Booger Kids started out as a way for San Jose streetwear impresarios Ryan Mante and Michael Ngo to loosen up their design aesthetic and have a little fun. While Mante’s other local urban-lifestyle company, Breezy Excursion, tends toward more subdued styles, the humorously named Booger Kids gets into a wearer’s face with edgy, decidedly salacious spins on ’80s cartoon characters.
Articles by Jessica Fromm
In the male-dominated world of streetwear fashion labels, it’s hard for a chick to cut a break.
But that’s exactly what East Side San Jose–based fashion designer Joyous Ladi is endeavoring to do with Girls Night Out Society (GNOS), her innovative new streetwear line.
Designed just with fly ladies in mind, Ladi’s ironic, irreverently funny screen-print girl-fit T-shirts have only been on the market for a few months. Nonetheless, GNOS is already generating some serious Internet buzz.
Perhaps one of the most iconic depictions of the midi-length skirt in popular culture comes from the film Bonnie and Clyde. In the 1967 movie about the notorious 1930s bank robber lovers, Faye Dunaway is the definition of kick-ass glam in her fitted shin-length tweed skirts paired with tight little knit sweaters.
Goodwill of Silicon Valley is overhauling its image. The nonprofit no longer wants its name to be synonymous with thrift shopping and penny-pinching. Goodwill is jumping on the trendy green-living and sustainable community wave. It is now emphasizing itself as a champion of recycling and fashionable reuse, as well as a jobs program during the challenging economy.
FabMo’s monthly distribution events have become a mecca for eco-conscious Silicon Valley artists, teachers, quilters and crafters looking for free premium materials. The all-volunteer, nonprofit organization has found use for tons of high-quality samples that would otherwise have been thrown away.
A paper trail suggests that money from Bay 101, the San Jose card club, made its way to the campaign of City Council candidate Xavier Campos. Public records show that following the card club’s $50,000 contribution in support of a ballot measure, funds were transferred to Campos-aligned organizations that subsequently funded Campos’ bitter battle for a District 5 council seat, in apparent violation of city campaign laws.
Los Gatos jewelry maker Angela Keller says that being diagnosed with breast cancer put a whole different spin on her creative process.
Keller is a Bay Area regular on the art and wine festival circuit who has been manufacturing Venetian and Italian glass bead jewelry under the name Dolce Beada for years. But it wasn’t until she came down with cancer in 2009 that she really understood the true value of her work, Keller says.
When one thinks of combining tribal tattoos and clothing, what usually springs to mind are roided-out MMA fighters in Tapout tops or L.A.-trash brands like Ed Hardy.
But Cukui Clothing Company, the latest addition to San Jose’s Japantown, takes a whole different spin on merging body-art-inspired designs and garments. Skulls, cherries, fleurs-de-lis and flash art this is not—Cukui takes its original tattoo designs seriously.
San Jose designer Hector Manuel says he aims to make clothing that enables women to feel sexy and empowered. That’s why he named his label Acta Non Verba, Latin for “Actions, Not Words.”
Minh Duong, the pro-business, Chamber of Commerce–endorsed City Council candidate, has made his business experience the central theme of his campaign to oust District 7 Councilmember Madison Nguyen. He believes his knowledge of budgets and finance can help the economically-strapped city better manage its money. Duong’s own business acumen, however, may not rise to the level his talking points suggest.
