38 national chapters within two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Black Panthers had a distinct influence on people like dancer Will “Mr. Penguin” Randolph, an early practitioner of boogaloo and co-founder of the dance crew the \u003ca href=\"https://www.blackresurgents.com/\">Black Resurgents.\u003c/a> Randolph, who grew up in East Oakland, remembers how the Panthers used culture to engage young people and push their revolutionary message.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They had all these rallies with Elaine Brown and different people, and the Black Resurgents were the unofficial official dance group,” Randolph says. “And they would use us to draw the adults in to talk about the city’s plight politically. It was just phenomenal.” [aside postid='arts_13923938']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13851531/a-brief-history-of-the-lumpen-the-black-panthers-revolutionary-funk-band\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Lumpen\u003c/a>, a Black Panther-affiliated touring funk band, spread the party’s message around the country. It’s no coincidence that groups like the Chi-Lites, the O’Jays and the Isley Brothers began to reference Panther talking points on songs like “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/qEwMaeN2x-c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Give More Power to the People\u003c/a>,” “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/uebYua_vdPc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Give the People What They Want\u003c/a>” and “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/8QZvoOqUkqw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fight the Power\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have to consider that the Black Panther ideology was steeped in, as are most cultural ideas, in the music of the day,” Randolph says. “The grittiness of the blue collar town of Oakland, and the rise of the ideology of the Black Panther Party, and the rise of the funk music of the town all came together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the hip-hop era, children of Black Panthers like Tupac Shakur and Digital Underground’s Money B — known as “Panther cubs” — would be the ones to carry the Panthers’ vision for Black liberation forward. There’s no “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/zfuF2jOeUx8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rebel of the Underground\u003c/a>,” an early agitprop Tupac song, without the Black Panthers. No “Break the Grip of Shame,” the classic 1990 single by San Francisco rapper Paris, either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/HJ96GPtnH70\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hip-hop activism’s cornerstone issues, police reform and the prison-industrial complex, contain obvious through-lines back to the Black Panthers. In 1966, the Panthers’ manifesto, the Ten-Point Program, stated, “We Want An Immediate End to Police Brutality and the Murder of Black People,” followed by a call for “all Black People (to) be released from the many jails and prisons.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>N.W.A’s “Fuck Tha Police” seemed outrageous in 1989, but became prescient three years later, when LAPD officers were caught on video beating Rodney King. Political rappers like Public Enemy and KRS-One often harbored strong anti-police views, which were shared by such less-likely sources as New York’s L.L. Cool J and Houston’s UGK, on down to Vallejo’s The Mac.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the NYPD killing of Amadou Diallo inspired the Hip Hop for Respect project in 2000, the 1995 death of Aaron Williams in SFPD custody led to hip-hop activist organization Third Eye Movement protesting the SF Police Commission, and later resisting California’s Juvenile Crime initiative, Prop. 21. In 2009, Mistah F.A.B., Boots Riley and other local hip-hop artists took part in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13847704/after-oscar-grant-oakland-artists-inspired-a-new-generation-of-activists\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">protests against Oscar Grant’s killing\u003c/a> by BART police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More recently, the 2016 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/11537324/equiptos-hunger-strike-the-importance-of-art-in-social-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Frisco Five\u003c/a> hunger strike, spearheaded by rapper Equipto, resulted in SFPD reform. In 2020, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13881529/photos-black-lives-matter-murals-call-for-justice-on-oaklands-walls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">graffiti artists and muralists took to the Oakland streets\u003c/a> in response to George Floyd’s murder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past decade, activists have rallied around the Black Lives Matter movement, and it’s no coincidence that the phrase was first coined by Black Lives Matter cofounder Alicia Garza, in Oakland, the home of the Panthers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12159957\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 398px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12159957\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/H95.18.802-398x600.jpg\" alt=\"Lonnie Wilson, untitled (Black Panthers at Alameda County Courthouse), July 14, 1968. Gelatin silver photograph, 14 x 9.5 in. The Oakland Tribune Collection, the Oakland Museum of California, Gift of ANG Newspapers\" width=\"398\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/H95.18.802-398x600.jpg 398w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/H95.18.802-400x602.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/H95.18.802-768x1156.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/H95.18.802-784x1180.jpg 784w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/H95.18.802-1180x1777.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/H95.18.802-960x1446.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/H95.18.802.jpg 1793w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 398px) 100vw, 398px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lonnie Wilson, untitled (Black Panthers at Alameda County Courthouse), July 14, 1968. Gelatin silver photograph, 14 x 9.5 in. The Oakland Tribune Collection, the Oakland Museum of California, Gift of ANG Newspapers. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the Oakland Museum of California)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Before conscious rap, funk brought the message\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the Bay Area, funk music was inextricably linked to the revolutionary movements of the 1960s. Beyond the Black Panthers were the Brown Berets, the Third World Liberation Front and the anti-Vietnam War movement, all animating young people to fight against an oppressive social order. One artist that emerged from this climate and eventually became one of hip-hop’s major influences was Sly Stone. A Vallejo-raised champion of multiculturalism and progressive social values, Sly transformed Black music during the ’60s and ’70s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe style=\"border-radius:12px\" src=\"https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/6QO0SJgNdiPaDRpwHMPySi?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sly’s records often contained social commentary that mixed the personal with the political. “Stand!” is an anthem of self-determination positing that freedom is attainable “at least in your mind if you want to be”; Sly released similarly-themed songs like “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/l8sz_7TPWE0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">You Can Make It If You Try\u003c/a>,” “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/HMQQcniF2Bg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Underdog\u003c/a>” and “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/Ruq2HJGs31g\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Skin I’m In\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to his contributions to hip-hop’s lexicon — Sly and the Family Stone’s album \u003ci>Fresh\u003c/i> predates hip-hop’s popularizing of the term by at least a decade — there’s the music itself, which has become part of hip-hop’s genetic code. According to online sample databases, Sly and The Family Stone’s music has been sampled an astounding 967 times — up there with James Brown and the Meters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Greg Errico’s drums on “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/42YGprrAOj0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sing A Simple Song\u003c/a>” alone have resurfaced in gangsta, alternative and even international rap songs, including Digital Underground’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/PBsjggc5jHM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Humpty Dance\u003c/a>,” Tupac’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/skg0w8DpEe4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Temptations\u003c/a>,” Public Enemy’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/mmo3HFa2vjg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fight the Power\u003c/a>,” KRS-One’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/9ZrAYxWPN6c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sound of Da Police\u003c/a>,” A Tribe Called Quest’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/cxN4nKk2cfk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jazz\u003c/a>” and countless others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Family Stone bassist and Oakland native Larry Graham’s slap-bass technique, prominently displayed on 1968’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/N5BP2KlPD4U\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)\u003c/a>,” became a defining characteristic of funk, later used by musicians like Bootsy Collins as well as Chic’s Bernard Edwards, whose “Good Times” bassline would later drive “Rapper’s Delight.” [pullquote size='large']No one would dispute that hip-hop emerged from the Bronx, or that James Brown was one of its godfathers. But the impact the Bay Area had on hip-hop’s early sound, aesthetic and ideology is less widely recognized.[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sly also created a template for the artist-producer and independent label entrepreneur. He produced other artists for his short-lived Stone Flower label, often playing every musical instrument. His production of Little Sister’s “Somebody’s Watching You” became the first Top 40 hit to use electronic drums — a staple of nearly all hip-hop production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like particularly with Sly, [he’s] part of the whole kind of mashup of the streets and the church,” says Lateef Daumont, a Panther cub best known as hip-hop artist Lateef the Truthspeaker of the Quannum collective. “They just had all of the things that would be blueprints for hip-hop later on — even business-wise, in a lot of ways.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sly was the integrationist,” says author and educator Cecil Brown, a Berkeley resident during the ’70s who taught at Merritt College’s former campus on Grove Street (now Martin Luther King Jr. Way) in Oakland. “Also, Sly had an element of militancy in him, too, that was \u003cem>not\u003c/em> flower power, you know? It was like, ‘We got something that is going to make us feel better, and that belongs to us.