L.A. fashion guru downsizes, by design
Richard Tyler, a mentor to so many designers here that he earned the nickname “the godfather of L.A. fashion,” is closing his Beverly Boulevard boutique and his ready-to-wear business.
He is shedding 10 people -- a third of his staff -- and selling off inventory, largely for financial reasons, he said. But that doesn’t mean the end of the label he launched in 1987.
“This is the beginning of a new chapter; I’m reevaluating myself,” said Tyler, 58. “I retired for a day and I was so bored, I thought, ‘What am I going to do? I can’t just keep gardening.’ ”
Instead, he will focus on made-to-measure clothing and his bridal collection, which is sold at Neiman Marcus and Barneys New York. Tyler also said he is pursuing opportunities in Shanghai and contemplating a more formalized role in helping to promote L.A. designers.
He has long been held up in the industry as the rare example of a high-end designer with a successful L.A.-based business -- proof that the market here is about more than fast fashion. He is known for exquisitely constructed, hand-finished suits and hand-beaded red-carpet gowns, chosen most recently by “Desperate Housewives” stars Felicity Huffman and Marcia Cross for January’s Golden Globes.
But it is that very level of craftsmanship that was a drag on the bottom line. “It costs a fortune to run a small business where everything is made in-house. None of our work is contracted out because I wanted to do something I was proud of,” Tyler said. “And I have had to take other jobs in the past to help out, but at my age I don’t want to do that anymore.”
In the last few years, he has stumbled with a secondary line called Tyler, dogged with fit problems, and a bridge line of eveningwear called Richard Tyler Eve.
Working for Tyler has been a training ground for many of L.A.’s showroom representatives, publicists and designers such as Michelle Mason, Erica Davies and David Cardona, whose businesses have stayed small despite critical acclaim for their work.
The Australian-born Tyler lives in South Pasadena, where his atelier will remain. In the 1970s he gained notice for outfitting rock ‘n’ rollers.
When he moved to L.A. in 1984, he took almost any work that was offered, including making costumes for Chippendale dancers. When he met actress and future wife Lisa Trafficante at a dinner party in 1987, he had a return ticket to Australia in his pocket. She convinced him to stay. Together they launched a men’s line in 1987, followed by women’s wear in 1989.
He has struggled to keep his business small and independent. Tyler has received three awards from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, one of only four California designers to be honored by the group. He has been a regular at New York Fashion Week and a headliner at L.A. Fashion Week. He will produce the fall collection of gowns he showed in New York last season by special order only.
It was difficult letting go of employees, he said, the youngest of which had been with him for 11 years. “They are like my kids. It’s like someone having to leave home because I can’t support them anymore.”
But Tyler is optimistic about the future. “People wrote to me and asked me not to retire. It was so rewarding to read the cards and letters from all over the country,” he said. “Everything is up in the air right now, but there will be a farewell performance.”
