A Homecoming in Two Collections: Marin Fashion Night 2026
Posted by Melanie Friedman
On October 3, 2026, the gardens of the Marin Art & Garden Center in Ross became a runway for Marin Fashion Night. For Melanie Friedman, founder and creative director of Crossover Golf, the evening brought two chapters of her design career together: Sphairistike, her graduate couture collection from Central Saint Martins in London, and Crossover Golf, the women's golf and lifestyle label she founded in California.
Raised in Mill Valley, Friedman was returning to the place where her story began, presenting work that spans two distinct moments in her career on the same runway.
From the runway
Watch a short film from the evening, featuring moments from both collections.
Marin Fashion Night 2026 · Runway film
Sphairistike: the collection that came first
Before Crossover, there was Sphairistike. Created during Friedman's final year at Central Saint Martins, this tennis couture collection honors her late stepfather, Ken Flach, whose legacy on the court shaped a deeply personal design story. It takes inspiration from the tennis world of Ken's 1980s era as well as the longer history of women's tennis dress, translating athletic references into carefully constructed fashion rather than literal sportswear.
Wimbledon's predominantly white dress tradition became a starting point for the collection. Across sculptural forms and meticulously considered pleats, white is used not as an absence of color, but as an invitation to notice cut, texture, volume and movement.
The Lenglen Dress
Named for the pioneering tennis player Suzanne Lenglen, the Lenglen Dress layers a pleated white dress over trousers. Its shifting proportions recall the history of women's tennis clothing while treating pleating as a structural idea, allowing the silhouette to change as its wearer moves.
The Americana Look
The collection's most vivid departure from white is the Americana Look. Striking red and blue against a white ground, its graphic panels and visible stitching commemorate Ken Flach's gold medal victory at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. It is both a tribute to a defining moment in his career and a personal reinterpretation of the colors and identity of competitive tennis.
Completed during a period when the pandemic interrupted the traditional presentation of graduate work, the collection had never received the runway moment Friedman envisioned. Six years later, it finally moved before an audience, close to home. The contrast between precise construction and extraordinary volume was especially striking beneath the evening lights.
The next chapter: Crossover Golf
On the same runway, Crossover Golf brought that design language into a different setting. Where the couture collection explores the expressive possibilities of a silhouette, Crossover applies a comparable attention to fit, proportion and construction to clothing designed for real life.
Tailored skorts, fitted zip tops and considered layers offered a quieter kind of precision. The familiar codes of golfwear were reworked through flattering seams, asymmetric lines and technical fabrics. The pieces are intended to function on the course, but the design does not end there. They belong just as naturally in the hours that follow a round.
Seen alongside Sphairistike, the connection became clearer. The two collections are not supposed to look alike. One is a personal couture statement; the other is a modern wardrobe. Both begin with the belief that the way a garment is cut changes the way it feels to wear.
A runway, back home
Founded by Gerry Kelly of SONAS, Marin Fashion Night brought designers, guests and the local creative community together in the garden. The 2026 runway was directed and produced by Charleston Pierce, whose staging gave each collection room to be seen in motion.
For Friedman, presenting these two bodies of work in Marin carried particular meaning. The couture collection represents an early, highly personal expression of her point of view. Crossover Golf is what that point of view has become: fashion-house thinking translated into clothes designed to be worn.
One point of view, two expressions
The distance between a couture runway and a golf course might seem considerable. For Friedman, the through line is the same: attention to detail, confidence in proportion, and an understanding of how clothing moves with the body.
In that sense, Marin Fashion Night was both a return and a continuation. Two collections, created years apart, met on one runway.
The Americana Look on the runway at Marin Fashion Night.Sphairistike: sculptural white tennis couture from the graduate portfolio.The Lenglen Dress, inspired by the history of women's tennis.The Americana Look and Ken Flach's tennis legacy.Handwork and construction details from the Americana Look.Crossover Golf on the Marin Fashion Night runway.
A Homecoming in Two Collections: Marin Fashion Night 2026
On October 3, 2026, the gardens of the Marin Art & Garden Center in Ross became a runway for Marin Fashion Night. For Melanie Friedman, founder and creative director of Crossover Golf, the evening brought two chapters of her design career together: Sphairistike, her graduate couture collection from Central Saint Martins in London, and Crossover Golf, the women's golf and lifestyle label she founded in California.
Raised in Mill Valley, Friedman was returning to the place where her story began, presenting work that spans two distinct moments in her career on the same runway.
From the runway
Watch a short film from the evening, featuring moments from both collections.
Marin Fashion Night 2026 · Runway film
Sphairistike: the collection that came first
Before Crossover, there was Sphairistike. Created during Friedman's final year at Central Saint Martins, this tennis couture collection honors her late stepfather, Ken Flach, whose legacy on the court shaped a deeply personal design story. It takes inspiration from the tennis world of Ken's 1980s era as well as the longer history of women's tennis dress, translating athletic references into carefully constructed fashion rather than literal sportswear.
Wimbledon's predominantly white dress tradition became a starting point for the collection. Across sculptural forms and meticulously considered pleats, white is used not as an absence of color, but as an invitation to notice cut, texture, volume and movement.
The Lenglen Dress
Named for the pioneering tennis player Suzanne Lenglen, the Lenglen Dress layers a pleated white dress over trousers. Its shifting proportions recall the history of women's tennis clothing while treating pleating as a structural idea, allowing the silhouette to change as its wearer moves.
The Americana Look
The collection's most vivid departure from white is the Americana Look. Striking red and blue against a white ground, its graphic panels and visible stitching commemorate Ken Flach's gold medal victory at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. It is both a tribute to a defining moment in his career and a personal reinterpretation of the colors and identity of competitive tennis.
Completed during a period when the pandemic interrupted the traditional presentation of graduate work, the collection had never received the runway moment Friedman envisioned. Six years later, it finally moved before an audience, close to home. The contrast between precise construction and extraordinary volume was especially striking beneath the evening lights.
The next chapter: Crossover Golf
On the same runway, Crossover Golf brought that design language into a different setting. Where the couture collection explores the expressive possibilities of a silhouette, Crossover applies a comparable attention to fit, proportion and construction to clothing designed for real life.
Tailored skorts, fitted zip tops and considered layers offered a quieter kind of precision. The familiar codes of golfwear were reworked through flattering seams, asymmetric lines and technical fabrics. The pieces are intended to function on the course, but the design does not end there. They belong just as naturally in the hours that follow a round.
Seen alongside Sphairistike, the connection became clearer. The two collections are not supposed to look alike. One is a personal couture statement; the other is a modern wardrobe. Both begin with the belief that the way a garment is cut changes the way it feels to wear.
A runway, back home
Founded by Gerry Kelly of SONAS, Marin Fashion Night brought designers, guests and the local creative community together in the garden. The 2026 runway was directed and produced by Charleston Pierce, whose staging gave each collection room to be seen in motion.
For Friedman, presenting these two bodies of work in Marin carried particular meaning. The couture collection represents an early, highly personal expression of her point of view. Crossover Golf is what that point of view has become: fashion-house thinking translated into clothes designed to be worn.
One point of view, two expressions
The distance between a couture runway and a golf course might seem considerable. For Friedman, the through line is the same: attention to detail, confidence in proportion, and an understanding of how clothing moves with the body.
In that sense, Marin Fashion Night was both a return and a continuation. Two collections, created years apart, met on one runway.
Explore the Crossover Golf collection and discover more about the designer behind the label.
Runway and Portfolio