Sonoma County style

Sebastopol (by Dan Taylor)

What will the well-dressed West County denizen wear to next summer’s Burning Man festival in the desert?

Perhaps a sleeveless, hooded, zip-up vest made of cotton fleece and decorated with sacred symbols — hexagons, the Star of David or the image of Hathor, Egyptian goddess of joy, love and motherhood.

Shane Sterling, the owner of Funk and Flash, in Sebastopol. (BETH SCHLANKER/ The Press Democrat)

In 2008, Shane Sterling started selling garments on consignment at Sebastopol’s beloved vintage clothing emporium, Aubergine. The next year, he opened his own place on Sebastopol’s Main Street, Funk & Flash, in a bright pink storefront.

“I started my business with 100-percent vintage garments and within three years, I phased out every last piece of vintage clothing,” Sterling said.

Now Sterling sells original garments by local and West Coast designers, most of it adorned with silk-screened designs, rivets, zippers and elaborate stitching.

Sterling, 40, the son of free-lance writer and Press Democrat restaurant reviewer Jeff Cox, has a long local history, but believes his career as a style-setter started in Sebastopol.

“What I do — my vibe and my style — resonated with Sebastopol,” Sterling said. “This is the current version of what was happening in the ‘60s and ‘70s. The clothing has a distinct look to it, everything from simple yoga wear to post-apocalyptic, ‘Mad Max’ styles.”

On an ordinary weekday at his store, Sterling wore black pants and a black sleeveless shirt that showed off tattoos on both arms, accented by a leather belt and boots, and a moon-shaped pendant carved in Indonesia from goat bone.

His understated outfit offered a contrast to the clothes on display at his store, replete with bow ties, top hats and David Bowie costume wigs in five different colors.

“I’m wearing black today, but I have everything from leopard pimp coats to sequined tail coats,” he said. “I have a design that shows a dolphin shooting a rainbow out of its third eye. That says it all.”

Sonoma (by Peg Melnik)

Courtney Roualdes has taken up fashion for sport.

“I had a lot of money and I had to find something to do with it, so I started shopping,” she said.

The 23-year-old from Sonoma was recently wearing a Nike pullover, LuLulemon pants and Nike Frees running shoes that have a sensor inside to track her distance when she jogs.

Roualdes says she typically opts for comfort – leggings and boots, sweaters and lots of scarves to keep her warm. But she also believes in fashion outside the box.

“I like to try new things… You never know what’s going to work and sometimes it goes downhill,” she joked.

Roualdes recently stepped out in a black blazer, tweed shorts, black nylons and ankle boots with a zipper at the heel.

A concierge at Sonoma’s El Dorado Hotel, Roualdes said she has an obsession with Michael Kors, a clothing designer well known for his purses. She owns a total of six, with the most expensive worth more than $500.

“I’m not really a girly girl,” she said, “but if you looked in my closet, it looks like I am.”