On a beautiful afternoon in February, I ventured to the upper west side of town toview the traveling Banksy exhibit featured at the Palace of Fine Arts in the Presidio. Iwas equally as enthusiastic to be on the lookout for some epic displays of SanFrancisco street style at the famed museum housing the exhibit, which was originallybuilt-in 1915.

The Banksy Exhibit at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts upon entrance.

If you’ve lived in the city for a while, you’d know it’s that optimal time of year betweenseasons here that (if all goes well) signals winter ending just as quickly as theswimsuits begin popping up for sale at the Target on Masonic. I was eager to view theart created by the famed anonymous graffiti artist in person, and equally as curious tosee what the other gallery goers were wearing.

The Banksy Exhibit at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts upon entrance.Conceptually, the idea of a Banksy gallery show is a bit of a misnomer: many of thepieces are either prints or photographs of his art, and the show itself was compiled bya group of art dealers who have amassed a collection of his works on loan fromvarious art collectors – some who chose to be named, but many did not. Consideringthat this particular show features a straight up vandal artist, however, (who usesspeed and the mask of anonymity to stealthily “bomb” whatever site chosen) the onlyway most people could even sort of see any of his work up close, in detail, and alltogether would be by means of an exhibit such as this one. The irony of knowing thatBanksy actually would be wholly against a conventional gallery show is definitely notlost on me, and makes it that much more alluring to check out.

Banksy himself has produced his own interactive “art shows” in the past by means ofbuilding actual sites one could visit as an attraction, consisting of subversive themesand theatrical stagings in remote locations. One such project, entitled: “Dismaland”was pictured at the exhibit: in August 2015 a post apocalyptic Coney Island meetsDisneyland type theme park was actually constructed in a remote seaside town calledWeston Super-Mare in the UK where ticket holders could visit the abysmal attractionwhich stayed open for a full week. Banksy has also previously produced a similarimmersive concept when he helped to design a hotel right next to the dividing wall inBethlehem, Palestine. “The Walled Off Hotel” is still open and run by privateownership.San Francisco in general is a very casual town, but the city’s dwellers certainly have nolack of taste. After lunch and lattes on Union street, I ventured a short distance overto the exhibition grounds where many city folk and out of towners alike were takingadvantage of the unusually sunny and warm weather by visiting the palatial landmarkbuilding located on the exquisitely manicured grounds which also houses a small manmade lake and was designed by the same man who helped create both Golden Gateand Central Parks in NYC.

Speaking of New York, I had already pre-planned my outfit a few days earlier with thehelp of my friend Lily in Queens who boasts an ultra discerning eye for fashion viadirect messages on Instagram. With names akin to each other like Lily and Rose, weshare many of the same tastes and naturally get along well together. A (New York) citygirl in her own right, I’m quite confident that she would never allow me to step footinto any sort of art show (or anywhere for that matter) wearing a bad outfit – or evenworse, a boring outfit. As a style vlogger, I’ve found it awfully helpful to pre-plan acomplete look ahead of time to keep me on schedule the day of; call it a dressrehearsal of sorts, if you will. Ever theatrical and known for my themed/aesthetic headto toe looks, I decided to take advantage of the creative environment I was steppinginto that day by wearing something a little more out of the box.

The author, wearing vintage L.A.M.B. by Gwen Stefani and a Brandon Blackwood crossbody bag.

Most of my outfit was vintage L.A.M.B. by Gwen Stefani I procured while in college atFiDM around 2004-05: a chocolate brown stretch convertible crop top I criss crossedover my back shoulder blades then tied around my waist in front, a camel colored midilength Highland style plaid kilt woven with light blue and yellow cross hatching, highzippered slit, plus front bondage zippers. Possibly my best eBay find ever, it was sentto me from Japan as a rare sample piece that was never actually manufactured orreleased for sale here in the states. I chose a Savage x Fenty bra and elastic harnessset for the very cool strappy effect they created criss crossing over my chest, theaddition of a gold safety pin with ruby colored rhinestones affixed to one side like abrooch was both “jewelry” for my decolletage, and just enough punk rock glam for myaesthetic that day.

Over it all I layered on a light blue Sugarthrillz cropped fuzzy wrap-around ballerinasweater, then threw on a pair of matte black platform Adidas Sambarose trainers withsimilar light blue accents. The pop of color picked up on the blue in the sweater andkilt perfectly plus – I’ve learned my lesson about wearing the wrong shoes to themuseum the hard way… a mistake I’m not so willing to make again. I grabbed mydalmatian print, pony hair boxy Brandon Blackwood bag-of-the-moment, attached it’smatching cross body strap, and headed out into the Marina district in search of art,food, and fashion.

The entrance to the exhibit itself almost looked like the front face of some sort ofdark and subversive carnival Fun House: mostly painted in black, white, and red, it wasequally as inviting aesthetically as it was daunting to enter plus a fair prelude to whatwas to come shortly in the exhibit. The immersive experience began as soon as youstepped foot in the door and continued into the dark maze installation of pitch blackwalls which provided a stark contrast to the rest of the ornate building interior which Ihad become accustomed to seeing over the years. Consisting of narrow hallways thatopened up into large and more typical grand display rooms, the matte black paintedwalls were peppered with the various faceless street artist’s pieces from mainly theearly to mid 00’s. Their individual spotlights were the only real lighting in the exhibit,creating a very dramatic look and feel – almost as if you were in a tunnel orunderground.