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13898274\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13898274\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/0SUMMER_OF_SOUL_-_Sly_Stone._Courtesy_of_Mass_Distraction_Media_1-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/0SUMMER_OF_SOUL_-_Sly_Stone._Courtesy_of_Mass_Distraction_Media_1-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/0SUMMER_OF_SOUL_-_Sly_Stone._Courtesy_of_Mass_Distraction_Media_1-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/0SUMMER_OF_SOUL_-_Sly_Stone._Courtesy_of_Mass_Distraction_Media_1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/0SUMMER_OF_SOUL_-_Sly_Stone._Courtesy_of_Mass_Distraction_Media_1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/0SUMMER_OF_SOUL_-_Sly_Stone._Courtesy_of_Mass_Distraction_Media_1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/0SUMMER_OF_SOUL_-_Sly_Stone._Courtesy_of_Mass_Distraction_Media_1-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/0SUMMER_OF_SOUL_-_Sly_Stone._Courtesy_of_Mass_Distraction_Media_1-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sly Stone in a still from Questlove’s new film ‘Summer of Soul.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Mass Distraction Media)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Remarkably, Stone was able to cross over to the pop charts while maintaining an unapologetically Black identity. In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDOyaGvOyPk\">1974 clip from \u003ci>The Mike Douglas Show\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, Sly is asked if his young, white middle-class fans know what he’s singing about. “Yeah, they know,” he says. Hip-hop exemplifies the same paradigm: It appeals to white youth precisely because it offers entry into a different cultural space, with its own reference points and vernacular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just as The Coup’s Boots Riley performed his song “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/_2bkG0wwdXc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Underdogs\u003c/a>” during the Occupy Oakland demonstrations of 2011, Sly occasionally performed at Black Panther rallies while living in Oakland. His ear-to-the-street perspective, containing equal parts optimism and cynicism, is evidenced by the No. 1 album \u003ci>There’s A Riot Goin’ On\u003c/i>, released in 1971. As cultural critic Okla Jones wrote on the occasion of the album’s 50th anniversary, “America was a nation in transition, feeling the effects of the previous decade. The shadow of Dr. King’s assassination loomed over the Black community, and the Vietnam War divided an entire country. What Sly and the Family Stone’s fifth album did was give a voice to a new generation yearning to be heard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This dynamic — young people speaking their minds and determining their own identities through cultural expression — not only defined the early ’70s but connected the funk era to the rap era. Once you depart from the New York-centric breakbeat aesthetic, funk becomes \u003cem>the\u003c/em> defining element of hip-hop’s sound, particularly in the Southern United States and parts of the Midwest, and especially in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13851562\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13851562\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/lumpen_stage-800x523.jpg\" alt=\"The Lumpen performed between 1970 and 1972; afterwards, Black Panther Party leadership assigned its members to other roles within the organization.\" width=\"800\" height=\"523\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/lumpen_stage.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/lumpen_stage-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/lumpen_stage-768x502.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Black Panther funk band The Lumpen performed between 1970 and 1972; afterwards, party leadership assigned its members to other roles within the organization. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of itsabouttime.com)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Before breaking, the Bay had boogaloo\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The dance style known as Oakland boogaloo began in the 1960s with R&B and soul as its soundtrack, but the emergence of funk raised the bar for creative expression. “The thumping of the bass and the snapping of the snare drum and the thumping of the bass drum, you started to see people doing this free-form movement, with a hit and with body contortions,” says Will Randolph, whose group the Black Resurgents once performed during a 1977 Parliament concert at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, where they emerged from the iconic mothership in front of more than 10,000 fans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you talk about hip-hop dance, primarily people think of breaking and popping,” Randolph says. “When you talk about street dance on a nationwide level prior to hip-hop dance coming out of primarily New York, you have this whole West Coast sea of dance and street dance. The Bay Area in particular is really the debut for hip-hop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/IUdS6kxw2aI\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the mid-1960s to the early ’70s, years before hip-hop had a name, Oakland groups like the Black Resurgents, One Plus One, the Black Messengers and Pirate and the Easy Walkers perfected moves that would become part of the hip-hop dance vernacular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I’m saying is that boogaloo, robotting, and strutting dance styles predate hip-hop as a culture, as a name, and even hip-hop dance as an artform,” says Randolph. (In 1990’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDApdzFa3OI\">U Make Me Want Some\u003c/a>,” Mac Dre’s mentor and namesake The Mac even raps: “You can do the boogaloo / Like they used to do in 1972.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As boogaloo branched off into Richmond robotting and San Francisco strutting in the mid-1970s to become the predominant form of urban youth culture in the Bay Area, dancers adopted the sartorial flamboyance associated with pimps, incorporating top hats, canes and pointy-toed shoes into their aesthetic. White gloves created a mesmerizing effect under blacklight during performances in dark halls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fueled by talent show competitions, which brought local fame and popularity, the artform continued to develop into the early ’80s. Synchronized group routines, costumes, and stage props all became part of the mix. Most routines developed for competitions were performed just once. Some groups practiced in secret so no one could steal their moves. (The Black Resurgents were an exception; they were known to practice in front of an open window, often drawing crowds from their neighborhood.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coded signals between dancers would indicate they were participants in the same culture and ready to battle at a moment’s notice, such as popping one’s collar — which later became a signature hallmark of Bay Area hip-hop expression. Being known as a boogaloo, strutter or robotter also conferred social status, and could give practitioners a ghetto pass through hostile territory or nullify threats of violence altogether.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As boogaloo spread in the latter half of the ’70s to San Jose, Sacramento, Fresno and Los Angeles, a move originally known as “The Oakland Hit” became the “pop,” and blended with the locking style indigenous to Southern California. Pop-locking was born.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924302\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13924302\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/n5cCK1s8-800x609.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"609\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/n5cCK1s8-800x609.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/n5cCK1s8-160x122.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/n5cCK1s8-768x584.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/n5cCK1s8.jpg 924w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Black Resurgents on ‘The Jay Payton Show,’ July 18, 1976. \u003ccite>(Courtesy AAMLO)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the Bay Area’s contributions didn’t make the history books. In 1979, the Electric Boogaloos \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkejPbx9zSI\">appeared on \u003ci>Soul Train\u003c/i>\u003c/a> and were erroneously announced as the originators of boogaloo by host Don Cornelius. Boogaloo also spread to New York through Bay Area dancers like Jerry Rentie, who served active military duty there, but wasn’t recognized as a distinct style by New York rappers like Run-DMC, who said “let the poppers pop and the breakers break” on 1984’s “Rock Box.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Northern California origins of popping became further obscured when breakdancing arrived on the West Coast in the early ’80s, and boogaloo, strutting, robotting, popping and breaking were all subsumed into the amalgamation of hip-hop dance. In “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/HshF2AOx4VM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">West Coast Pop Lock\u003c/a>,” a 1982 hit for Ronnie Hudson that most know as the hook of Tupac’s “California Love,” Hudson shouts out Los Angeles, Watts and Compton — with no mention of Oakland at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Pimp culture becomes pop culture\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Another key influence on hip-hop was Richard Pryor, who moved to Berkeley in 1969 and soaked up the city’s counterculture vibe. Pryor performed locally at venues like Laney College, and, similar to Tupac, key parts of his development came from the Bay Area before he moved to L.A. and became a superstar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pryor has been sampled in rap more than 400 times, which speaks to his street-level Black cultural perspective that placed more emphasis on barbershops, juke joints and strip clubs than churches and schools. And it was Pryor’s involvement in a 1973 movie, filmed in Oakland, that would cement his relationship to Bay Area hip-hop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924297\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13924297\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-1137109661-800x1217.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1217\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-1137109661-800x1217.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-1137109661-1020x1551.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-1137109661-160x243.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-1137109661-768x1168.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-1137109661-1010x1536.jpg 1010w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-1137109661-1347x2048.jpg 1347w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-1137109661-1920x2920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-1137109661-scaled.jpg 1683w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Mack, US poster, top from left: Max Julien, Richard Pryor, from a 1977 re-release of the film. \u003ccite>(Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The Mack\u003c/i> is ostensibly a cautionary tale about the rise and fall of a pimp named Goldie (Max Julien), yet it glorified the illegal sex trade and the flamboyant pimp lifestyle. The movie’s lead was based directly on the notorious Oakland pimp and drug dealer Frank Ward, and infamously featured several real-life pimps and sex workers, in exchange for cameo roles for Ward and his brothers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003cem>The Mack\u003c/em>, Pryor played Slim, Goldie’s partner. Another character, Fat Man, coincidentally had the same initials as infamous Oakland drug kingpin Felix Mitchell. With Goldie’s brother Olinga as a Panther-esque Black nationalist, the film’s subtext hints at the real-life tension between the Black Panthers and Oakland’s gangster underworld. It’s a dynamic that foreshadowed the divisions between conscious and gangsta rap, and predated the way Tupac and many Bay Area rappers mixed elements of both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Melvin Van Peebles’ directorial debut \u003ci>Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song\u003c/i> was released in 1971, Panther leaders used their widely circulated newspaper to encourage Party members to see the film, which also featured the all-Black East Bay Dragons motorcycle club. “No distributors were supporting it,” says the Lumpen’s Dr. Saturu Ned, who worked in the Party’s newspaper office before he became a musician. “Because of the Black Panther Party, millions of people went to see the movie.