Half an hour left, then just fifteen minutes. Two of San Francisco’s aspiring fashion designers, Lauren Mendoza and Gail B. Shrive, cut, tucked, and stitched onstage at The Mighty this November as hundreds watched the busy makeup artists and sewing machines, drank, and perused vendors’ booths.

Finally, Mendoza and Shrive showcased their work for the judges and the audience: two gentle, flattering evening gowns, each receiving high praise. One outfit’s natural curves melded with its brown, green, and neutral earth tones, while the other’s neat, classy look highlighted its warm red and burnt cinnamon hues. (pictures available at Fashion Feud’s website: http://www.fashionfeud.net/)

Intended to help introduce up and coming designers to the larger clothing and apparel world, the Scion-sponsored monthly series of Fashion Feud competitions pit people against each other in friendly contests. Each of a pair of designers receives a solid color and a print fabric, supplied by New York’s Mood Fabrics, and must create a complete outfit within one hour for a model to wear onstage. Audience applause helps guide the judges’ decisions, and Fashion Feud’s organizers open the doors for free to the general public.

As November’s Fashion Feud concluded, I pulled organizer and publicist Owen Geronimo aside for a preliminary interview.

“We have a goal to put San Francisco on the map in the fashion scene,” Geronimo said. “We’re in the midst of a cultural renaissance.”

San Francisco’s history lends itself to an aesthetic all its own, distinct from Los Angeles and even the European capitals. As Geronimo explained, the artistic and literary movements of the last half of the past century still influence various aspects of the city’s culture, including fashion.

“There’s a whole seventies, flower-child, natural and artsy sensibility here,” said Geronimo. Less dependent on the labels and reputations of established designers, San Francisco fashion represents the potential for clothing styles which emerge organically from local culture, heritage, and taste. Successful apparel lines need not sport Versace or Ralph Lauren insignia, but will likely reflect aspects of our Beat, modern, postmodern, hippie, rock and roll, artistic, and environmental movements – along with multicultural and immigrant influences.

While we talked, Geronimo said goodbye to and connected with a variety of his friends and professional contacts. Building community among designers, artists, and businesspeople remains crucial to building and reviving Northern California’s fashion world.

This connection-building takes place online through blogging and other social media, and offline, with the San Francisco Fashion and Merchants’ Alliance, a ‘go-to place’ and professional organization for designers and businesspeople. Creating clothing and apparel involves good networking and other business skills along with artistic sense, and Geronimo considered this when offering advice for aspiring designers.

Heartily endorsing people to go out and connect with other talented designers, as he himself does through Fashion Feud and Werkstatte, a monthly networking event for fashion professionals, Geronimo encouraged others, “If this is your passion, then go for it. But you’ll make some mistakes along the way, so learn from them and don’t be afraid to totally reinvent your line.”

A former designer himself, Geronimo promoted his Firestarter clothing line directly online and marketed it to retail stores. He now returns to the fashion industry after journeying through the real estate and art worlds.

“After the bottom fell out of the real estate market, I thought I’d go back to my first love,” said Geronimo.

People may ask him and his colleagues why anyone should pay attention to clothing in this era of foreclosure, job loss, and increasing poverty in the developed world, and continual disease and starvation elsewhere. Certainly, one cannot ignore many other pressing concerns, but, as I mentioned and he agreed, people continue pursuing beauty through other arts, such as music, painting, and sculpture.

And,  as San Francisco Fashion and Merchants Alliance’s Scherry Momin pointed out, compared to other art forms, clothing design seems relatively practical and accessible. Most people must choose and wear clothes, and thus engage with fashion at some level. Clothes become part of a person’s wardrobe and life, making anyone who purchases a tee shirt or pair of jeans a kind of art collector.

Through Fashion Feud and Werkstatte, Geronimo, Momin and their colleagues seek to nurture San Francisco’s emerging professional talent, and make the market for apparel designers a more welcoming, accessible place.

Link to the San Francisco Fashion and Merchants Alliance, with information on Werkstatte and Fashion Feud events: http://sffama.ning.com/