Designer Byron Lars shares top looks from his Beauty Mark collection with lifestyle expert Lu Sierra
My friend Byron Lars, a designer who has been on the scene for over 20 years, is known for his fun, flirtatious juxtapositions of textures and patterns -- looks ripe for the picking this season.
Soon serving the plus sized customer
This vista of sex appeal includes, for Lars, the plus sized female customer. Inspired by his father, the designer has coming plans to design flattering garments for the larger woman.
How did he set his sights on dressing bigger women? One day, when Lars met a customer whose larger frame put the “wow” into one of his dresses, “I heard my father saying ‘you need to make clothes for a big girl,’ all over again.”
He realized there is a customer who deserves to be respected with the same design sensibilities, quality and styling that he brings to the mainstream market, and will soon release a collection that appeals to her.
Lars’ designer Barbie doll collection
Not just a clothier, Lars is also responsible for increasing the diversity of African-American dolls featured in Mattel’s Barbie Doll collection.
In 1996 Mattel asked Byron to design a collectible Barbie doll complete with her own wardrobe. The Barbie was so successful that Mattel asked him to create an entire line of high fashion African-American Barbies.
Fourteen years and 14 dolls later, Byron is proud to have pushed the boundaries for Mattel, introducing darker shades of color in his versions of the iconic doll, which were also showcased in Vogue ‘s July 2009 issue.
Byron Lars shares his secret of success
Lars’ career has been passionate, accomplished and diverse. He is still striving, improving, and creating — and offers these words of advice for future design stars who are also seeking continual improvement.
“You have got to love the work for the work itself,” Lars says. “[I]t can’t be about fame and fortune.”
Calling it, “school with pay,” he also thinks it is best to get a design job, and learn on that job.
“It takes many years to amass the experience, to even know your true voice as a designer and what you have to offer,” Lars says. “Embrace the process, the journey — don’t be so focused on the destination.”
Byron Lars Beauty Mark can be found in various stores nationwide.
Shoot production and additional reporting by Michele Wilson, CEO of Taylored Productions. Photos by Cam Camarena.