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Sweet Sweetback\u003c/i> birthed the so-called blaxploitation films of this era, championing a gritty view of street life with an undercurrent of anti-authoritarianism. The genre became a key reference point for hip-hop, along with the Panthers’ messages of Black power and resistance. [aside postid='arts_13923766']\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hip-hop’s inspiration from the criminal underworld\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Without a doubt, one of hip-hop’s overarching themes has been the criminal underworld and the archetype of the pimp/player/hustler as hero and ghetto superstar. This, too, has significant ties to the Bay Area, and especially Oakland, which counts among its rap classics MC Pooh’s \u003ci>Life of a Criminal\u003c/i> and Too Short’s \u003ci>Born to Mack\u003c/i>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Bay Area, a systemic devastation of Black neighborhoods created a formula for poverty. Blue-collar industrial jobs left after World War II, and the “urban renewal” of the ’60s and ’70s demolished homes and businesses in San Francisco as well as Oakland. For some, the underground economy became an appealing means of upward mobility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Felix Mitchell operated out of the San Antonio Villa, a.k.a. 6-9 Ville, in East Oakland, which became the headquarters for the “69 Mob,” a criminal organization that established a nationwide heroin distribution network and employed young children as lookouts. The housing project’s notoriety extended well beyond Mitchell’s death in 1986: in 1992, the rapper Seagram released the single “The Ville,” which references “the M.O.B.” — an acronym for My Other Brother, the “official” name of Mitchell’s gang.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the ’70s, the Black Panthers operated a school and community center just a few blocks from 6-9 Ville. This led to conflict over control of the neighborhood. Ned recalls that intakes at the community center for heroin overdoses were common, while the Black Resurgents’ Randolph, who lived nearby on Sunnyside and 82nd Avenue, remembers gun battles sometimes erupting between the two factions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the post-Felix Mitchell crack cocaine era, rapping about pimping, drug dealing, drive-by shootings and sideshows all became part of Oakland’s hip-hop lexicon — see Dru Down and the Luniz’ “Ice Cream Man,” Richie Rich’s “Sideshow” and “Half Thang,” or Dru Down’s “Pimp of the Year,” which stayed on the Billboard charts for 24 weeks and would often evoke boisterous sing-alongs when played in local clubs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/qnVtwzaw6lM\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mitchell himself had reportedly popularized drive-by shootings, becoming one of the inspirations for the Nino Brown character in the 1991 movie \u003ci>New Jack City\u003c/i>, which featured a hip-hop soundtrack.. And Mitchell’s rival, Milton “Mickey Mo” Moore, financed the first rap record to come out of the Bay Area: Motorcycle Mike’s “Super Rat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So while Philadelphia’s Schooly-D and L.A.’s Ice-T are often credited as the first gangsta rap artists, the genre has been heavily influenced by Bay Area criminal icons like Moore, Ward, Mitchell and San Francisco’s Fillmore Slim. Just like the Panthers predated conscious rap and progressive politics, the Bay basically been gangsta for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Afrofuturism is at the heart of hip-hop’s imagination\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Not all hip-hop artists follow a street playbook. Nearly as influential as \u003ci>The Mack\u003c/i> was Sun Ra’s 1974 cult classic \u003ci>Space is the Place\u003c/i>, filmed at locations in Oakland, including the current Merritt College campus. Its origins date back to a 1971 \u003ca href=\"https://www.openculture.com/2014/07/full-lecture-and-reading-list-from-sun-ras-1971-uc-berkeley-course.html\">lecture course\u003c/a> given by Sun Ra at UC Berkeley, titled “The Black Man in the Cosmos.” The film’s convoluted plot depicts Ra as a time-traveling jazz musician who engages in a game of tarot with an “overseer” to decide the fate of the Black race. Ra eventually wins the contest thanks to his use of sound vibrations during a free jazz concert, boards a spaceship joined by young African Americans he’s recruited from Oakland, and travels to a better world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Afrofuturistic themes in \u003ci>Space is the Place\u003c/i> not only preceded Parliament’s \u003ci>Clones of Dr. Funkenstein\u003c/i> and \u003ci>Mothership Connection\u003c/i> albums, but established a cultural precedent for those themes to be revisited by hip-hop, first in the electro-funk era, and subsequently through abstract, esoteric, spiritually and conceptually minded rappers and producers. In the Bay Area, Hieroglyphics’ Del the Funky Homosapien would imagine dystopian futures worthy of anime treatments; Blackalicious’ work would contain themes of technology as a means of liberation; and Zion I’s lyrics would reach towards spiritual enlightenment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924298\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13924298\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-486166770-800x516.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"516\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-486166770-800x516.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-486166770-1020x657.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-486166770-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-486166770-768x495.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-486166770.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sun Ra and his Sun Ra Archestra perform with a steel sculpture on September 23, 1978, at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. \u003ccite>(Leni Sinclair/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sun Ra was part of the Black Arts Movement (BAM) of the 1960s, which began in Harlem but was grounded in the Bay Area. Influential author, writer and BAM co-founder Amiri Bakara moved from New York in 1962 to teach at San Francisco State University; in 1964, he worked with a young graphic designer named Emory Douglas on set design for a play in San Francisco. Three years later, Douglas met Bobby Seale and Huey Newton at the Black Door, a Black-operated theater known for presenting avant-garde productions, and became the Black Panther’s minister of culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Douglas’ revolutionary illustrations were featured in the Panther newspaper, and went on to influence politically-minded graffiti artists and muralists worldwide, including in San Francisco’s famed Clarion Alley. The Coup’s logo, depicting a mother carrying a child in a sling while holding a rifle, is a \u003ca href=\"http://american-studies-uea.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-art-of-emory-douglas-and-asali.html\">direct descendant of Douglas’ work\u003c/a>. And during the late ’80s, a flourishing of political graffiti around the anti-apartheid movement crested into bold statements against police brutality and Christopher Columbus by Bay Area aerosol legends Mike Dream, Spie and the TDK collective in the early ’90s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baraka later became a founding board member of Oakland’s Eastside Arts Alliance, whose annual Malcolm X Jazz Arts Festival in San Antonio Park has featured hip-hop freestyle rhyme and dance cyphers, live painting in honor of Mike Dream, tributes to boogaloo, and performances by The Coup and the Last Poets’ Umar Bin Hassan. Meanwhile, Baraka’s daughter Dominique DiPrima would become the KRON-TV host of the popular Bay Area hip-hop show \u003cem>Home Turf\u003c/em>. [aside postid='arts_13906176']\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Spoken word, feminism\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>From the Black Arts Movement lineage comes a local emphasis on spoken word poetry and alternative theater. This legacy of artistic expression ultimately connects pioneering poet/playwright Ntozake Shange to the hip-hop inspired Oakland poet Chinaka Hodge, and to the field of hip-hop theater explored by Marc Bamuthi Joseph in the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her 1976 choreopoem \u003cem>for colored girls who’ve considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf\u003c/em>, first performed at a lesbian bar on Solano Avenue in Albany, Shange foreshadowed women in hip-hop’s existential struggle with sexuality, self-affirmation and self-love while dealing with misogyny, toxic relationships and Black female identity. In “No More Love Poems pt 1,” Shange’s Lady in Orange describes “being left screaming in a street full of lunatics whispering slut, \u003cem>beeitch\u003c/em>…” — pronouncing the word with the same drawn-out intonation as Too Short would a decade later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924299\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 801px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13924299\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/801px-Ntozake_Shange_Reid_Lecture_Women_Issues_Luncheon_Womens_Center_November_1978_Crisco_edit.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"801\" height=\"1023\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/801px-Ntozake_Shange_Reid_Lecture_Women_Issues_Luncheon_Womens_Center_November_1978_Crisco_edit.jpg 801w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/801px-Ntozake_Shange_Reid_Lecture_Women_Issues_Luncheon_Womens_Center_November_1978_Crisco_edit-160x204.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/801px-Ntozake_Shange_Reid_Lecture_Women_Issues_Luncheon_Womens_Center_November_1978_Crisco_edit-768x981.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 801px) 100vw, 801px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ntozake Shange in 1978. \u003ccite>(Barnard College/Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These same themes are present to some degree in the music of Bay Area women in funk — a list that includes Little Sister, Sugar Pie DeSanto, the Brides of Funkenstein, and Betty Davis (who recorded her first two albums in San Francisco with Bay Area musicians). The Pointer Sisters, the Oakland group whose career began with the self-affirming hit “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/F2U1OUxXSMM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Yes We Can Can\u003c/a>,” would later be referenced by Ice Cube, the Treacherous Three and Salt-n-Pepa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As SF State professor and cultural anthropologist Dawn-Elissa Fischer points out, the tradition extends even further back. “Some of the ideas that Angela Davis and Patricia Collins write about in terms of the impact of blues women — when we talk about the Panthers, we want to remember, while there are obvious ties, there’s this longer tradition of posting, boasting and rapping in the work of blues women in the Bay Area and elsewhere.” The same ideas and themes of the blues era, she says, were magnified and amplified during the funk era, and again in the hip-hop era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fischer, a contributor to \u003cem>The Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap\u003c/em> and an advisor on KQED’s \u003ci>That’s My Word\u003c/i>, regularly studies funk music as well as contemporary rap in her work, connecting dots between generational movements. She maintains the funky divas of the 1970s provided not only an artistic blueprint for rappers like the Conscious Daughters to talk about gender, sexuality and reproductive rights, but an aesthetic influence as well. Local emcee Coco Peila, she says, is an example of both, along with Mystic, Suga-T and Ryan Nicole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In looking critically at the intersection of funk, boogaloo, and the Black Panthers, Fischer says, “There was a lot of labor, gender and sexuality components of all of these movements, and specifically various forms of Black power. