Vegucated Dessert After-Party Hosted by VegNews

Who: VegNews Associate Publisher Colleen Holland

What: The Vegucated After-Party

When: October 25, 2011

Where: The VNHQ in San Francisco

Why: To toast the new film, Vegucated, following its San Francisco premiere

The Scoop: Here at VegNews, we love throwing parties. Delicious vegan nibbles, a little Champagne, some great music, and excellent guests always make for an unforgettable evening. And now that we've finished zhooshing up our rooftop deck and event space at our Mission District offices, we can hardly wait to play host to many a future vegan soirée.

After welcoming Vaute Couture and its vegan fashion pop-up show in September, the sisters behind Spork Foods and their brand-new vegan cookbook in October, we were beyond excited to host the dessert after-party for Vegucated's San Francisco premiere in November. It was a packed house at the nearby Victoria Theatre for the 7pm screening, followed by a Q & A with the film's Creator/Director Marisa Miller Wolfson, Producer Demetrius Bagley, and star Brian Flegel. If you haven't yet seen this movie, look for a local screening or order a copy on DVD. According to our editorial team in the current edition of VegNews, "Vegucated is a fast-paced, fact-filled, and often hilarious feature-length documentary that's equal parts Saturday Night Live skit and educational tool." In short, it's entertaining, enlightening, and an amazing force to promote a plant-based lifestyle. Check it out!

But let's get back to the after-party. It was a balmy evening in San Francisco and the rooftop deck was softly lit (candles) and perfectly toasty (heat lamps). The dessert spread from Obsessive Confection Disorder alone was worth the cost of admission (decadent brownies! German chocolate caramels! Apple cider candies!), but the 100+ guests also enjoyed Turtle Mountain's coconut ice cream, mint chocolate coconut milk, and the seasonal coconut soy nog. For two hours, people nibbled and mingled before listening to a lovely speech by Marisa about the film. It was an honor to support this groundbreaking documentary, and we look forward to watching it take over the country. For more details, check out the film's website, and the full screening schedule can be found here. Here's to getting Vegucated!

Vegucated's Director, Marisa Miller Wolfson and the film's Producer, Demetrius Bagley, show off their feature in the November+December issue of VegNews at the VNHQ.

San Francisco Vegan Fashion Show

Who: VN Office Manager Lyndsay Orwig

What: San Francisco's 1st Vegan Fashion Show

Where: San Francisco, Calif.

When: October 2, 2010

Why: To bring hip, sustainable, and vegan fashion to the SF Bay Area

The Scoop: The fashion industry doesn't usually have the best record for being cruelty-free—go to New York's fashion week, and you're sure to find animal products of all kinds, including fur, leather, snake skin, and more. Well, things are changing, and vegan fashion shows are starting to become all the rage. Recently, there was one in Albany, NY, and just last weekend, the first Vegan Fashion show took place during the World Veg Festival Weekend in San Francisco.

The show was completely sold out

Being the Trade Show Manager of VegNews, I attended nearly the entire show, so I was happy to get a break from the booth for a short while to take in some fashion. The event was organized by Karine Brighten of Karine Brighten Events, who's fairly new to the SF Bay Area, but is making a big name in the vegan community, specializing in affordable, eco-friendly events. She told me that she has been working on the fashion show since May, and she personally made sure that each and every one of the models was vegan.

The fashion show featured designs from Vaute Couture, Pansy Maiden bags, Reco Jeans, Lion's Share Industries, Melie Bianco, Cri de Coeur, and Mission Savvy. Jennifer Miller, the founder of Mission Savvy, even sent in a video introducing the fashion show. Her designs take on themes that directly relate to animal-rights issues, such as animal captivity for the purposes of entertainment and consumerism.

One of the several lovely models in the show

The show was highly anticipated, shown by the crowd that waited outside of the auditorium doors for nearly an hour beforehand. When the show began, Karine gave a short welcome, and introduced the emcee of the night, Rory Freedman. The entire show was a major success, and very professional. Not to mention, the clothing and styles were to die for. I'm definitely looking forward to the second SF Vegan Fashion Show!

San Francisco's World Veg Festival

Who: VN Editorial Assistant Brooke Still with the rest of the VN staff and lots of happy vegetarians

What: The 11th Annual World Veg Festival Weekend

Where: San Francisco, Calif.

When: October 2 and 3, 2010

Why: To celebrate all things veg in the Bay Area and beyond!

