The Art of Fashion | Karl (Levi's Plaza SF) | Oct. 3–Nov. 3, 2025

Karl: The Art of Fashion

October 3–November 3, 2025
Group Exhibition
Curated by COL Gallery, Creativity Explored, exhibited.at, Jonathan Carver Moore, MAG Galleries, NIAD Art Center, re.riddle, SLATE Contemporary Gallery, TINT, and Venus & Victory.
Image: Holly Wong Mending Light, 2023. Courtesy of  SLATE Contemporary. Karl, San Francisco.

Levi’s Plaza

1255 Battery Street
San Francisco, CA  94111
+ 1 (214) 695 7047

Karl Website
Karl Instagram

Karl Hours

*Open Saturdays 12:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m. by Appointment

Overview

Today’s LOVE LETTER TO ART is to The Art of Fashion at Karl—a collaborative fall show that blurs the boundaries between art, fashion, and craft.

Karl’s galleries and organizations include COL Gallery, Creativity Explored, exhibited.at, Jonathan Carver Moore, MAG Galleries, NIAD Art Center, re.riddle, SLATE Contemporary Gallery, TINT, and Venus & Victory.

The particiapting artists are Adana Tillman, Aimilios Metaxas, Alexis Arnold, Ariana Martinez-Cruz, Cecilia Lusven, Charlene Tan, Cheryl Derricotte, Colin Roberts, Daniel Arthur Mendoza, David Reposar, Ethel Revita, Francisco Sanchez, Gillian Garro, Greg Climer, Henar Iglesias, Holly Wong, Jake Kenobi, Jennifer Cuaro, Julia Wheatley, Karen May, Karelle Levey, Kate Thompson, Kayl Johnson, Lupa Margaret Timbrell, Maria Radilla, Maribel Guzman, Marie Barthes, Mark Stephen Thomas, Mary Morse, Miriam Munguia, Nhan-Nhi Lillian Nguyen, Nicolaus Chaffin, Nubia Ortega, Omiiroo, Paola De La Calle, Peter Harris, Rhiannon Evans Macfadyen, Sam Hsieh, Stella Zhang, Susan Birnbaum, Susan Wise, Tana Quincy Arcega, and Tobi Oyebade.

The exhibition debuted with a fashion show by Tony Award–winning designer Brandin Vaughn, acclaimed for dressing Beyoncé on her Cowboy Carter and Renaissance tours, alongside designers Chelsey Carter-Sanders, Dwight Overton, James Cox, Nidhiya V. Raj, and Victoria Trent.

The Art of Fashion spotlights artists and designers working across mixed media, textiles, and fabric-based practices—materials once dismissed as “craft”, now embraced as fine art.

Preview of  The Art of Fashion’s Opening Party. Karl, San Francisco.

Shown here:
1) The opening night’s fashion show with Beyonce’s costume designer Brandin Vaughn, Nidhiya V. Raj, Victoria Trent, Dwight Overton, Chelsey Carter-Sanders, and James Cox.
2) Work by Artist Adana Tillman courtesy of Jonathan Carver Moore
3) Work by Daniel Arthur Mendoza courtesy of COL Gallery
4) Artist Holly Wong with Mending Light courtesy of SLATE Contemporary
5) Valerie Ware with Mending Light
6) Jonathan Carver Moore with Michelle Mansour
7) Susan Magley with re.riddle’s Candace Huey
8) Creativity Explored’s Alex Hernandez and Alisa Polischuk
9) Matthew McTire and Kelly Harris
10) COL Gallery’s Julia Li and Callie Jones with work by Charlene Tan courtesy of re.riddle
11) Designs by Ariana Martinez-Cruz courtesy of MAG Galleries

It’s such a treat when fashion emerges from the depths of the San Francisco fog. As someone who cannot quit fashion—believe me, I’ve tried—I cannot resist a fashion show or fashion exhibition because I am a curious observer. I trained in fashion design, so I do know a little bit about the métier.

