“I really think San Francisco is the best-dressed city in America,” Wes Gordon, the creative director for Carolina Herrera, told 245 fashionistas at Neiman Marcus Union Square. It was a warm way to compliment the women who waited for two pandemic years for the 2020 San Francisco Opera Guild fashion show fundraising luncheon (tickets $500 and up) to take place.
Was it worth sitting tight? The strong showing—philanthropists Lisa Goldman, Sara Abbasi, Komal Shah, Christine Suppes, Barbara Brown, and many more—proved the answer was yes. “I’ve never seen such dedication and determination,” Gordon said of efforts by Opera Guild President Maryam Muduroglu and event co-chairs Lisa Zabelle and Roman Gronkowski to keep the momentum going.
After lunch by McCalls at tables set by Riccardo Benavides, a live auction raised even more funds for the Guild’s music education program in Bay Area schools. The event was capped by visual dessert: the runway show with confections from the pre-fall and fall 2022 collections in lime green, marigold, tomato red, and a grape-hued purple.
Photos by Drew Altizer Photography