From the Editor

In the last decade of the 18th century, George Bryan Brummell-"Beau" Brummell as he came to be called-swept through the drawing rooms of fashionable London and changed the world. To a society in which notions of elegance were still centered around wealth and its ostentatious display, the Beau brought into fashion a democratic sense of taste and restraint.

Gone were the baubles and bangles, the red-heeled pumps and satin clutch-purses, the wigs and lace that men had worn as a badge of refinement in the so-called Age of Reason. Brummell paired men's clothes down to a few well-tailored essentials: coat, vest, shirt, tie, pants.

Praise him or blame him, for most of the world, that's the way its been ever since.

But not here, and not now. San Francisco-"The occidental uttermost of American civilization," as Oscar Wilde once called it-has been home to challenge after challenge to the Beau's sartorial status quo. Diverse from the get-go, San Francisco has never had much time for regimentation. Our diversity has led not to a clash of cultures but to a synthesis styles.

June Prism presents a reflection of the city's style-wise vicissitude. Mugo wa Macharia explores the color, richness and meaning of traditional African clothing. Even trash has a place in city style, as Nancy shows us with her photo story on ECOMODE. Designed by SF State student designer Safoua Brightasare, ECOMODE, a line of women's wear, transforms yesterday's trash into today's fash. Is fashion a fetish? Or has fetish become fashion? Robyn Nance and Julia Carreon explore the world of objectification and kink chic.

But San Francisco style ain't just about clothes.

"San Francisco has more art consciousness per capita than any other city in America," said indpendent movie director Iara Lee, during a recent interview on the SF digital culture program, Flux T.V. Lee's new film "Synthetic Pleasures" was recently feted at the San Francisco International Film Festival.

That consciousness manifests itself in the city's vibrant arts, music and culture scene. herein, Becky Ebenkamp brings us the wacky, irreverent antics of the all drag theater ensemble, the Sick & Twisted Players, while Christopher Kennedy explores the revival of jazz. Knowing that city life isn't all wine and roses, Jennifer Reiman tells the story of one woman's fight for dignity inside San Francisco's prolific sex industry.

One wonders whether the Beau, were he alive today, would be horrified or entranced by the city. We can only hope it would be the latter. But then, with a city like ours, who cares?

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