L. Rose Designs - About US

About Us ...
By Shoshanna

My mom, Lora Anthony, started L. Rose Designs in 1989, when she began creating leotards, leggings and dancewear for aerobics & gyms. Being the late 80's and early 90's, these designs were in line with a low point in the history of fashion, so you won't be seeing any pictures from that era here (yikes!).

This led to her getting involved with local gymnastics teams, for which she manufactured and helped design competition uniforms. She worked closely with several talented local Rhythmic Gymnasts who had a hard time finding leotards that would fit, would look great, be unique, and not cost too terribly much. From there she began making class leotards for Ballet studios and eventually was “talked into” making costumes for the end of the year dance recitals for one, two, three, and finally four entire dance studios. Sometimes she would create costumes based on those found in costume warehouse books, but often she would work with dance teachers to make costumes just for the dances they were creating. At the peak of this phase in her business she was making over 700 costumes in a 2 month period all by herself! This was not lucrative at all, since she didn’t want to make the costumes too expensive for the dancers, and it was very stressful with extremely long hours.

In 1992, I took my first class in Middle Eastern Dance in Eureka, California. For my first performance, the teacher went to my mom to make costume tops for the group. My mom kept experimenting with the top, that would later become the core product of her business, the Half Top, and began making more costumes for my Middle Eastern Classes and eventually the troupe I was in. Those first "experimental" Half Tops had a little drawstring sewn into each one so that you could adjust the "pinch," but I told her that the ribbons were annoying, so she started hand sewing the pinch after the top was completed. Much better!

In 1995, we packed our suitcases and headed to the Bay Area for our first visit to Rakkasah, held that year at the Convention Center near the San Rafael Civic Center. We were impressed with all the amazing wares for sale, and my mom decided to try tapping this market with her dancewear, since the dancers at home loved it so much. The next year she vended her clothes at the festival, I created a simple catalog, and started receiving orders for tops, pants, veils, and skirts.

Since then, her business has skyrocketed, becoming a “household name” amongst Middle Eastern Dancers across the country (and beyond). While many companies offer stretch velvet dancewear, our customers know our quality of the fabrics and construction, and the extrordinary custom work we do every day. We vend at dance festivals from Seattle to Los Angeles, where customers are always clamoring to get the costumes they want and see our newest fabric choices.

2004 was an eventful for the business with moving to a shop space (out of the house!), training employees, and working with some new systems to streamline the ordering process (my vision). It’s really great if you can find something to do with your life that you like to do – something that you don’t dread coming to do every day – and that you can be successful doing. I'm so glad my mom has found such a business. Running a small business is such hard work and takes sooooo much time and energy, but it can be very satisfying and rewarding to see all of the work you do.

We love to see groups perform in our costumes, and are always happy to see pictures dancers send us that we can post in our Photo Gallery. It's also so wonderful to be the first business that brand new dancers call to get an outfit for class, or working with someone to create their first solo costume or the costume they've been wishing for.

Thank you to all of our loyal customers who have supported our business for years, and to new ones ordering for their first time. It's so fantastic to work with such a great group of dancers from all walks of life who love dance, life, and dressing up. Thanks for your business!

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