by Reid Dennis for the San Francisco Spectrum

The third annual "Mild-to-Wild" Spring Fashion Show was kinky fun and a great fundraiser for Bay Area Young Positives. The show was held on the fourth floor of the LGBT Community Center, which had been converted into a giant runway and decorated with arches and flowers and ropes of lights.

Founded in 1990 as a support group for young people 26 and under living with HIV/AIDS, BAY Positives grew very quickly. As the members of the support group noticed that there were no agencies geared toward the special needs of youth, they decided to form an agency. In 1993, BAY Positives received its nonprofit status and a year later the agency received a large federal grant, enabling them to open their doors as the first ever peer-run agency for youth with HIV.

Heklina emceed the fashion show, looking fashionable herself in a chic black and silver cocktail dress with one solitary full-length glove and black fishnets. She introduced the handsomely attired Assemblyman Mark Leno who presented a Certificate of Recognition to BAY Positives. "I learned from Heklina long long ago the importance of dressing nice," he said, and then on a more serious note added, "I applaud the good work that Bay Area Young Positives have done, building community through the power of peer support." Leno then brought out the support staff: Member Services Coordinator Michael Cooley, Education & Outreach Coordinator Curtis Moore, Program Associate Kai Noble, Outreach Specialist Izzy Nance, and Outreach Worker Catherine Tooyka.

Four Fire-Fly Gurlz entertained by dancing and twirling about colorful light-sticks to make patterns of light as they whizzed around and around, working the runway to Madonna’s "Holiday" being spun by DJ David Hawthorne.

The first designer to be featured was Francis Black and his BlackFran Leather Designs. His designs rely heavily on the use of animal fur, so strict vegetarians might want to avoid his couture altogether. But the fur was imaginatively used, to be sure, and cut in uneven patchwork to give an unusual flair to the clothing. One model wore a black and yellow bumblebee pattern. Another was all green leather and tassels. One fellow’s black leather tunic had "happiness" inscribed on the back. Some had a punk look, with many safety pins seeming to be the only thing holding the outfits together. Silver and black chaps were a popular look. Some wore big black cape-like things. There were at least a dozen different models.

Leather Daddy Ray Tilton acted as host of the live auction portion of the show. He reminded the audience, "As a twenty-one-year survivor of HIV, I know that we still have to educate, we still have to prevent, and we still have to take care of each other." He added, "We appreciate your support physically, emotionally, and financially, and with that, let us begin the auction." The first piece to go up on the auction block was a $500 custom designed dress by Francis Black. It was very quickly snapped up by Sandy "Mama" Reinhardt.

Then the audience got to be voyeurs at an S&M fantasy when S.F. Leather Daddy XVII Andre English and Leather Daddy XX Tony Koester worked over S.F. Leather Boy Will Brunner. Daddy Andre has been an active member of the leather community for the past 15 years. He has been an educator for the BDSM community, a leather titleholder, and "Mama’s Master" in Mama’s Family. He is also the manager for Mr. S and Madame S. Leather in San Francisco. Daddy Tony is an experienced BDSM top, an active member of the SF leather community as a fundraiser, mentor, and peer educator. He is a member of The 15 association, and is pinned as "Mama’s Sir" in Mama’s Family. Boy Will is a landscape architect, has been a resident of The City since 1989 and a leather person for almost 12 years, citing the late great Daddy Philip Turner as his inspirational guide. The daddies tied Will to a Saint Andrews cross. Tony used a violet wand to sting the bare back of Will and shoot off interesting purple sparks as it touched the skin. Then Andre used a bullwhip on his back and butt. When the sparking and whippings were finished, the boy had been properly punished and was allowed to be set free from the cross.

Ray Tilton took the stage to do more live auctioning, this time for a camouflaged waist cincher valued at over $200. All throughout the show, attendees could browse the tables crammed with silent auction items ranging from articles of clothing such as a Sydney Gay Games ensemble, cowboy hats, SFPD watch and sweatshirt, tropical hats, Da Kine backpack and water bottle, an "I Cream for Jeanie" tee shirt, and a DYKEA tee with blue and yellow oval logo. There was also a spa kit, posters, and lots of wine bottles.

The next designer was Dark Garden Unique Corsetry, "dedicated to shaping the world into a curvier, lovelier place." The owner of the shop came out looking like the Queen of the Faeries with ivy and flowers strewn in her hair and all over her throne that she sat upon. Both men and women worked the runway in various styles and colors of corsets over dresses or just with the barest of material showing underneath. At the end of the show, all the models fawned over their queen, each walking the runway one more time to the applause of the audience. It was a very successful, if not very kinky, fashion show indeed.

GGBA, the first LGBT
chamber of commerce.

Positive Resource Center, providing employment services and benefits counseling to the SF Bay Area HIV community.

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