We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tara LaTour a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tara , appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I first knew I wanted to pursue a career in the arts when I was very young. My biggest influence was my grandmothers. When I was young, I would spend my summers at the grandparent’s cabin in Northern Minnesota. My grandma was a talented seamstress and a painter. I always remember the moment I would step my little feet through the cabin doors, I would race to the dresser with all her fabric scraps and start rummaging through the drawers figuring our what I could make. I would watch her make clothes, paint with her, create plays and write short stories… it was a place for imagination run wild. I remember once she was making a wedding dress and I remember thinking how magical it was. I told her when she was making that dress that “when I get married, I’m going to wear blue dress”. She informed me that brides wear white and me being the curious kid I was, I asked her why. She told me why bride wear white and I just knew that sounded wrong. I stayed curious about that until I was older and found out that was not at all true. That was when my aspirations were born for bringing color in bridal began.

Tara , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Tara LaTour and I am a bridal couture designer and have my own bridal label, called Tara LaTour. I knew I wanted to pursue design since I was young… and it was always my dream to go to a top-tier fashion school. I always wanted my own brand so I knew I need more than just a fashion education itself, but I also knew that the network those schools had was extensive and would key to connecting me to right people. I graduated from Parsons in New York, which is the Harvard of fashion schools. I started my label only a year after graduating, as I had some great support and network from some great and influential people, which resulted in tv appearances, features in major bridal magazines, and garnering some attention in the bridal fashion world. I even landed one of my dresses on the cover of Vogue in Australia.

When in school, I was taught how to develop concepts and collections, but not how to run a business. I had to figure it all out as I went along. It took so much trail and error, hustle, patience, and perseverance. While business operations were my expected hurdle, my greatest challenge comes at the hand of finding the balance of creating sellable wedding gowns are also fashion-forward. The point where business and design meet, is where the majority of my creative problem-solving skills are tested. The bridal industry is constantly changing, but operate on a slow-fashion timeline. The balance is incredibly delicate.

I am a true designer, and love pushing the boundaries in bridal through design. However, the majority of brides are not adventurous in their bridal choices. I think, brides love the idea being fashion forward, but the truth is most brides don’t push the envelope and choose was the majority of brides choose. So as a designer finding the balance of how I can push the boundaries without crossing the line into unapproachable, is my biggest challenge. When I first started my brand, I crossed that line in all the it for the sake of design. However, that approach was not financially sustainable, so I needed to pivot and figure out how to designing gowns that would both sell but also be designed ahead enough that set them apart from what is already in the market.

Figuring out this, has to date been my greatest challenge and tests my problem-solving skills more than anything else I do. Bridal is not a repeat client industry, so you only have one shot to create a dress that is going to be “the one” in sea of white dresses that look very similar. Design-wise, you cannot be to ahead, but can’t be too behind; be basic enough, but distinctive enough to stand out. Creatively it is a really hard balance to strike. Bridal is basically a challenge in how many ways you can design a white dress. And while we do still work more in color than almost any other brand, we still produce a majority of our gowns in shades of white.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

For me, cultivating my creativity through design is just who I am. It is part of my identity and creating is my part of my happiness lifeline. Creating a new conversation and disrupting what we know, is always a driving force in creative journey. I believe the bridal niche hands out some of the most challenges in the fashion world. No other piece of clothing has as much emotional or meaningful attachment than a wedding dress. But is also the most rewarding. Being part of one of the happiest moments and contributing to women feeling truly beautiful is something you don’t get when you are designing a sweater. But for me, designing a dress infused with color, offers me a special kind of drive. Not all women want to wear a dress that is a hue of white, and there is not always that our there for them. Some brides feel most themselves in green, or red, or black. To be able to provide that, while also disrupting the expectations of bridal, is my always my goal in bridal.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Fabric… hahaha, that is weird answer; but what I had to unlearn was my perception of fabric and what makes it good. As a designer and a lover of the finer things, I became a first-rate fabric elitist snob. Only 100% silk contents for me. However, using only using such high-level silk limits who you are able to reach, shutting them out via price point. The kind and types of fabrics out there is vast, and I have to deprogram my take on fabric in order to reach a broader audience.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.taralatour.com
• Instagram: @taralatour
• Facebook: @taralatour
• Linkedin: Tara LaTour Bridal Brands
• Other: Tik Tok @taralatour Pinterest @taralatourbridal

Image Credits
Valea Photography