Discarded to Divine dazzles at the Design Center

a model poses in a coat by Karen Caldwell/Image:C.Hope for Style Wylde

Thursday night, the San Francisco Design Center lit up with fashion, art and the spirit of charitable giving as the 2012 Discarded to Divine gala took place. A multi-month fashion design event the began last January with the announcement of the participating local designers who would be given 'cast-off' clothing and materials from St. Vincent de Paul Society and turn them into runway-ready looks, Discarded to Design has been a fixture on the philanthropy scene for the past seven years, and is one of San Francisco's biggest fund raisers.

a model poses in a dress by Monavie Tutop/Image:C.Hope for Style WyldeIn addtion to raising much needed money to support the work done by St. Vincent de Paul, the event also serves to introduce young and emerging designers to the city's well heeled fashion followers through both a silent and live-on-the runway auction where patrons have the chance to bid on the looks created for the event. 

SW had the opportunity to speak with several of the designers before the live auction including jewelry designer LaVladi, who explained that although they were not being auctioned this season, all of her pieces were  also created from previously cast-off items from the St. Vincent de Paul Society stock, including a gorgeous statement necklace made from a broken veggie-steamer. (pictured lower right)

a model poses in a look by design team Laurel Hellman and Nancy Chan/Image:C.Hope for Style WyldeAppreciation for the work done by this year's designers was apparent during the live-auction segment of the evening as heated bidding wars broke out over nearly every outfit and many of the looks ended up going for upwards of $1,000 a piece; a major success for all of those involved. 

dress by Yoyo Huang and necklace by LaVladi/Image: C.Hope for Style Wylde 

a model poses in a dress by Tina Maier/Image:S.Whittle for Style Wylde

For more information on Discarded to Design, including a full list of all the participating designers please visit the official event site.