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11858928/west-oakland-mural-honors-women-of-black-panther-party\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Black women are a critical part of this paradigm\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legacy of these movements is not only part of hip-hop history and American history, but Bay Area history specifically. What made these movements so significant and generational in their influence was their intersectional longevity. Funk, boogaloo, and social movements all spoke to each other throughout their existence. That dialogue has become a longer discussion with the advent of hip-hop, which, as it’s evolved, has carried along with it the aesthetics of past movements \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span> be they Afros and boots, Black Power salutes, or tick-tocking robot moves over bass grooves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-11687704\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_-800x60.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"60\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_-400x30.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_-768x58.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "In the ’60s and ’70s, the Black Panthers, boogaloo dancers and Sly Stone anticipated the arrival of hip-hop.",
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"title": "The Bay Area Was Hip-Hop Before There Was Hip-Hop | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924127\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13924127\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HipHopPreschool.16.9-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HipHopPreschool.16.9-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HipHopPreschool.16.9-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HipHopPreschool.16.9-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HipHopPreschool.16.9-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HipHopPreschool.16.9-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HipHopPreschool.16.9.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clockwise from upper left: Women of the Black Panther Party (BAMPFA/Pirkle Jones Foundation); the Black Resurgents (artist photo); Ntozake Shange (John Kisch Archive/Getty Images); Sun Ra in ‘Space is the Place’ (Harte Recordings); Sly Stone (CBS Records).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Editor’s note:\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> This story is part of\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/bayareahiphop\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s My Word\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, KQED’s year-long exploration of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">Bay Area hip-hop\u003c/a> history, with new content dropping all throughout 2023.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“People in the house, this is just for you/ A little rap to make you boogaloo”\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n—The Sugarhill Gang, 1979\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grandmaster Caz, the Bronx pioneer who ghostwrote the Sugarhill Gang’s groundbreaking 1979 single “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKTUAESacQM\">Rapper’s Delight\u003c/a>,” once said, “Hip-hop didn’t invent anything. Hop-hop reinvented everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That statement rings truer than ever as we approach the 50th anniversary of Kool Herc’s first party in the Bronx, where the globally influential music and culture were born. And it especially rings true here in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hip-hop wasn’t fully formed in 1973. In fact, it didn’t have an official name until 1982, the year the \u003ci>Village Voice\u003c/i> published a \u003ca href=\"https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/ss:16057641\">profile of Zulu Nation founder Afrika Bambaataa\u003c/a>. Before Bambaataa joined the Black Spades street gang as a teenager, he hung out at the local Black Panther Information Center, and “his political leanings were encouraged by the appearance of songs like ‘Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud’ by James Brown and ‘Stand!’ by Sly and the Family Stone,” Steven Hager wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other words, two of the three cultural influences cited in one of the earliest known print references to hip-hop are from the Bay Area. Oh word? Say that then.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No one would dispute that hip-hop emerged from the Bronx, or that James Brown was one of its godfathers. But the impact the Bay Area had on hip-hop’s early sound, aesthetic and ideology is less widely recognized. A thorough exploration of the Bay’s cultural and political movements of the 1960s and ’70s strongly suggests the Bay was hip-hop before there was hip-hop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924550\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13924550\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HueyNewton.SlyStone.ShomariSmith-800x426.jpg\" alt=\"illustrations of huey newton and sly stone\" width=\"800\" height=\"426\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HueyNewton.SlyStone.ShomariSmith-800x426.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HueyNewton.SlyStone.ShomariSmith-1020x543.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HueyNewton.SlyStone.ShomariSmith-160x85.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HueyNewton.SlyStone.ShomariSmith-768x409.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HueyNewton.SlyStone.ShomariSmith-1536x818.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/HueyNewton.SlyStone.ShomariSmith.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the Bay Area, both Huey Newton and Sly Stone (L–R) helped sow the seeds of what would later be referred to as hip-hop. \u003ccite>(Illustrations by Shomari Smith)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Consider this: Before he became a funk superstar, Sly Stone was a fast-talking radio personality whose \u003ca href=\"https://soundcloud.com/djstef415/sly-stone-on-ksol-1967\">on-air patter\u003c/a>, laden with hep phrases, took the form of rapping before rap music. When it came to dance, the Bay Area had boogaloo, robotting and strutting, whose innovative moves preceded b-boying by almost 10 years. (There’s even evidence of breakdancing crews at local talent shows prior to nationwide releases of \u003cem>Breakin’\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Beat Street\u003c/em>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_of_Respect\">community mural movement\u003c/a>, which parallels the \u003ca href=\"https://blogs.cuit.columbia.edu/ijt2106/moment-of-departure/the-emergence-of-modern-graffiti/\">modern graffiti movement\u003c/a>, took root in the Bay before wildstyle frescoes appeared on New York subway trains. The Bay Area’s \u003ca href=\"https://legionsofboom.com/\">Filipino American mobile DJ scene\u003c/a> dates back to garage parties in the 1970s in South San Francisco and Daly City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consider also that the iconography of hip-hop was shaped by Bay Area activists, as well as street-level archetypes of badmen and tricksters whose legend became \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsXK4_D6ByA\">urban folklore\u003c/a>. A key reason the Bay Area became an early adopter of hip-hop was because its culture not only anticipated its arrival, but contributed to its essence during its developmental stages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924289\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 615px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13924289\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/BPP2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"615\" height=\"829\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/BPP2.png 615w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/BPP2-160x216.png 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 615px) 100vw, 615px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A 1971 flyer for a Black Panther Party rally calling for Bobby Seale, Ericka Huggins, Angela Davis and Ruchell Magee to be freed from prison. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Black Panther Party Alumni Legacy Network)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>The Black Panthers lay hip-hop’s ideological foundation\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Hip-hop began as an underground artform created by inner city youth with few resources, who were dynamic in how they expressed their style and identity. Much of its ideology and political viewpoints were shaped by the Black Panthers, who were founded in Oakland in 1966 and grew to 38 national chapters within two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Black Panthers had a distinct influence on people like dancer Will “Mr. Penguin” Randolph, an early practitioner of boogaloo and co-founder of the dance crew the \u003ca href=\"https://www.blackresurgents.com/\">Black Resurgents.\u003c/a> Randolph, who grew up in East Oakland, remembers how the Panthers used culture to engage young people and push their revolutionary message.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They had all these rallies with Elaine Brown and different people, and the Black Resurgents were the unofficial official dance group,” Randolph says. “And they would use us to draw the adults in to talk about the city’s plight politically. It was just phenomenal.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13851531/a-brief-history-of-the-lumpen-the-black-panthers-revolutionary-funk-band\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Lumpen\u003c/a>, a Black Panther-affiliated touring funk band, spread the party’s message around the country. It’s no coincidence that groups like the Chi-Lites, the O’Jays and the Isley Brothers began to reference Panther talking points on songs like “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/qEwMaeN2x-c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Give More Power to the People\u003c/a>,” “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/uebYua_vdPc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Give the People What They Want\u003c/a>” and “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/8QZvoOqUkqw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fight the Power\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have to consider that the Black Panther ideology was steeped in, as are most cultural ideas, in the music of the day,” Randolph says. “The grittiness of the blue collar town of Oakland, and the rise of the ideology of the Black Panther Party, and the rise of the funk music of the town all came together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the hip-hop era, children of Black Panthers like Tupac Shakur and Digital Underground’s Money B — known as “Panther cubs” — would be the ones to carry the Panthers’ vision for Black liberation forward. There’s no “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/zfuF2jOeUx8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rebel of the Underground\u003c/a>,” an early agitprop Tupac song, without the Black Panthers. No “Break the Grip of Shame,” the classic 1990 single by San Francisco rapper Paris, either.