Ben Ospital is a gifted collector

When Ben Ospital talks fashion, he talks about dressing the city's "tribes." Since 1980, when Ospital opened MAC (Modern Appealing Clothing), with his mother and sister, the shop has been the go-to fashion depot for the city's creative cadre. In addition to touting local labels such as Dema and some less established in the fashion scene, including recent CCA graduates, Ospital is a fan of Antwerp designers, including Dries Van Noten and Walter Van Beirendonck. In 2010, he staged a memorable runway show for the latter at the Berkeley Art Museum at which fashionistas (of both sexes) applauded Van Beirendonck's quirky menswear modeled by a tribe of local gay male "bears." According to Ospital, Van Beirendonck, accustomed to the poker-faced audiences at New York and European shows, was smitten by the spunkiness and enthusiasm of the Bay Area crowd. "Making community and bringing friends together is extremely important to me," says Ospital, who is hoping to bring the designer out west in the near future. Both his mother, Jeri, and sister, Chris, were also engaged in fashion concerns when they decided to return to their beloved Bay Area and create a store. Ospital's home, a bright apartment on Telegraph Hill, may just be located on the city's most perfect perch. Explaining his self-admitted "obsessive" collecting, Ospital says, "I'm at the age where I no longer want traditional presents, but everyone who knows me knows I am obsessed with certain things." [...] all Ospital's most treasured possessions are gifts. "Art lifts people, and it lifts me," he says, surveying his living room and the stacks of art books and many collections.