In years prior, I’d cover the Costume Institute’s fashion exhibitions and New York Fashion Week—it was the best thing ever to be immersed in that energy. But something changed. New York wasn’t the same or maybe I wasn’t the same or fashion wasn’t the same or the fashion exhibitions at the museums weren’t the same—it was something I noticed once Harold Koda retired and Bill Cunningham died. The 2010s just didn’t feel so glamorous and I decided to take a break.

Oh, Bill. I used to love spotting Bill zipping around town on his bike with his camera and blue jacket. If you subscribed to the The New York Times and followed the fashion pages, you knew how hard he worked—photographing five or six events in a single night—yet somehow always with a smile on his face. Once Bill was taking a photo at the Met and I thought I was in it, but it turned out to be the guy behind me, as I saw in the next day’s paper. Ha!

I long for that New York of the early 2000s. If you were there—or even experienced it once—you knew how fabulous it was. It was still a Sex and the City New York, when magazines and their editors ruled the fashion world. I worked at Time Inc./Meredith for almost a decade, when print advertising was at its peak. I was an assistant for several magazines, and though it was a huge media conglomerate, the staff knew each other personally. The assistants worked with the publishers, editors, and VPs, which was a great learning experience in itself. Meredith wasn’t the most fashion-forward company—though we did have InStyle. I watched as the pandemic delivered the final nail in the coffin for traditional print media, ending an era that once sustained the economy and culture of fashion.

Anyhow, seeing fashion in San Francisco brings back memories of what I love most about it. Fashion design is a true hustle—it takes tremendous effort to create, stage, train models, and perfect a vision. And now with the influence of social media, designers have to worry about mega brands stealing their designs on top of all the other risks that come from running a fashion business.

The turnout at Levi’s Plaza was huge—a reminder that when something beautiful and exciting happens in San Francisco, people will show up.

🗓 The Art of Fashion runs until November 3, 2025, at Levi’s Plaza, located at 1255 Battery Street off San Francisco’s Embarcadero. 

✨ For more local fashion and textile art exhibtions, check out Creative Growth’s Fashion is the Sunshine that Spotlights Everyone (Sept. 26–Nov. 15, 2025)—post to follow soon—and BAMPFA’s Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California (June 8–Nov. 30, 2025). 

💌 Did you see the show(s) or try any of our recommendations? What did you think? Let us know in the comments (in the Reviews section located on the second tab at the top of the page).

QUICK GUIDE: Karl at Levi’s Plaza

⭐ ON VIEW: The Art of Fashion at Karl runs from Oct. 3–Nov. 3, 2025  🖼️ Add to Google Calendar

⭐ LOCATION: Karl is located at Levi’s Plaza (1255 Battery Street) between Greenwich and Filbert streets. 

⭐ LEVI’S PLAZA PARKING: ABM Parking (CLOSED WEEKENDS) at 1453 Sansome | 3 min walk

A LOVE LETTER TO ART’S CASUAL DINING PICK

• Pier 23 | Casual bar/restaurant with pier seating. Don’t forget to take a selfie in one of their BIG cowboy hats. | 3 min. walk

💖 A LOVE LETTER TO ART’S ROMANTIC DINING PICK

• Coqueta | My FAVORITE tapas restaurant in the city—delicious gin and tonics, plus beautiful bay views.] | 10 min. walk | BOOK Coqueta on Open Table HERE.

💌 More nearby suggestions are always welcome. Feel free to add in the comments!

A LOVE LETTER TO ART RECOMMENDS

RELATED GALLERIES

COL Gallery | Contemporary Art Gallery | 887 Beach St, San Francisco, CA 94109 | Ghirardelli Square

COL Gallery is a project-based, contemporary gallery founded in 2023 by Callie Jones and Julia Li in Ghirardelli Square, San Francisco, a bayside landmark since 1862, a Lawrence Halprin-designed community space, and home of Ruth Asawa’s first public work. COL is named in honor of the late sculptor Richard Nonas.