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/HJ96GPtnH70'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/HJ96GPtnH70'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Hip-hop activism’s cornerstone issues, police reform and the prison-industrial complex, contain obvious through-lines back to the Black Panthers. In 1966, the Panthers’ manifesto, the Ten-Point Program, stated, “We Want An Immediate End to Police Brutality and the Murder of Black People,” followed by a call for “all Black People (to) be released from the many jails and prisons.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>N.W.A’s “Fuck Tha Police” seemed outrageous in 1989, but became prescient three years later, when LAPD officers were caught on video beating Rodney King. Political rappers like Public Enemy and KRS-One often harbored strong anti-police views, which were shared by such less-likely sources as New York’s L.L. Cool J and Houston’s UGK, on down to Vallejo’s The Mac.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the NYPD killing of Amadou Diallo inspired the Hip Hop for Respect project in 2000, the 1995 death of Aaron Williams in SFPD custody led to hip-hop activist organization Third Eye Movement protesting the SF Police Commission, and later resisting California’s Juvenile Crime initiative, Prop. 21. In 2009, Mistah F.A.B., Boots Riley and other local hip-hop artists took part in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13847704/after-oscar-grant-oakland-artists-inspired-a-new-generation-of-activists\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">protests against Oscar Grant’s killing\u003c/a> by BART police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More recently, the 2016 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/11537324/equiptos-hunger-strike-the-importance-of-art-in-social-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Frisco Five\u003c/a> hunger strike, spearheaded by rapper Equipto, resulted in SFPD reform. In 2020, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13881529/photos-black-lives-matter-murals-call-for-justice-on-oaklands-walls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">graffiti artists and muralists took to the Oakland streets\u003c/a> in response to George Floyd’s murder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past decade, activists have rallied around the Black Lives Matter movement, and it’s no coincidence that the phrase was first coined by Black Lives Matter cofounder Alicia Garza, in Oakland, the home of the Panthers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12159957\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 398px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12159957\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/H95.18.802-398x600.jpg\" alt=\"Lonnie Wilson, untitled (Black Panthers at Alameda County Courthouse), July 14, 1968. Gelatin silver photograph, 14 x 9.5 in. The Oakland Tribune Collection, the Oakland Museum of California, Gift of ANG Newspapers\" width=\"398\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/H95.18.802-398x600.jpg 398w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/H95.18.802-400x602.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/H95.18.802-768x1156.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/H95.18.802-784x1180.jpg 784w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/H95.18.802-1180x1777.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/H95.18.802-960x1446.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/H95.18.802.jpg 1793w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 398px) 100vw, 398px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lonnie Wilson, untitled (Black Panthers at Alameda County Courthouse), July 14, 1968. Gelatin silver photograph, 14 x 9.5 in. The Oakland Tribune Collection, the Oakland Museum of California, Gift of ANG Newspapers. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the Oakland Museum of California)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Before conscious rap, funk brought the message\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the Bay Area, funk music was inextricably linked to the revolutionary movements of the 1960s. Beyond the Black Panthers were the Brown Berets, the Third World Liberation Front and the anti-Vietnam War movement, all animating young people to fight against an oppressive social order. One artist that emerged from this climate and eventually became one of hip-hop’s major influences was Sly Stone. A Vallejo-raised champion of multiculturalism and progressive social values, Sly transformed Black music during the ’60s and ’70s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe style=\"border-radius:12px\" src=\"https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/6QO0SJgNdiPaDRpwHMPySi?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sly’s records often contained social commentary that mixed the personal with the political. “Stand!” is an anthem of self-determination positing that freedom is attainable “at least in your mind if you want to be”; Sly released similarly-themed songs like “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/l8sz_7TPWE0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">You Can Make It If You Try\u003c/a>,” “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/HMQQcniF2Bg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Underdog\u003c/a>” and “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/Ruq2HJGs31g\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Skin I’m In\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to his contributions to hip-hop’s lexicon — Sly and the Family Stone’s album \u003ci>Fresh\u003c/i> predates hip-hop’s popularizing of the term by at least a decade — there’s the music itself, which has become part of hip-hop’s genetic code. According to online sample databases, Sly and The Family Stone’s music has been sampled an astounding 967 times — up there with James Brown and the Meters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Greg Errico’s drums on “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/42YGprrAOj0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sing A Simple Song\u003c/a>” alone have resurfaced in gangsta, alternative and even international rap songs, including Digital Underground’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/PBsjggc5jHM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Humpty Dance\u003c/a>,” Tupac’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/skg0w8DpEe4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Temptations\u003c/a>,” Public Enemy’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/mmo3HFa2vjg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fight the Power\u003c/a>,” KRS-One’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/9ZrAYxWPN6c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sound of Da Police\u003c/a>,” A Tribe Called Quest’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/cxN4nKk2cfk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jazz\u003c/a>” and countless others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Family Stone bassist and Oakland native Larry Graham’s slap-bass technique, prominently displayed on 1968’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/N5BP2KlPD4U\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)\u003c/a>,” became a defining characteristic of funk, later used by musicians like Bootsy Collins as well as Chic’s Bernard Edwards, whose “Good Times” bassline would later drive “Rapper’s Delight.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "No one would dispute that hip-hop emerged from the Bronx, or that James Brown was one of its godfathers. But the impact the Bay Area had on hip-hop’s early sound, aesthetic and ideology is less widely recognized.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sly also created a template for the artist-producer and independent label entrepreneur. He produced other artists for his short-lived Stone Flower label, often playing every musical instrument. His production of Little Sister’s “Somebody’s Watching You” became the first Top 40 hit to use electronic drums — a staple of nearly all hip-hop production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like particularly with Sly, [he’s] part of the whole kind of mashup of the streets and the church,” says Lateef Daumont, a Panther cub best known as hip-hop artist Lateef the Truthspeaker of the Quannum collective. “They just had all of the things that would be blueprints for hip-hop later on — even business-wise, in a lot of ways.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sly was the integrationist,” says author and educator Cecil Brown, a Berkeley resident during the ’70s who taught at Merritt College’s former campus on Grove Street (now Martin Luther King Jr. Way) in Oakland. “Also, Sly had an element of militancy in him, too, that was \u003cem>not\u003c/em> flower power, you know? It was like, ‘We got something that is going to make us feel better, and that belongs to us.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13898274\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13898274\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/0SUMMER_OF_SOUL_-_Sly_Stone._Courtesy_of_Mass_Distraction_Media_1-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/0SUMMER_OF_SOUL_-_Sly_Stone._Courtesy_of_Mass_Distraction_Media_1-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/0SUMMER_OF_SOUL_-_Sly_Stone._Courtesy_of_Mass_Distraction_Media_1-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/0SUMMER_OF_SOUL_-_Sly_Stone._Courtesy_of_Mass_Distraction_Media_1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/0SUMMER_OF_SOUL_-_Sly_Stone._Courtesy_of_Mass_Distraction_Media_1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/0SUMMER_OF_SOUL_-_Sly_Stone._Courtesy_of_Mass_Distraction_Media_1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/0SUMMER_OF_SOUL_-_Sly_Stone._Courtesy_of_Mass_Distraction_Media_1-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/0SUMMER_OF_SOUL_-_Sly_Stone._Courtesy_of_Mass_Distraction_Media_1-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sly Stone in a still from Questlove’s new film ‘Summer of Soul.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Mass Distraction Media)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Remarkably, Stone was able to cross over to the pop charts while maintaining an unapologetically Black identity. In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDOyaGvOyPk\">1974 clip from \u003ci>The Mike Douglas Show\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, Sly is asked if his young, white middle-class fans know what he’s singing about. “Yeah, they know,” he says. Hip-hop exemplifies the same paradigm: It appeals to white youth precisely because it offers entry into a different cultural space, with its own reference points and vernacular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just as The Coup’s Boots Riley performed his song “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/_2bkG0wwdXc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Underdogs\u003c/a>” during the Occupy Oakland demonstrations of 2011, Sly occasionally performed at Black Panther rallies while living in Oakland. His ear-to-the-street perspective, containing equal parts optimism and cynicism, is evidenced by the No. 1 album \u003ci>There’s A Riot Goin’ On\u003c/i>, released in 1971. As cultural critic Okla Jones wrote on the occasion of the album’s 50th anniversary, “America was a nation in transition, feeling the effects of the previous decade. The shadow of Dr. King’s assassination loomed over the Black community, and the Vietnam War divided an entire country. What Sly and the Family Stone’s fifth album did was give a voice to a new generation yearning to be heard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This dynamic — young people speaking their minds and determining their own identities through cultural expression — not only defined the early ’70s but connected the funk era to the rap era. Once you depart from the New York-centric breakbeat aesthetic, funk becomes \u003cem>the\u003c/em> defining element of hip-hop’s sound, particularly in the Southern United States and parts of the Midwest, and especially in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13851562\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13851562\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/lumpen_stage-800x523.jpg\" alt=\"The Lumpen performed between 1970 and 1972; afterwards, Black Panther Party leadership assigned its members to other roles within the organization.