{"id":425734,"date":"2026-08-06T20:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T20:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/425734\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T20:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T20:44:11","slug":"vogue-world-is-coming-to-san-francisco-its-a-naked-cash-grab-for-tech-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/425734\/","title":{"rendered":"Vogue World is coming to San Francisco. It’s a naked cash grab for tech money"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s not like I want to write this story; I am a fashion designer who dreamed always of being Anna Wintour’s harried second assistant in Devil Wears Prada. <\/p>\n

But the announcement today that Vogue World would grace our foggy city on the west coast in 2027 is not especially news that makes sense at first. I’m going to hand the mic to Sam Mondros at SF Standard. Chucked in the bottom of his article today<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Unlike the previous Vogue World cities, San Francisco has never been known as a hub for tasteful dress, let alone haute couture. The city gave rise to era-defining brands like Levi\u2019s, Esprit, and Gap but eventually became better known for what its fashion lacks, thanks to the\u00a0tech-flavored normcore of the 2010s: branded puffer vests, Allbirds, and other mid-priced smart gear.<\/p>\n

San Francisco is a city of denim and hoodies<\/a>, and no amount of Zac Posen putting sequined GAP silhouettes on celebrities is going to change that. He is in the business of selling more denim, hoodies, and poly blends. He becomes part of today’s narrative because when Anna Wintour visited recently\u2014apparently to scout out SF for Vogue World\u2014she supposedly met with Posen afterward.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Zac Posen\u2019s big night out in San Francisco<\/p>\n

After attending a capsule collection at Gap headquarters on Feb. 13, Posen dashed across town for an entirely different debut for SF Ballet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And to be specifically blunt: he got to GAP after shuttering his business<\/a>, and now Cond\u00e9 Nast keeps putting out story after story about his comeback<\/a>, and his love of San Francisco<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The great irony of course is that GAP began as a secondhand store that sold Levi’s jeans on Ocean Avenue<\/a>. So now the denim company that rode the hem of another denim company are sorta besties? And the heir of that is promoting his big win.<\/p>\n

“Vogue World will be another opportunity to show the world that San Francisco is on the rise,” Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a statement.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Five Fashion Innovations Created in San Francisco<\/p>\n

With the current tech boom, you can be excited again about all the inventions sprouting up right here in the city. Despite the newness of it all, San Francisco has always been a hotbed of innovation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I write this news today as if you know about fashion, Posen, Anna, and Vogue World. On the latter, I frankly have read almost nothing on it or looked at their photos, but Vogue World is apparently “an immersive runway and cultural showcase. Each year, the event moves to a new global city, tailoring its theme to highlight the unique history, arts, and local businesses of the host location.”<\/p>\n

Anna came to North Beach when she visited, so I’m expecting runway models on stripper poles and to have pasta thrown all over them.<\/p>\n

It’s true we’ve seen other machinations at work. The designer Thom Browne recently brought Queen Latifah and Fran\u00e7ois Arnaud into the Legion of Honor, in a glamorous show<\/a> I wish I attended.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

But in no specific way does that make it make sense for San Francisco; for fashion, anyway. For money, yes. At this past Met Gala, Jeff Bezos and Lauren S\u00e1nchez Bezos were the lead sponsors, reportedly contributing $10 million, and the couple served as honorary chairs while funding both the gala and the accompanying Costume Institute exhibition.<\/p>\n

The 2026 gala raised a record $42 million. Amazon, Meta, OpenAI and Snapchat each bought tables at $350,000, and individual tickets climbed to $100,000 from roughly $75,000 in 2025. For scale: when Wintour took over as chair in 1995, a table ran about $15,000, or roughly $32,000 in today’s dollars, and the guest list was drawn from fashion and entertainment.<\/p>\n

So are we happy that this money is coming to San Francisco? YES OMG YES please don’t misunderstand me. Of course we want the founders of our city and surrounding areas to invest in it. It’s just a weird freaking opportunity and narrative to box it all in.<\/p>\n

I could go on but I’ll contain myself. But to read more about Anna’s love of rehabilitating designers, I encourage you to look at some OG history on John Galliano<\/a>. He is the Met Gala’s next centerpiece<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Saul Sugarman is editor in chief and owner of The Bold Italic.<\/p>\n

The Bold Italic is a not-for-profit media organization, and we publish first-person perspectives about San Francisco and the Bay Area. We operate under a fiscal sponsorship of a 501(c)(3).<\/p>\n

You can\u00a0become a paid subscriber<\/a>. Or\u00a0donate<\/a>. Or\u00a0learn more about us<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Two photos in this article, including the lead, are from Drew Altizer Photography.<\/p>\n

In cuter news: read my new series called “What It’s Like”<\/p>\n

This is where we at The Bold Italic tell you what a place in San Francisco is actually like. Based on our own experiences and those of our readers. First up is what it’s like at Cinderella Bakery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What It\u2019s Like at Cinderella Bakery in San Francisco\u2019s Richmond District<\/p>\n

The location is busy and small, but quite honestly, it\u2019s not that hard to get a table outside. The weather is a surprisingly pleasant microclimate. And the bread that comes with most meals is fucking phenomenal.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And what it’s like at Caf\u00e9 Zoetrope<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What It\u2019s Like at Caf\u00e9 Zoetrope in San Francisco\u2019s North Beach<\/p>\n

People love the room and argue about the food, the spaghetti and meatballs gets named more than anything else, and the prices draw the most complaints.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>And some related fashion coverage in SF<\/p>\n

I could go on, and on, and on:<\/p>\n

I’ll also be at Switch & Stitch at the Ferry Building, August 12th<\/p>\n

This is the event ad: The Ferry Building’s Grand Hall hosts a night of circular fashion on Aug. 12, when Rethink The Runway brings its Switch & Stitch clothing swap and mending counter upstairs. Bring up to five garments to trade one-for-one, and three volunteer stylists will help you shop the racks and put looks together. Six menders work a repair counter with supplies from Kimonomomo, patching, darning and reviving whatever you’ve been meaning to fix for two years, and a drop-in DIY counter stocked by FabMo lets you do it yourself with a maker looking over your shoulder.<\/p>\n

They didn’t pay me to say it. I just love its organizer, Mira Musank, so I’m volunteering.<\/p>\n

The details<\/p>\n

What: Switch & Stitch, a clothing swap market and mending counter presented by Rethink The RunwayWhen: Wednesday, Aug. 12, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.Where: Ferry Building Grand Hall, second floor, 1 Ferry Building, San Francisco. The Grand Hall is reachable by stairs or elevator from the central entrance.Tickets: $15 Studio Pass (general admission), $20 Kinetic Pass (last-chance general admission), $45 Atelier Pass (VIP). The $10 early-bird Vanguard Pass has sold out, and remaining inventory is thin across tiers. All sales are final. Register here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s not like I want to write this story; I am a fashion designer who dreamed always of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-425734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}