Vallejo’s Artiszen and Mare Island Art Studios host fashion show for Bay Area designers

VALLEJO — Around 150 people packed Mare Island Art Studios on Saturday and applauded enthusiastically as models showcased the work of 10 talented Bay Area fashion designers, including several from Vallejo.

Sean Gutierrez, the founder of the nonprofit Artiszen Vallejo, has collaborated with Mare Island Art Studios this month to showcase art, fashion, and poetry from local and Bay Area artists. Every weekend the studios have hosted an event from the Art of Community program created by Gutierrez.

The show was produced by Gutierrez, his daughter Eva Luna Gutierrez, and Gee Gee Snaps, who also modeled.

The runway started indoors, where an exhibit curated by Dominique Burgess Gutierrez, a Mare Island Studios artist, showed over 30 pieces by local and Bay Area artists.

Some of the models were professionals while others were local artists who had never walked in a fashion show before. Two were 14 years old.

“It’s a community show that left room for people that could be quirky and uncomfortable,” Gutierrez said. “You can tell it might be their first time, but we embrace them. And then we have the ones that are confident and can carry that high fashion.” 

Inclusivity was a key goal for the producers. “We had a young transwoman in the show, models of all ages, sizes and colors,” Gutierrez added.

This is the second year that the fashion show has been produced at Mare Island Art Studios. Before that, Gutierrez put on fashion shows at his Artiszen locale in downtown Vallejo, but he had to close it at the beginning of the pandemic.

Last year the fashion show focused on clothes made from recycled materials, including plastic and garments from thrift stores. This year Gutierrez had a different intent. “I brought in a lot of models and designers that came from further out [in the Bay Area],” Gutierrez said. “I thought it was important to start bringing more people to Vallejo from outside to see what we're doing here, so we can connect the dots and we can improve the narrative of how people look and feel about Vallejo.”

From African inspired prints to tunics imprinted with art works, crochet clothes for men and women, and hyper urban garments for youth, each of the 10 designers had a unique and eye popping style.