Coco Chanel’s famous aphorism, “Fashion changes, style remains,” is as true as ever. Images from bygone eras often include one person clad in an outfit that stands the test of time.
Here are three very different East Bay people who make, as well as exude, style. What they have in common are vision for detail, a willingness to ignore trendiness, and confidence that what they create and wear is uniquely them.
On the Style Train
Seventeen-year-old Reyhana Shephard loves her classes at the Oakland School for the Arts so much, she makes the commute from Vallejo on BART five days a week. So when her instructor, and chair of the fashion department, Stephanie Verrieres, told her about “Project Doneway,” a design contest sponsored by BART, she was all in.
“BART came to us with this crazy idea,” said Verrieres, of challenging students to create high fashion out of the no-longer-used-but-fondly-remembered BART paper tickets. Several trips to BART central to pick up boxes of tickets later, students, including Shephard, were ready to design.
Her dress, called “BART of Hearts,” used over 1,000 tickets; took many hours to create, including its carefully constructed paper corset and cage skirt; and was inspired by the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, as well as Victorian-era undergarments. Dazzling the judges, it won first place in the high-school category of “Project Doneway.”
Verrieres wasn’t surprised. In her years of majoring in fashion design, Shephard had impressed with her dedication. Even being accepted into the OSA program is very competitive, with students required to submit a portfolio. Once accepted, they work hard in a cooperative, but exacting environment.
“I’ve always made sketches, since I was in sixth grade…I looked at magazines, paid attention to clothing and how I dressed myself—then I found OSA,” said Shephard. For “BART of Hearts,” she combed through books, and depended on supportive fellow students, as well as Verrieres, for construction advice.
“I felt we needed to win something,” Shephard said. When her design, modeled by Jeylei Hernandez, won on Sept.14 in the Rockridge Station parking lot, she thought, “Oh my goodness; I did that!”
Her style icons include designers Elsa Schiaparelli and Alexander McQueen. Schiaparelli, who often took her inspirations from artists like Dali and Cocteau, never hesitated to veer from traditional fashion design. The late McQueen, who was trained in tailoring, was known for his convention-breaking designs and continues to be revered by the fashion world.
“Style,” said Shephard, “is personal. It’s not just following trends, but setting them.”
Verrieres noted that this is Shephard’s final year at OSA. She will be part of the annual spring fashion show, in which each designer presents their collection, taking place May 11, 2025.
For more information about OSA, visit oakarts.org.
Style a While With Me, Sarah
Sarah Dunbar’s love for classic vintage clothing began in her teens. She got her first job at 22 with Mars Mercantile, and learned how to buy vintage clothes and what “sustainability” meant. After moving to Brooklyn, she worked as a buyer at Beacon’s Closet, picking up more knowledge about labels, fabrics and fit.
In 2004, back in Berkeley, she transformed her one-bedroom apartment into a once-a-month store. This proved so popular that in 2006, she took the plunge and opened the first version of Pretty Penny Vintage.
Today, after 18 years and several locations, Pretty Penny showcases vintage in Berkeley’s Elmwood district, with Dunbar’s husband’s hair salon operating on the floor above. She continues to offer items with “timeless, versatile style at an accessible price point.”
Uniquely, clothing items are not arranged by size. “Depending on the silhouette, a piece could fit maybe three different sizes,” she said. Her in-depth experience helps shoppers learn “how to size themselves,” and she offers a booklet that explains different silhouettes. She gently disabuses those who have reservations about “used” clothes. “Designers copy these styles all the time,” Dunbar said.
Returning customers tell her things such as, “I just wore a dress I got from you 15 years ago.” Current pieces range from a deep-blue Victor Costa two-piece dress, to a 1950s sleeveless print-with-sequins full-length dress, to a silver metallic brocaded ’60s mini-dress.
But Dunbar has noticed a trend she hopes to turn around. When she opened Pretty Penny, her customer age range was “12-to-90,” she said, and it’s contracted to more like 25-to-75. She feels that the influx of “fast fashion” is more influential than the trend to upcycling and sustainable fashion. That, however, may change as younger buyers come to realize that quality lasts.
Asked, “What is style to you?” Dunbar said, “Comfort. If it feels like you, you will wear it, whether it’s a wider leg or a high waist.” She cited a favorite customer, a jewelry designer, who works in brightly colored plastic, and likes to dress in ways that complement her creations. “I love her playfulness,” said Dunbar. “Personal style is both comfort—and joy.”
Are the Stars Out Tonight?
In 1984, Lisa Lowry was merchandising in the new Beverly Hills Banana Republic. This first BR outside of the Bay Area was like a movie set: a 1940s Stinson plane hanging from the ceiling, a 10-foot fiberglass African elephant bursting out of the back wall, a Quonset hut dressing room.
East Bay native Lowry had gotten used to celebrities sauntering through the doors. But with “Cheek to Cheek” from Top Hat playing over the sound system, she did a double-take as Fred Astaire walked in. Putting his hand on her arm, he smiled and said, “Gee, I didn’t think anyone played this song anymore.”
It was the ’80s, glam, big hair, glitter—and, at BR, “safari chic.” Lowry, who had modeled as a child for Children’s Hospital Oakland benefits, and acted at the Contra Costa Civic Theatre, found her conservative style morphing into a glorious cross between rock and roll and Old Hollywood.
This transition was facilitated by what became a lifelong friendship with fellow BR employee, Louisa Voisine, who was pursuing a fashion design career. Voisine, now a couture milliner in Las Vegas, used Lowry as a model for in-store and other fashion shows. “Louisa mixed ‘Old Hollywood Legend’ crushed velvet with Spandex snakeskin pants,” Lowry (now Ihnken) remembered.
Later, Lowry explored her own self-taught design skills, working with another friend to create jewelry and embellished glass bottles, which were sold in Nina Segal’s shop within legendary fashion retailer Fred Segal. By 1999, she had returned to the Bay Area. She married, became Lisa Ihnken, had a daughter and moved to Kensington.
Her jewelry design was mostly on hold until her daughter entered high school. Then, she began taking quality vintage jewelry, or often pieces of it, and reconfiguring them into new, original pieces. By 2011, she was creating for consignment customers, and in 2018, she opened her Etsy shop, Heavenly Fragments.
“I only use quality materials in excellent condition,” she said, noting that 1960s costume jewelry companies, such as Monet and Trifari, used high manufacturing standards, “and their pieces have held up.”
Ihnken still loves the contrast and complement of rock and glamor, both in her work and personally: Hepburn in Givenchy in Breakfast At Tiffany’s, but also Cher in Bob Mackie. Style, she said, “is about how you put a look together in a way that no one else could.”
