Local designers showcase unusual creations at North Bay Fashion Ball

Fabric, fiber and found objects, all doing things they’ve never quite been asked to do together before. That’s one description of the rich, weird, wonderful and thoroughly outlandish creations that were paraded before the delighted eyes of attendees at the third annual North Bay Fashion Ball.

“The show is a tiered birthday cake or ziggurat, with fireworks,” said founder and MC Cincinnatus Hibbard, describing the show as “where the region’s best designers and street stylists step up their game and meet their fanatics.”

Held at Lagunitas Brewery and Beer Sanctuary on Saturday, May 18, the well-attended event marked a high-spirited passing of the torch, as Hibbard organized the show for his last time. Starting next year, co-founder Lena Claypool will helm the event, which has grown and expanded each year since its debut in 2022.

The highly entertaining spectacle ‒ preceded this year by an art and fashion market with live music ‒ annually showcases the creations of local designers and stylists, all hand-picked to represent various age groups, outlooks and aesthetics. This year’s primary presenters were Reprezent, the Buck Lucky Brand, Love Morgue, Poofii Studio, The Princess Boutique and YLX Design.

Three groups of “ambassadors” representing what Hibbard called “the most exceptional fashion show series and annuals,” were also on hand. The shows and events they represented were the California Indian Museum’s annual fashion show, the Soft Medicine Semi-Annual, and Sonoma Community Center’s Trashin’ Fashion Annual. Each contingent presented some of its best looks, taking the runway to a “personally selected power song.”

Following the exhibition, per tradition, a “surprise musical guest” took the stage. This year, it was singer-songwriter-performer Fleevs.

“As a curator and collector of rare seeds, aka potentials, for years, I have been searching for a Sonoma County grown pop star,” said Hibbard. “Fleevs has the right stuff. This was only his third show but the audience gave him and his dancers a standing O.”

The event was once again a benefit for Face to Face, a nonprofit Sonoma County organization that runs an array of prevention and care programs, providing HIV testing and other vital services for Sonoma County residents who are living with HIV. Though this year’s show is now over, Hibbard, Claypool and company invite the community to add to its success by making a donation to Face to Face.

“We raised 3K for F2F,” reported Hibbard. “They received the whole of our profit and the rest went to the artists and techs in the production, with the exception of me. I’m a volunteer.”

Hibbard adds that Face to Face received a number of side donations as well, since there was a large QR code on prominent display. “I told the crowd, any time you’re taken with joy, scan that QR and make a donation,” he said.

To add your own donation, visit Face to Face at face2face.org.