Banksy’s “Pulp Fiction” hangs at the Palace of Fine Arts.

The dark atmosphere made it a bit more challenging to scope out everyone’s outfits,and the no flash photography rule made it just as impossible to take any clear gallerygoer pics, but I did observe that as usual, 90% of the patrons were donninga predictable mixture of both SF “uniform” styles: mainly consisting of the puffy vestsand practical fleeces that have ruled the city since the takeover of big tech some 15years ago. There were, however, a few folks I noticed rocking some impressive piecesin a very low key way

One man was spotted wearing a pair of Alexander McQueen sneakers with distinctiveorange trim, and a Loewe purse was casually slung over the shoulder of a stylishlybespeckled and very distracted Chinese mom who was busy herding her small broodthrough the exhibit. Later outside, I spotted a freshly bialaged 20-something gal in achic outfit consisting of a brown faux leather button down shirt, tailored dark greenhigh waist trousers, and a medium sized brown and green leather boxy bag withdemure brushed gold hardware to tie it all together. Beyond chic. Tres’ chic, even.She scuttled away before I could ask to take a picture and by the looks of her Iassumed she was a south city girl, but she did us (415 area code) city girls justice withher ensemble regardless because her keen eye for detail and well put together headto toe look made my entire day of style hunting worth the effort. In true Broke AssStuart fashion, the best outfit at the event by far was one that was most likelyinexpensive but put together in the coolest of ways. It’s all about how you pull it off,really.

Speaking of area codes, an extra treat was the very random quinceanera dress photoshoot happening on site for a gown designer who most likely had a 408 or 925 areacode, but I digress because underneath the towering pillar columns of the grounds inthe sunshine, the models looked like an absolute Ultimate Grand Supreme Queendream. My friend and had I joked at lunch that we would see at least one weddingupon arrival and were sure enough quickly one-upped by seeing the four gigantic, “MyBig Fat Gypsy Wedding” style cupcake ball gowns being photographed on site: two inlilac and lavender, and another matching pair in red and blue satin, respectively, withglittering gold Indian Sari-like embellished trimmings that I found to be both uniqueand incredibly stylish.

I’m also not sure if I’ve ever said that about a quinceanera dressbefore, but I digress because I still enthusiastically stand behind my statement.Back to the exhibit though because despite the pitch black of most of the decorum,upon exit you’re immediately spat out into a larger, railroad shaped corridor into aman made “backyard” housing various mixed media works for sale by local street andgraffiti artists, a gigantic technicolor psychedelic forest mural which, at the time wasat about 90% completion, several lacquered and brightly colored aesthetic picnicbenches, (one held an oversized, wooden game of Connect Four) even a Cornholearea. If you happen to be curious, my friend wiped the floor with me at both games,respectfully.

There was even a “VIP Area”, a roped off side room where one could trade in theirticket stub for a poster that housed velveteen couches and a couple of other floor toceiling Banksy works not otherwise in the exhibit. After I joked that all the ‘VIPexperience” was missing was a bar and a DJ, the person working the poster tableinformed me that there was indeed a live DJ for the exhibit and very conveniently, onthe days the Palace of Fine Arts Bar is open. C’est’ Magnifique’.

Banksy himself has been rumored to be everyone from a member of Britishelectronica group Massive Attack to mid- 00’s dance music demagogues Gorillaz – butnot just one member, the entire band as a collective. Even though I currently don’t andpossibly will never know the identity of the exhibit’s namesake, quick-witted, evenquicker painting, and highly quotable acclaimed artist, I will always be enthusiasticabout viewing his art in any venue I can.

*If* I can that is – as he most famously is known for sending his work, “Love Is In TheBin” through a paper shredder embedded into its frame just seconds after it was soldat Sotheby’s for a whopping 25.4 million – to the utter shock and horror of onlookingauction attendees.

Sotheby’s employees view Love is in the Bin by British artist Banksy during a media preview at Sotheby’s auction house on October 12, 2018 in London, United Kingdom.(Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

While Banksy’s politically driven and provocative general ethos tends to be a messagesomething along the lines of: “the joke’s on us”- his exhibition left me as amused as Iwas inspired to continue to consistently explore city galleries and museums on aregular basis as I have for many years now. All in all, the entire event and day I hadplanned around it ended up being irresistibly stylish… I just had to know where tolook. And with the addition of cornhole, quinceanera dresses, and an idyllic lunch onUnion street, this city girl couldn’t ask for much more because the city chic waseverywhere I looked that day.

Mission accomplished.

Rose Eden is a punk rock grown up fashion vlogger, style writer, content creator, and PR firmCreative Director residing in San Francisco. You can send her style and fashion questions and alsofollow her at @LionheartedPR and her style vlog at @RoseEdenintheCity.

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