Creativity Explored | 3245 16th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Art changes lives. Support Artists with Disabilities by Buying Art or Partnering with Us. San Francisco Based Progressive Art Studio.

NIAD Art Center | 551 23rd St, Richmond, CA 94804

NIAD Art Center is an art and disability organization in Richmond, California. Here in our online gallery and store you can view and purchase all of the available work of NIAD Art Center studio artists. 50% of all sales go directly to the artists.

Creative Growth Art Center | 355 24th St, Oakland, CA 94612

CREATIVE GROWTH is a non-profit organization based in Oakland, California that advances the inclusion of artists with developmental disabilities in contemporary art and strengthens community by providing a supportive studio environment and gallery representation.

exhibited.at | Various Locations

This October, exhibited.at joins KARL: The Art of Fashion at Levi’s Plaza in San Francisco.

Jonathan Carver Moore | 966 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94102

Jonathan Carver Moore is a contemporary art gallery that specializes in working with emerging and established artists who are BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and women. As the only openly gay Black male owned gallery in San Francisco, Jonathan is committed to amplifying the voices of the often underrepresented artists through a Black queer lens. At Jonathan Carver Moore we believe in community and accessibility. Art should be for everyone. Whether someone is a novice or avid collector, we encourage them to be a part of our community. There is beauty of diversity in all aspects of the art world.

MAG Galleries | 3931 18th Street San Francisco, CA

re.riddle | 1275 Minnesota St #204, San Francisco, CA 94107

re.riddle is an art gallery located in San Francisco that exhibits socially engaging, multidisciplinary and aesthetically sophisticated contemporary art. We also offer art advisory services for collectors and companies. Discover our latest projects, art exhibitions and artworks for sale.

Edge on the Square | Contemporary Art | 800 Grant Avenue, San Francisco, CA, USA

Welcome to Edge on the Square, the contemporary art hub located at the heart of San Francisco Chinatown. Our year-round programming is designed to bring together creators and educators for a well-rounded cultural experience. Our space welcomes Asian American artists for our twice annual art exhibitions and our signature annual contemporary art festival, as well as music events and community gatherings that foster cultural exchange and understanding.

SLATE Contemporary Gallery | 473 25th St, Oakland, CA 94612

SLATE contemporary is a retail gallery, show room, and exhibition venue in Oakland, CA, where we produce six shows each year featuring the artists on the gallery’s roster.

TINT Gallery | 149 Gough St, San Francisco, CA 94102

TINT is a San Francisco based art gallery that showcases contemporary artists, highlighting women artists in particular, who innovate across media.

Venus & Victory | 824 Hyde Street C1, San Francisco, CA 94109

Venus & Victory is an art collective focused on artistic freedom and collaboration.

NEARBY ATTRACTIONS

Filbert Steps | 202 Filbert Street, San Francisco, CA 94133

The Filbert Street Steps offer a scenic climb, weaving past houses on the steep hillside, from the waterfront to Coit Tower in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood.

NEARBY DINING

XICA at Levi's Plaza | 1265 Battery St Suite 100, San Francisco, CA 94111

Chef Maria E and Ignacio Perez, started the Chicana concept in 2014. The wife and husband duo of the infamous take out window on Green street CHICA SF (2015-2020) and six-year-old Oakland-…

*A LOVE LETTER TO ART'S CASUAL DINING PICK | Pier 23 Cafe Restaurant & Bar | 23 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94111

Pier 23 Cafe Restaurant & Bar, a historic wharf restaurant and bar, serves fresh seafood, live music and good drink to locals and visitors alike. Family owned for more than 30 years, Pier 23 Cafe continues to innovate San Francisco’s traditional seafood dishes and still capture the essence of t

*A LOVE LETTER TO ART'S ROMANTIC DINING PICK | Coqueta SF | Pier 5 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94111

Located on San Francisco’s bustling Embarcadero, Coqueta is Michael Chiarello’s interpretation of Spanish Cuisine, wine and inspired cocktails, while highlighting the bounty of Northern California.

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Author: ALoveLettertoArt