\" width=\"800\" height=\"523\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/lumpen_stage.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/lumpen_stage-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/lumpen_stage-768x502.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Black Panther funk band The Lumpen performed between 1970 and 1972; afterwards, party leadership assigned its members to other roles within the organization. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of itsabouttime.com)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Before breaking, the Bay had boogaloo\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The dance style known as Oakland boogaloo began in the 1960s with R&B and soul as its soundtrack, but the emergence of funk raised the bar for creative expression. “The thumping of the bass and the snapping of the snare drum and the thumping of the bass drum, you started to see people doing this free-form movement, with a hit and with body contortions,” says Will Randolph, whose group the Black Resurgents once performed during a 1977 Parliament concert at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, where they emerged from the iconic mothership in front of more than 10,000 fans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you talk about hip-hop dance, primarily people think of breaking and popping,” Randolph says. “When you talk about street dance on a nationwide level prior to hip-hop dance coming out of primarily New York, you have this whole West Coast sea of dance and street dance. The Bay Area in particular is really the debut for hip-hop.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/IUdS6kxw2aI'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/IUdS6kxw2aI'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>From the mid-1960s to the early ’70s, years before hip-hop had a name, Oakland groups like the Black Resurgents, One Plus One, the Black Messengers and Pirate and the Easy Walkers perfected moves that would become part of the hip-hop dance vernacular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I’m saying is that boogaloo, robotting, and strutting dance styles predate hip-hop as a culture, as a name, and even hip-hop dance as an artform,” says Randolph. (In 1990’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDApdzFa3OI\">U Make Me Want Some\u003c/a>,” Mac Dre’s mentor and namesake The Mac even raps: “You can do the boogaloo / Like they used to do in 1972.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As boogaloo branched off into Richmond robotting and San Francisco strutting in the mid-1970s to become the predominant form of urban youth culture in the Bay Area, dancers adopted the sartorial flamboyance associated with pimps, incorporating top hats, canes and pointy-toed shoes into their aesthetic. White gloves created a mesmerizing effect under blacklight during performances in dark halls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fueled by talent show competitions, which brought local fame and popularity, the artform continued to develop into the early ’80s. Synchronized group routines, costumes, and stage props all became part of the mix. Most routines developed for competitions were performed just once. Some groups practiced in secret so no one could steal their moves. (The Black Resurgents were an exception; they were known to practice in front of an open window, often drawing crowds from their neighborhood.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coded signals between dancers would indicate they were participants in the same culture and ready to battle at a moment’s notice, such as popping one’s collar — which later became a signature hallmark of Bay Area hip-hop expression. Being known as a boogaloo, strutter or robotter also conferred social status, and could give practitioners a ghetto pass through hostile territory or nullify threats of violence altogether.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As boogaloo spread in the latter half of the ’70s to San Jose, Sacramento, Fresno and Los Angeles, a move originally known as “The Oakland Hit” became the “pop,” and blended with the locking style indigenous to Southern California. Pop-locking was born.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924302\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13924302\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/n5cCK1s8-800x609.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"609\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/n5cCK1s8-800x609.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/n5cCK1s8-160x122.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/n5cCK1s8-768x584.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/n5cCK1s8.jpg 924w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Black Resurgents on ‘The Jay Payton Show,’ July 18, 1976. \u003ccite>(Courtesy AAMLO)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the Bay Area’s contributions didn’t make the history books. In 1979, the Electric Boogaloos \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkejPbx9zSI\">appeared on \u003ci>Soul Train\u003c/i>\u003c/a> and were erroneously announced as the originators of boogaloo by host Don Cornelius. Boogaloo also spread to New York through Bay Area dancers like Jerry Rentie, who served active military duty there, but wasn’t recognized as a distinct style by New York rappers like Run-DMC, who said “let the poppers pop and the breakers break” on 1984’s “Rock Box.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Northern California origins of popping became further obscured when breakdancing arrived on the West Coast in the early ’80s, and boogaloo, strutting, robotting, popping and breaking were all subsumed into the amalgamation of hip-hop dance. In “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/HshF2AOx4VM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">West Coast Pop Lock\u003c/a>,” a 1982 hit for Ronnie Hudson that most know as the hook of Tupac’s “California Love,” Hudson shouts out Los Angeles, Watts and Compton — with no mention of Oakland at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Pimp culture becomes pop culture\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Another key influence on hip-hop was Richard Pryor, who moved to Berkeley in 1969 and soaked up the city’s counterculture vibe. Pryor performed locally at venues like Laney College, and, similar to Tupac, key parts of his development came from the Bay Area before he moved to L.A. and became a superstar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pryor has been sampled in rap more than 400 times, which speaks to his street-level Black cultural perspective that placed more emphasis on barbershops, juke joints and strip clubs than churches and schools. And it was Pryor’s involvement in a 1973 movie, filmed in Oakland, that would cement his relationship to Bay Area hip-hop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924297\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13924297\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-1137109661-800x1217.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1217\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-1137109661-800x1217.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-1137109661-1020x1551.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-1137109661-160x243.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-1137109661-768x1168.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-1137109661-1010x1536.jpg 1010w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-1137109661-1347x2048.jpg 1347w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-1137109661-1920x2920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-1137109661-scaled.jpg 1683w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Mack, US poster, top from left: Max Julien, Richard Pryor, from a 1977 re-release of the film. \u003ccite>(Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The Mack\u003c/i> is ostensibly a cautionary tale about the rise and fall of a pimp named Goldie (Max Julien), yet it glorified the illegal sex trade and the flamboyant pimp lifestyle. The movie’s lead was based directly on the notorious Oakland pimp and drug dealer Frank Ward, and infamously featured several real-life pimps and sex workers, in exchange for cameo roles for Ward and his brothers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003cem>The Mack\u003c/em>, Pryor played Slim, Goldie’s partner. Another character, Fat Man, coincidentally had the same initials as infamous Oakland drug kingpin Felix Mitchell. With Goldie’s brother Olinga as a Panther-esque Black nationalist, the film’s subtext hints at the real-life tension between the Black Panthers and Oakland’s gangster underworld. It’s a dynamic that foreshadowed the divisions between conscious and gangsta rap, and predated the way Tupac and many Bay Area rappers mixed elements of both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Melvin Van Peebles’ directorial debut \u003ci>Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song\u003c/i> was released in 1971, Panther leaders used their widely circulated newspaper to encourage Party members to see the film, which also featured the all-Black East Bay Dragons motorcycle club. “No distributors were supporting it,” says the Lumpen’s Dr. Saturu Ned, who worked in the Party’s newspaper office before he became a musician. “Because of the Black Panther Party, millions of people went to see the movie.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Sweet Sweetback\u003c/i> birthed the so-called blaxploitation films of this era, championing a gritty view of street life with an undercurrent of anti-authoritarianism. The genre became a key reference point for hip-hop, along with the Panthers’ messages of Black power and resistance. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hip-hop’s inspiration from the criminal underworld\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Without a doubt, one of hip-hop’s overarching themes has been the criminal underworld and the archetype of the pimp/player/hustler as hero and ghetto superstar. This, too, has significant ties to the Bay Area, and especially Oakland, which counts among its rap classics MC Pooh’s \u003ci>Life of a Criminal\u003c/i> and Too Short’s \u003ci>Born to Mack\u003c/i>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Bay Area, a systemic devastation of Black neighborhoods created a formula for poverty. Blue-collar industrial jobs left after World War II, and the “urban renewal” of the ’60s and ’70s demolished homes and businesses in San Francisco as well as Oakland. For some, the underground economy became an appealing means of upward mobility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Felix Mitchell operated out of the San Antonio Villa, a.k.a. 6-9 Ville, in East Oakland, which became the headquarters for the “69 Mob,” a criminal organization that established a nationwide heroin distribution network and employed young children as lookouts. The housing project’s notoriety extended well beyond Mitchell’s death in 1986: in 1992, the rapper Seagram released the single “The Ville,” which references “the M.O.B.” — an acronym for My Other Brother, the “official” name of Mitchell’s gang.