For Sherri McMullen, the doyenne of Oakland luxury fashion, celebrating 15 years in business isn’t any occasion for a celebration. It’s the rationale for several, because the retailer and tastemaker’s months-long anniversary extravaganza culminated in a takeover of Shack 15, an event space at the long-lasting Ferry Constructing in San Francisco, on Thursday night.

The eponymous owner of McMullen, a luxury fashion boutique just east of the bay, has been busy coordinating anniversary events in Los Angeles and Detroit, in addition to popping up at notable fashion events in the world — just like the opening celebration of Thom Browne’s San Francisco flagship in October and the “Where Luxury Meets” event by Moët Hennessy and luxury fashion sales app Bond in November. Yet, she one way or the other found time to rearrange the most recent phase of her anniversary tour, a packed evening with a cocktail hour, fashion show and after-party.

Amid a glittery atmosphere, friends, family, fans and clients sipped sparkling champagne and enjoyed passed hors d’oeuvres before filling into seats for a runway show highlighting McMullen-approved designers, akin to Christopher John Rogers, the CFDA Women’s Designer of the Yr winner. (The boutique was the primary to hold his collection alongside established luxury brands akin to Carolina Herrera, Proenza Schouler and The Row.) Others included Khiry’s Jameel Mohammed, Yara Flinn of NOMIA, Anna Chiu and Valerie Santillo of Kamperett and Lauren Harwell Godfrey. The designers contributed styles for a fifteenth anniversary collection on the market at the shop and on her website now.

The previous Neiman Marcus buyer’s knack for spotting design talent has elevated her profile, making her a well-recognized face at fashion weeks and probably the most recent CFDA Awards.

A stylist in addition to a retailer, she has a notable client roster that features Phenomenal Media founder Meena Harris, activist Fredrika Newton (widow of Black Panther party founder Huey P. Newton), writer and political strategist Alicia Garza, “And Just Like That” actress Karen Pittman, Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry and actress Ayesha Curry, amongst others.

However the night wasn’t just concerning the business. “I’m here to have a good time Sherri because she is McMullen,” friend and client Jennefer Tunjani, wardrobe stylist, told WWD. “She is one in all the kindest, warmest and hardest working women I do know. She puts her heart and soul into her business, and her clients know that.

“She also has an incredible eye, all the time on the cusp of an emerging designer that she is going to carry in her store and frequently really gets it on the front line, in order that client or designer gets recognition,” said Tunjani, framing McMullen’s efforts to introduce latest designers to clients has helped construct a community. “We actually look to Sherri to see what’s next in fashion,” she added.

Not that success got here easy for McMullen. As she explained to WWD, fashion retail could appear glamorous on the surface, however it takes grit, determination and perseverance to weather things like recession and, after all, a world pandemic that took out one shop after one other.

“We’ve weathered a lot within the last 15 years, and we’re still standing strong and growing our business,” shared McMullen. “So it feels good to take this moment to slow all the way down to say, we’re still here. And thanks.” She credited an extended list of supporters, including Google, with which the business launched a “Made in Oakland” campaign.

As a faithful advocate and thought leader on problems with equality and representation, McMullen blends her heart together with her head for business, consciously sharing her platform with talent — of all types, not only fashion — that will have few other opportunities.

Before the runway show, she invited a student from the Oakland School for the Arts to take the highlight. The young poet threw down a hard-won truth that seemed beyond her years, but could have come straight from McMullen’s mouth herself: “What does it mean to be a Black woman in power? What does that entail? It entails making moves, not letting the moves make you.”

McMullen glowed with every word, and in addition with every look that popped down the runway afterward. At the top, roused by a standing ovation, she almost appeared to float over the ground. Eventually the revelers flowed into the after-party, where DJ Nisa spun a set and pianist D’wayne Wiggins offered a special performance.

As for the business, she believes there’s so much to stay up for. Consumers today think more about where they spend their money and search for “places that actually align with who they’re, their values, and I feel like we bring that to the forefront, because we’re very transparent about our mission and why we’re supporting the designers that we stock,” she explained.

In fact, like many retail and fashion company executives, McMullen keeps a keen eye on the operation and emerging opportunities just like the metaverse. But it surely wouldn’t be technology only for technology’s sake. Although she resides within the tech-centric Bay Area, she likely won’t fall for that trap. It will be, perhaps, more about what the brand new tools could enable for the business and its up-and-coming designers.

“We’re here to inform their stories; we’re here to speculate in them; we’re here to mentor them, and customers love that. They need to see that — they need to be a component of it, and I feel that is de facto the longer term of this industry,” she added. “We must always be interested by supporting the subsequent generation of designers who’re very talented, but perhaps need a bit more hand-holding to get to the finish line.

“We wish to ensure that creators and folks within the industry, especially Black designers, young designers, emerging designers, female designers, we would like to ensure that we’re in it for the long haul, and never only for a yr or two.”