The UC Berkeley crowd—including Humberto Leon and Carol Lim, cofounders of Opening Ceremony, the cutting-edge department store the New York Times has heralded as “the most influential space in retail,” and Kate and Laura Mulleavy, the sister team behind the highly praised, ethereally beautiful Rodarte line—all gravitated to the campus in the mid- to late ’90s, despite the university’s less-than-stellar arts curriculum, and discovered each other through the local indie-music scene. “We grew up at the end of an era when you still went out and bought records,” says Kate Mulleavy. “Berkeley was a huge school, but you could pick out the hundred kids who bought the same records as you.” While some of them crammed for art history exams, others checked out dance clubs and mushroom-jazz lounges, but they all invariably congregated at the legendary soirées held at Leon’s loft on Capp Street in San Francisco. “It was the coolest spot in all of Northern California,” says Rachel Pally, a dancer whose love of jersey has spun into her own fast-growing brand.

They shared a love of fashion, and scouring thrift shops was a favorite activity. Even so, none of them imagined they would have big-time careers in the business: “I don’t think any of us were talking about doing anything like this,” Laura Mulleavy recalls. They can barely remember what they were wearing: Leon and Lim say they were always changing their look, and the Mulleavy sisters lived in jeans.

But they do remember the high-flying days of the dot-com boom. “There was an energy here, so much creativity,” says Lim, who hung around after graduation to take a job as an investment banker. “San Francisco felt like the center of the world,” adds Patrik Ervell, then an aspiring diplomat, now a menswear designer known for his high-fashion riffs on outdoor basics. To be here during that world-changing era gave them the sense that they could do anything—even become fashion designers with little or no formal training (of the bunch, only Erin Fetherston, who designs whimsical party frocks, went on to study fashion). They didn’t even have to be from New York to do it—but going to New York, as they’ve discovered, doesn’t hurt.

Though their brands differ, they’ve all cultivated an individuality and attention to detail that is very Bay Area. Each shirt and dress they create looks authentic, as if the designer touched it with his or her own hands. “These seven are offering something more unique, more craft-driven, a bit more considered than is typical in high fashion,” says Simon Ungless, the director of graduate fashion at Academy of Art University, who has been watching the Berkeley gang for years. “They’ve struck a nerve.”

Franklin Melendez is a San Francisco contributing writer.

Follow the links below to check out profiles of the country's hottest style makers.

Humberto Leon and Carol Lim

Rodarte: Kate and Laura

The cohort: Rachel Pally, Patrik Ervell and Erin Fetherston