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the ’70s, the Black Panthers operated a school and community center just a few blocks from 6-9 Ville. This led to conflict over control of the neighborhood. Ned recalls that intakes at the community center for heroin overdoses were common, while the Black Resurgents’ Randolph, who lived nearby on Sunnyside and 82nd Avenue, remembers gun battles sometimes erupting between the two factions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the post-Felix Mitchell crack cocaine era, rapping about pimping, drug dealing, drive-by shootings and sideshows all became part of Oakland’s hip-hop lexicon — see Dru Down and the Luniz’ “Ice Cream Man,” Richie Rich’s “Sideshow” and “Half Thang,” or Dru Down’s “Pimp of the Year,” which stayed on the Billboard charts for 24 weeks and would often evoke boisterous sing-alongs when played in local clubs.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/qnVtwzaw6lM'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/qnVtwzaw6lM'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Mitchell himself had reportedly popularized drive-by shootings, becoming one of the inspirations for the Nino Brown character in the 1991 movie \u003ci>New Jack City\u003c/i>, which featured a hip-hop soundtrack.. And Mitchell’s rival, Milton “Mickey Mo” Moore, financed the first rap record to come out of the Bay Area: Motorcycle Mike’s “Super Rat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So while Philadelphia’s Schooly-D and L.A.’s Ice-T are often credited as the first gangsta rap artists, the genre has been heavily influenced by Bay Area criminal icons like Moore, Ward, Mitchell and San Francisco’s Fillmore Slim. Just like the Panthers predated conscious rap and progressive politics, the Bay basically been gangsta for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Afrofuturism is at the heart of hip-hop’s imagination\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Not all hip-hop artists follow a street playbook. Nearly as influential as \u003ci>The Mack\u003c/i> was Sun Ra’s 1974 cult classic \u003ci>Space is the Place\u003c/i>, filmed at locations in Oakland, including the current Merritt College campus. Its origins date back to a 1971 \u003ca href=\"https://www.openculture.com/2014/07/full-lecture-and-reading-list-from-sun-ras-1971-uc-berkeley-course.html\">lecture course\u003c/a> given by Sun Ra at UC Berkeley, titled “The Black Man in the Cosmos.” The film’s convoluted plot depicts Ra as a time-traveling jazz musician who engages in a game of tarot with an “overseer” to decide the fate of the Black race. Ra eventually wins the contest thanks to his use of sound vibrations during a free jazz concert, boards a spaceship joined by young African Americans he’s recruited from Oakland, and travels to a better world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Afrofuturistic themes in \u003ci>Space is the Place\u003c/i> not only preceded Parliament’s \u003ci>Clones of Dr. Funkenstein\u003c/i> and \u003ci>Mothership Connection\u003c/i> albums, but established a cultural precedent for those themes to be revisited by hip-hop, first in the electro-funk era, and subsequently through abstract, esoteric, spiritually and conceptually minded rappers and producers. In the Bay Area, Hieroglyphics’ Del the Funky Homosapien would imagine dystopian futures worthy of anime treatments; Blackalicious’ work would contain themes of technology as a means of liberation; and Zion I’s lyrics would reach towards spiritual enlightenment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924298\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13924298\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-486166770-800x516.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"516\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-486166770-800x516.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-486166770-1020x657.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-486166770-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-486166770-768x495.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/GettyImages-486166770.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sun Ra and his Sun Ra Archestra perform with a steel sculpture on September 23, 1978, at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. \u003ccite>(Leni Sinclair/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sun Ra was part of the Black Arts Movement (BAM) of the 1960s, which began in Harlem but was grounded in the Bay Area. Influential author, writer and BAM co-founder Amiri Bakara moved from New York in 1962 to teach at San Francisco State University; in 1964, he worked with a young graphic designer named Emory Douglas on set design for a play in San Francisco. Three years later, Douglas met Bobby Seale and Huey Newton at the Black Door, a Black-operated theater known for presenting avant-garde productions, and became the Black Panther’s minister of culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Douglas’ revolutionary illustrations were featured in the Panther newspaper, and went on to influence politically-minded graffiti artists and muralists worldwide, including in San Francisco’s famed Clarion Alley. The Coup’s logo, depicting a mother carrying a child in a sling while holding a rifle, is a \u003ca href=\"http://american-studies-uea.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-art-of-emory-douglas-and-asali.html\">direct descendant of Douglas’ work\u003c/a>. And during the late ’80s, a flourishing of political graffiti around the anti-apartheid movement crested into bold statements against police brutality and Christopher Columbus by Bay Area aerosol legends Mike Dream, Spie and the TDK collective in the early ’90s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baraka later became a founding board member of Oakland’s Eastside Arts Alliance, whose annual Malcolm X Jazz Arts Festival in San Antonio Park has featured hip-hop freestyle rhyme and dance cyphers, live painting in honor of Mike Dream, tributes to boogaloo, and performances by The Coup and the Last Poets’ Umar Bin Hassan. Meanwhile, Baraka’s daughter Dominique DiPrima would become the KRON-TV host of the popular Bay Area hip-hop show \u003cem>Home Turf\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Spoken word, feminism\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>From the Black Arts Movement lineage comes a local emphasis on spoken word poetry and alternative theater. This legacy of artistic expression ultimately connects pioneering poet/playwright Ntozake Shange to the hip-hop inspired Oakland poet Chinaka Hodge, and to the field of hip-hop theater explored by Marc Bamuthi Joseph in the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her 1976 choreopoem \u003cem>for colored girls who’ve considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf\u003c/em>, first performed at a lesbian bar on Solano Avenue in Albany, Shange foreshadowed women in hip-hop’s existential struggle with sexuality, self-affirmation and self-love while dealing with misogyny, toxic relationships and Black female identity. In “No More Love Poems pt 1,” Shange’s Lady in Orange describes “being left screaming in a street full of lunatics whispering slut, \u003cem>beeitch\u003c/em>…” — pronouncing the word with the same drawn-out intonation as Too Short would a decade later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924299\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 801px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13924299\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/801px-Ntozake_Shange_Reid_Lecture_Women_Issues_Luncheon_Womens_Center_November_1978_Crisco_edit.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"801\" height=\"1023\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/801px-Ntozake_Shange_Reid_Lecture_Women_Issues_Luncheon_Womens_Center_November_1978_Crisco_edit.jpg 801w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/801px-Ntozake_Shange_Reid_Lecture_Women_Issues_Luncheon_Womens_Center_November_1978_Crisco_edit-160x204.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/801px-Ntozake_Shange_Reid_Lecture_Women_Issues_Luncheon_Womens_Center_November_1978_Crisco_edit-768x981.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 801px) 100vw, 801px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ntozake Shange in 1978. \u003ccite>(Barnard College/Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These same themes are present to some degree in the music of Bay Area women in funk — a list that includes Little Sister, Sugar Pie DeSanto, the Brides of Funkenstein, and Betty Davis (who recorded her first two albums in San Francisco with Bay Area musicians). The Pointer Sisters, the Oakland group whose career began with the self-affirming hit “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/F2U1OUxXSMM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Yes We Can Can\u003c/a>,” would later be referenced by Ice Cube, the Treacherous Three and Salt-n-Pepa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As SF State professor and cultural anthropologist Dawn-Elissa Fischer points out, the tradition extends even further back. “Some of the ideas that Angela Davis and Patricia Collins write about in terms of the impact of blues women — when we talk about the Panthers, we want to remember, while there are obvious ties, there’s this longer tradition of posting, boasting and rapping in the work of blues women in the Bay Area and elsewhere.” The same ideas and themes of the blues era, she says, were magnified and amplified during the funk era, and again in the hip-hop era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fischer, a contributor to \u003cem>The Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap\u003c/em> and an advisor on KQED’s \u003ci>That’s My Word\u003c/i>, regularly studies funk music as well as contemporary rap in her work, connecting dots between generational movements. She maintains the funky divas of the 1970s provided not only an artistic blueprint for rappers like the Conscious Daughters to talk about gender, sexuality and reproductive rights, but an aesthetic influence as well. Local emcee Coco Peila, she says, is an example of both, along with Mystic, Suga-T and Ryan Nicole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In looking critically at the intersection of funk, boogaloo, and the Black Panthers, Fischer says, “There was a lot of labor, gender and sexuality components of all of these movements, and specifically various forms of Black power. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11858928/west-oakland-mural-honors-women-of-black-panther-party\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Black women are a critical part of this paradigm\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legacy of these movements is not only part of hip-hop history and American history, but Bay Area history specifically. What made these movements so significant and generational in their influence was their intersectional longevity. Funk, boogaloo, and social movements all spoke to each other throughout their existence. That dialogue has become a longer discussion with the advent of hip-hop, which, as it’s evolved, has carried along with it the aesthetics of past movements \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span> be they Afros and boots, Black Power salutes, or tick-tocking robot moves over bass grooves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Why We’re Spending a Year Covering Bay Area Hip-Hop History",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13923952\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13923952\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/e-40.web_-800x604.jpg\" alt=\"An illustration of the rapper e-40, holding his glasses, based on the cover to the album 'my ghetto report card'\" width=\"800\" height=\"604\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/e-40.web_-800x604.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/e-40.web_-1020x770.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/e-40.web_-160x121.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/e-40.web_-768x580.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/e-40.web_-1536x1160.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/e-40.web_.