EVERY PIECE TELLS A STORY
November 2016 Cover of Handmade Business Magazine
Story by Stephanie Hintz
Stephanie reached out to Tara Lynn for a featured story in the wearable art issue of Handmade Business Magazine. The theme was, Bare Your Soul Wearable Artists Tell-ALL.
Tara Lynn’s Unique Farfalla, Bohemian Butterfly Wedding Dress, is Featured on the November 2016 cover of Handmade Business Magazine. Photo by Justin Larose
Unique Handmade Wedding Dresses
Shown is a close-up of a wedding dress handmade by Tara Lynn, featuring block printed ferns, handmade poppy flower appliques, and an embroidered peacock butterfly. Photo by Holly Greene
Wearable art does more than serve a purpose to clothe and protect, it’s your unique identity.
“Tara Lynn works tirelessly to capture the spirit and heart of every client and expertly sews them into handmade heirloom-quality bridal and special occasion dresses.”
Everyone knows that the bride is the most beautiful person at the wedding, but how can you be sure the bride feels like the most beautiful person on her special day? Put her in a gown like no other.
With more brides throwing away the rule book when it comes to bridal attire, weddings are becoming not only an event where two people pledge their love for one another forever — they become an opportunity for loved ones to get to know them and connect on a more personal level. Weddings are all about making connections and memories that will last a lifetime. The perfect dress can set the tone and the theme of an entire wedding.
This is where handmade wearable artist Tara Lynn excels. With her skilled hands and unbridled creativity, Tara Lynn works tirelessly to capture the spirit and heart of every client and expertly sews them into a handmade heirloom-quality bridal and special occasion dresses.
Tara Lynn focuses on choosing eco-friendly fabrics to work with such as hemp, vintage lace, peace silks, and organic cotton. She often embellishes her work with macramé and embroidered details.
“My clients inspire me, I hone in on who they are and design something special for them,” says Tara Lynn. “Usually they come to me with a bit of inspiration — a piece of fabric, a favorite bird, something they loved on the website, and we design from there/ I enjoy designing for the customer most of all.”
Featured Photo by Daria Bishop
Inspired by hand embroidery, macramé, and applique techniques used in 1970’s era clothing, Tara Lynn began making wearable art in the late 1990’s while in college. Growing up, she recalls designing clothing from a young age. While still in highschool she enrolled in fashion classes and even worked for several New York City designers.
Tara Lynn’s immeasurable drive pushed her to earn a BA at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. This is where her concern for the “dark side’ of fashion surfaced — the poor working conditions of sweat shops and the use of toxic chemicals and harmful heavy metals used in dyes. This enlightenment directed Tara Lynn’s business model of sticking to designing her work with and eco-friendly, sustainable conscience mind.
In 1999, Tara Lynn tool the plunge and launched her very own clothing company — the self-titled Tara Lynn. She sold her first ready-made natural fiber hemp garments at HempInstead, located in Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan. Her work has a decidedly ethereal, free spirited Bohemian feel about it, with special details such as her trademark hand embroidered butterflies and jeweled macramé accents.
“A custom wedding dress takes four-to-six months — even a year to design, fit and finish,” Tara Lynn explains. “I made a seamless lace gown once that tool me 240 hours. The hand embroidered butterflies can take me three-to-four weeks to make and place on a gown.”
Tara Lynn’s favorite pieces of her work include her butterfly jackets and the Farfalla wedding dress — which was her own wedding dress — and she is excited about the new collection she is working on.
While Tara Lynn remains humble and honest in her work ethics and practice, she has racked up a pretty remarkable list of high-profile clientele over the past 17 years in business. She designed an evening gown worn by Ashley Wheeler, Miss Vermont 2008, during a Miss America pageant. The dress was bronze in color and was accented with panels of hand-sequined gold lace. Wheeler specifically commissioned the dress from Tara Lynn for the competition, requesting an eco-friendly dress that would flatter her figure and send a message of sustainable design to judges and viewers.
Singer-songwriter and American Idol finalist (2010) Crystal Bowersox also reached out to Tara Lynn when it was time to select a dress for her wedding. Wearing a custom-made version of Tara Lynn’s Aphrodite dress, Bowersox and her husband, Brian Walker, were married barefoot, melodious ceremony. The details in Bowersox’s gown included macramé adorned with seashells, beads and stones. A large sunflower embroidered in beaded hemp twine was centered on the bodice, and delicate French knots surrounded in crystal beads gave the natural-fiber dress plenty of movement and texture. Taking inspiration from her wedding gown designer, Bowersox added her own handmade touch to her ensemble and crafted a coordinating headpiece for her special day.
Tara Lynn’s star powered has since earned her national attention and coverage in People magazine, as well as Vermont Bride Magazine, Sweet Violet Bride, Rustic Wedding Chic, and Vermont Vows. In 2009, she was presented with the 2009 Vermont SBA (Small Business Association) Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Her work has also been featured in numerous fashion shows around the world, including shows in New York, San Francisco, Canada and Europe.
Even with all the accolades she has earned in such a short time, Tara Lynn’s working philosophy stays grounded and true. She is more than willing to lend a helping hand to fellow hand makers, and offers advice to newcomers: “Patience. You will make mistakes and that is OK, because you are learning something new every day. If you are making clothing, fit is the number one issue to resolve before going to market with your work.”
