Meet Lara Prawat

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lara Prawat.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I went to the Savannah College of Art and Design and studied fashion design there. Soon after graduating in 2011, a friend of a friend asked me to create her wedding dress. I loved the whole process of creating something custom for her and had never considered doing bridal while I was in school. I was pleasantly surprised how much I loved it! I went to work in retail management for years, meanwhile making a few other custom wedding dresses, including my own. I began to attend bridal shows as a custom dressmaker, and at one of the shows, I met a retired seamstress who encouraged me to get into wedding dress alterations. I wasn’t sure I would like it, as I had my mind set on doing just custom work. But I thought I’d reach out to a local bridal shop to give it a try. I did a few alterations for their brides and was again, pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed doing bridal alterations. It’s the perfect amount of creative problem-solving, a good mind-engaging challenge, and fun to work on such beautiful dresses. I transitioned out of my retail job in 2017, partnering with a few bridal shops in the LA area to work with them for alterations. This allowed me to work full-time on doing bridal alterations and custom wedding gowns, which I’ve been doing ever since.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of my biggest struggles has been workload management. In a service and creative-based job, sometimes it’s difficult to know how much time each project will take. It’s a tricky balance of taking on work and knowing how much time each dress will take me. I often take on too many clients and end up working long hours. I’ve pushed myself past healthy limits time and time again. It’s also difficult to find talented employees that I can trust to help with the workload. I am constantly re-working my workflows and systems to fine-tune them to achieve a healthy work-life balance.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I specialize in custom wedding gowns and wedding dress alterations.

With the custom gowns, my brides usually come to me with an idea of what they like. I take their ideas and do a series of sketches until we’ve settled on a design to move forward with. We will then go fabric shopping together. The rest of the process involves muslin fittings as I work out the pattern, then a series of fittings in the wedding dress as it’s getting made until it’s finally finished.

For alterations, I do everything from tailoring basics like a hem and bustle to complete dress reconstructions. I’ve worked with lots of brides who want to add sleeves to their dresses or do major reconstructions. I’ve worked with many brides who bring me vintage gowns, oftentimes their mom’s or grandma’s wedding dress. We re-work the dress to modernize it, so they can have a dress that feels like their personal style but has the sentimentality of an heirloom dress.

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
During the stricter covid lockdowns, it changed the way brides did weddings, with many couples doing elopements or small, backyard weddings instead. At the time, I thought that trend might stick around even after lockdowns eased. But many couples still opted (or even postponed long enough!) to have the big, traditional wedding. Many of my brides who eloped eventually planned a big wedding reception/party to celebrate with more family and friends. So the big wedding, I’d venture to say, is here to stay!

Pricing:

• My custom dresses start at $2500
• Alterations usually average in between 500-700

Contact Info:

• Website: https://folkloredressstudio.com/
• Instagram: @folklore_dress_studio
• Yelp: https://yelp.to/dTPIYEykWtb

Image Credits
Eden Strader Max Tepper Angel Patricia Sarah Ashley Peters Alex Mari Birds of a Feather