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘That’s My Word’ drops new stories each week throughout 2023. \u003ccite>(Illustration by Shomari Smith)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There is nothing in the world like Bay Area hip-hop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our hip-hop is multicultural, flamboyant, political, diverse, high-energy. It’s staunchly independent and doesn’t ask for approval. It’s the product of pimps and hustlers just as much as activists and intellectuals. In the Bay — \u003cem>rewind that Mac Dre song\u003c/em> — we dance a little different. [aside postID='arts_13924126']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s no secret that hip-hop in the Bay has been overlooked. But something else has happened. The rest of the country, befuddled but fascinated, has hijacked our production, slang and dance styles as their own. Our DJs have inspired the world; our graffiti artists too. Spend a little time in hip-hop, and you’ll quickly notice just how much the Bay has influenced without recognition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the year 2023 marks what’s widely accepted as the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip-hop, it’s time to give the Bay its shine. That’s why we’re spending the whole year telling the story of this culture, piece by piece.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924235\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/NoahHaytin.FourPortraits.2-800x295.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"295\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13924235\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/NoahHaytin.FourPortraits.2-800x295.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/NoahHaytin.FourPortraits.2-1020x376.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/NoahHaytin.FourPortraits.2-160x59.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/NoahHaytin.FourPortraits.2-768x283.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/NoahHaytin.FourPortraits.2-1536x566.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/NoahHaytin.FourPortraits.2.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sly Stone, E_40, Mistah F.A.B. and Kamaiyah. \u003ccite>(Illustration by Noah Haytin/NOH8TIN )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We’ll give you inside stories of hit records and deep cuts. We’ll break down how our innovative social, political and cultural movements contributed to hip-hop’s DNA. We’ll also go well beyond the music, and show how artists like Boots Riley and Tupac Shakur forced direct action for police accountability; how trailblazing women like Pam the Funkstress and the Conscious Daughters pushed hip-hop forward; and how Too Short, E-40, JT the Bigga Figga, Hieroglyphics and other entrepreneurs created the blueprint for independent artists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Through regular feature stories, interviews, playlists, photo galleries, podcast episodes and live events throughout 2023, we’re here to backcue the record and make sure the Bay gets its due. [aside postid='arts_13923978']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ve also embarked on an ambitious endeavor, one that’s collaborative by design: a searchable, filterable \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/bayareahiphop/timeline\">timeline of important moments in Bay Area hip-hop history\u003c/a>. It’s already over 200 entries long, and we’ll be adding to it as the year goes on for future generations to explore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No single person can tell the entire story of Bay Area hip-hop. It’s too huge, too variegated. That’s why we’re working with contributors — journalists, visual artists, rappers, academics, turntablists — to capture as much of this history before it dissipates. We’re also working with an advisory panel consisting of \u003ca href=\"https://jeffchang.net/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jeff Chang\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.daveyd.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Davey D Cook\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://anthropology.sfsu.edu/people/dawn-elissa-fischer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dawn-Elissa Fischer\u003c/a>, all three of whom live and breathe hip-hop history. [aside postid='arts_13924042']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But importantly, we want to hear from you. Tap in and talk to us \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop/about\">here\u003c/a>. Fact-check us when needed. Tell us what you’ve seen and where you’ve been. The permanent record needs you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re alive in 2023, you’ve been affected by hip-hop. For decades, it’s transformed not just music but art, politics, education and culture. So this series isn’t just for the old heads — it’s for young fans wanting to connect to the lineage; for those eager to learn about the Bay Area’s social, political and cultural history; for any of the millions across the globe whose life soundtrack spans the music of Mac Dre, The Jacka, Blackalicious, Keak Da Sneak, Kamaiyah, Digital Underground, DJ Shadow, MC Hammer, The Coup, Mystic, I.M.P., Saafir, Mistah F.A.B., the Invisibl Skratch Piklz and… you know what? If we listed everyone, we’d be here ’til infinity. [aside postid='arts_13924170']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hip-hop history is so much more than New York, L.A. and Atlanta. For the foreseeable future here in the Bay, it’s all eyez on us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>— Gabe Meline, Eric Arnold, Nastia Voynovskaya and Pendarvis Harshaw \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s no secret that hip-hop in the Bay has been overlooked. But something else has happened. The rest of the country, befuddled but fascinated, has hijacked our production, slang and dance styles as their own. Our DJs have inspired the world; our graffiti artists too. Spend a little time in hip-hop, and you’ll quickly notice just how much the Bay has influenced without recognition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the year 2023 marks what’s widely accepted as the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip-hop, it’s time to give the Bay its shine. That’s why we’re spending the whole year telling the story of this culture, piece by piece.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924235\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/NoahHaytin.FourPortraits.2-800x295.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"295\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13924235\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/NoahHaytin.FourPortraits.2-800x295.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/NoahHaytin.FourPortraits.2-1020x376.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/NoahHaytin.FourPortraits.2-160x59.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/NoahHaytin.FourPortraits.2-768x283.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/NoahHaytin.FourPortraits.2-1536x566.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/NoahHaytin.FourPortraits.2.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sly Stone, E_40, Mistah F.A.B. and Kamaiyah. \u003ccite>(Illustration by Noah Haytin/NOH8TIN )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We’ll give you inside stories of hit records and deep cuts. We’ll break down how our innovative social, political and cultural movements contributed to hip-hop’s DNA. We’ll also go well beyond the music, and show how artists like Boots Riley and Tupac Shakur forced direct action for police accountability; how trailblazing women like Pam the Funkstress and the Conscious Daughters pushed hip-hop forward; and how Too Short, E-40, JT the Bigga Figga, Hieroglyphics and other entrepreneurs created the blueprint for independent artists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Through regular feature stories, interviews, playlists, photo galleries, podcast episodes and live events throughout 2023, we’re here to backcue the record and make sure the Bay gets its due. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ve also embarked on an ambitious endeavor, one that’s collaborative by design: a searchable, filterable \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/bayareahiphop/timeline\">timeline of important moments in Bay Area hip-hop history\u003c/a>. It’s already over 200 entries long, and we’ll be adding to it as the year goes on for future generations to explore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No single person can tell the entire story of Bay Area hip-hop. It’s too huge, too variegated. That’s why we’re working with contributors — journalists, visual artists, rappers, academics, turntablists — to capture as much of this history before it dissipates. We’re also working with an advisory panel consisting of \u003ca href=\"https://jeffchang.net/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jeff Chang\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.daveyd.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Davey D Cook\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://anthropology.sfsu.edu/people/dawn-elissa-fischer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dawn-Elissa Fischer\u003c/a>, all three of whom live and breathe hip-hop history. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But importantly, we want to hear from you. Tap in and talk to us \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop/about\">here\u003c/a>. Fact-check us when needed. Tell us what you’ve seen and where you’ve been. The permanent record needs you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re alive in 2023, you’ve been affected by hip-hop. For decades, it’s transformed not just music but art, politics, education and culture. So this series isn’t just for the old heads — it’s for young fans wanting to connect to the lineage; for those eager to learn about the Bay Area’s social, political and cultural history; for any of the millions across the globe whose life soundtrack spans the music of Mac Dre, The Jacka, Blackalicious, Keak Da Sneak, Kamaiyah, Digital Underground, DJ Shadow, MC Hammer, The Coup, Mystic, I.M.P., Saafir, Mistah F.A.B., the Invisibl Skratch Piklz and… you know what? If we listed everyone, we’d be here ’til infinity. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hip-hop history is so much more than New York, L.A. and Atlanta. For the foreseeable future here in the Bay, it’s all eyez on us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>— Gabe Meline, Eric Arnold, Nastia Voynovskaya and Pendarvis Harshaw \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"radiolab": {
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"reveal": {
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},
"rightnowish": {
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"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"info": "Science Friday is a weekly science talk show, broadcast live over public radio stations nationwide. Each week, the show focuses on science topics that are in the news and tries to bring an educated, balanced discussion to bear on the scientific issues at hand. Panels of expert guests join host Ira Flatow, a veteran science journalist, to discuss science and to take questions from listeners during the call-in portion of the program.",
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"snap-judgment": {
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"title": "Snap Judgment",
"tagline": "Real stories with killer beats",
"info": "The Snap Judgment radio show and podcast mixes real stories with killer beats to produce cinematic, dramatic radio. Snap's musical brand of storytelling dares listeners to see the world through the eyes of another. This is storytelling... with a BEAT!! Snap first aired on public radio stations nationwide in July 2010. Today, Snap Judgment airs on over 450 public radio stations and is brought to the airwaves by KQED & PRX.",
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