The Scoop: From Thailand to Toronto, from Seattle to San Diego, vegetarian, vegan, and animal rights festivals happen year round, and this weekend, it was VN's hometown's turn at the 11th Annual San Francisco World Veg Festival Weekend, hosted by the San Francisco Vegetarian Society. Each year, the festival is held around World Vegetarian Day, and always draws scores of people wanting to celebrate all things veg. So we packed up all our goodies from our new headquarters and headed over to Golden Gate Park.

Everyone picked up a copy of VegNews!

Believe it or not, this was my first veg festival, and I wasn't sure what to expect short of, well, food. I wasn't entirely wrong—there was A LOT of veg food, from cupcakes to Tofurky pizza samples (I only had one! ...ish) to Asian cuisine to granola bars—all proving how diverse and delicious veg fare can be. But there was so much more than that. The World Veg Festival was stacked with literature and information on the vegan and vegetarian lifestyle. Everything you could ever need to know about the status of factory farming, ways to help shelter animals, or how to whip up a cruelty-free dinner in no time was available. Oh, and fashion. Gorgeous vegan clothes were for sale, supplied by many a vegan designers, including Vaute Couture.

Vegan fashion

And of course, as is the case with these amazing festivals, there was a wide range of speakers to choose from, including Dr. Steve Blake, VN columnist Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, John Robbins, Dr. Michael Greger, Skinny Bitch's Rory Freedman, and more. The weekend was also packed with other exciting veg events, including an interview of the fabulous Ms. Freedman by VN Publisher Joseph Connelly.

I had a great time donning my very first "You Are What You Read" t-shirt, and helping spread the VN love by selling subscriptions. We rocked our shifts and had an amazing time at the festival full of like-minded, fun-loving people. Don't miss recaps from the first all-vegan fashion show and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival coming this week!

Vaute Couture San Francisco Pop-Up Show

Who: VN Editorial Assistant Brooke Still and VN Associate Editor Liz Miller

What: Vaute Couture's San Francisco Pop-Up Show

Where: San Francisco, Calif.

When: August 29, 2010

Why: Vaute Couture was visiting San Francisco with a new line, and we just had to check it out!

The Scoop: Famed vegan coat designer Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart was recently on tour throughout California presenting her newly designed fall and winter line of Vaute Couture. As as Leanne fans and certifiable shopaholics, VN Associate Editor Liz Miller and I decided we just had to check out her San Francisco show. So we headed to the Mission on a sunny Sunday afternoon only to wish it was colder so we could properly bundle up in her adorable coats.

The pop-up show was held in a.Muse Gallery, where we were greeted by natural light, vegan chocolate cupcakes, hot tea, and Leanne's new collection, fresh off the runway of Fashion Week. I got the opportunity to live out my model dream, which was stunted at an early age when I stopped growing at 5-foot-2. First, I tried on Leanne's newest creations: the urban snow coats. The coats are the vegan answer to insulated, warm, wind- and water-resistant winter coats. No geese were harmed in the creation of these hand-stitched beauties, made at living wages in Brooklyn, aka Leanne's new hometown, having recently moved from Chicago. And each style is named after one of Leanne's favorite teachers.

Me in the Audrey coat—so warm!

Next, we moved on to the pieces that made Vaute Couture famous—her gorgeous winter coats. Again, Leanne uses all-vegan materials to create a unique, wool-like blend made from recycled fibers. The texture of the coat is so scrumptious, it won a Polartec APEX award—an award that normally goes to such giant mainstream companies as The Northface. The upcoming line had some new styles and updates of some old favorites. I fell in love with the Audrey coat, inspired by Audrey Hepburn. It's hard to fall in love with the details in all her coats, which are origami inspired with a blend of old Hollywood glamour. In addition to the treasures I tried on, Leanne is introducing for the first time a men's line, modeled in her look book by The Discerning Brute's Joshua Katcher. To top it all off, Leanne also showed us some of her mini dresses, tanks, tees, and soy-based knitted scarves, hats, and headbands. The scarf/muff creation is already at the top of my holiday wish list.

Some of the new dresses and windbreakers

Before heading back to Brooklyn for the launch of the new Vaute Couture line, Leanne dropped by the VNHQ. After spending time with her and her creations, we can't wait to snuggle up this winter with her compassionate fashion—coats like that make the winter cold worth it!