Bespoke Cocktails and Stylish Conversation
Oakland Style Week
Kissel Hotel
Uptown Oakland
Oct. 19, 2023
The evening was still hot as I got dressed to head downtown for Cocktails and Conversations, a cocktail mixer and panel talk hosted by Visit Oakland as part of this year’s Oakland Style Week. Opting for shorts and a big blazer, I was surprised to find myself on the dressier side of the crowd, a mix of curious folks who found the event online, city employees, Visit Oakland staff, and local and not-so-local personalities and “influencers.”
Northern California is viewed, rightfully so in my opinion, as having a hyper-casual approach to style and comfort. The Bay Area is regularly dismissed by those in the know and all who eschew the techno-bro Patagonia vest or Berkeley-coded socks and Birkenstocks. Some of us like a combination of form and function, even if the function is just slightly hindered — we need to look cool.
But there’s a lot to be said for comfort, personal authenticity, and style of one’s own right, even if it isn’t cool — yet. The ultra casual has become the American uniform, and much of that was born from West Coast hip hop artists and the ever-present ease of our surfers and skaters. Gen Z doesn’t seem to do formal, so maybe Cali cool (GORPCore, as they might say), or cozy casual, or soft and flowing (on the internet, cottage core), is here to stay.
The Style Week panel was led by Jobina Fortson-Evans, an anchor for ABC News, and was split into three sets of conversations between two local business people in the arts. The pairs were Melecio Estrella, the drtistic Director of Bandaloop in conversation with Dorian Webb, a high-end jewelry designer; Taylor Jay and Taylor Smalls, clothing designer and palette knife painter, respectively; and James Syhabout and Mistah Fab, a Michelin-starred restauranteur and a rapper-turned multi-hyphenate businessman, in turn.
Fortson mastered the art of keeping the crowd and panelists engaged with each other as well as asking them questions many had not been challenged with during their extensive careers. She warned us all things would be getting “cozy and nosy,” pushing each speaker to reflect on their creative processes and why they do what they do.
All expressed an emphasis on community and uplifting ourselves and each other through the arts. As Estrella said, art takes discipline, something each person invited to the stage has in spades. That discipline translates into the freeness to create as you need to, to express your truest self. He said his mission at Bandaloop is to care for the dancers so well that “the dance just pours out.”
Access remains a crucial point for most creatives, and Mistah Fab spoke about aiming to make accessibility the norm for kids, and adults, who look like him. He cited a recent meeting where he was dismissed based on his dress (sneakers, sweatpants, and a hoodie; his own brand), before sharing his business portfolio and garnering a different reception. He said that as “much more than an artist,” he has helped change the narrative, buying buildings, opening businesses, hosting group therapy for black men, and even an academy for young people.
These conversations were just one event in a week-long slew aimed at revitalizing and bringing attention to the arts, fashion, and general style in Oakland. I left hoping for more concrete ways we can implement this support and security for artists, how to foster their safety so deeply that they can just pour themselves out. And I look forward to seeing how many more up-and-comers can get involved in the conversation, too.
