Our summer intern, Carolina Baigorri, sat down with our friend, the talented designer, Lazaro for a chat about how he got involved in the industry, Diana Ross, and the future of his brand. Caro did an excellent job capturing the spirit of Lazaro, who speaks with passion and excitement about everything he does!

How did you discover your passion for designing wedding dresses?

I always wanted to become a costume designer. I entered a competition for a bridal contest while I was still in school for a young designer to create a bridal collection.

Growing up, my mother was a seamstress and she did a lot of bridal gowns and other things to help make ends meet. I realized after joining the competition that I really loved doing this and it was something I wanted to do in the future. If you think about it, a wedding dress is the most important costume you’ll ever wear. I ended up winning the contest and it opened up many doors.

How have your Cuban roots impacted your designs?

You always see a little bit of a Spanish flare in my dresses. Especially when I was starting my career I always put lace that gave almost a flamenco feel to my designs. As years passed, my aesthetic changed but there will always be a little Spanish influence.

I play off of my heritage and a lot of my customers also come from ethnic backgrounds.

Do you have any tips brides?

I always say “keep an open mind.”

I travel a lot and do various trunk shows and I always see that the biggest mistake a bride makes is not wanting to try something out of their comfort zone. Some brides have an idea of what they want their dress to be but it may not be the one you walk out of the store with.

Do you have a muse or a specific person you think of when designing?

I’m going to be very corny and say my brides are my muse. A lot of my collections are based on what I see that my brides want.

I have this repore with my brides where they tell me what they like and I can probably go back and design a whole collection based on that.

I grew up in the 80’s with the whole disco era and my style icon is Diana Ross. I actually designed a dress for her daughter and I thought I would die when I met her. She is able to change 20 times throughout one show and it is a mind blowing experience. Diana Ross made a movie called “Mahogany” and it was what made me want to be a fashion designer. In the movie she plays a designer and when I met her she said “That’s what I really wanted to do, that was my passion”. Every fashion person should watch Mahogany it was life changing for me.

Describe your creative process. What steps do you take when creating?

I am not one of those designers that actually sits and creates a whole collection. I may come up with an idea and there’s always one sketch which can lead to ten sketches.

I am a very visual person, so I like to work on the mannequin a lot. Every designer starts with a certain way that they want the collection to go to, whether it’s glamorous or very soft. I come up with a concept and we take it from there.

What do you think makes a bride feel beautiful?

I think once a bride puts on that one dress, it hits her.

Every bride to me is beautiful no matter what dress it is, mine or someone else’s. I think that’s something to be said for the bride because they try on a dress and feel like this is the one. It’s a happy occasion, so no matter what they try on, they feel it.

What does the future have in store for Lazaro?

I would love for the brand to evolve. I am starting to creep in there some of the red carpet looks. Eventually, there will be an evening line coming out, which I am excited about.

Every designer should expand for themselves, not just their brand.

You start very red carpet, you know for evening events and eventually expand. Eventually that evening collection can turn into mothers of the bride or something similar. That is where I see it going right now, there are talks of many other things but that is where I see it going.

Get To Know Lazaro Perez, Designer of Lazaro