Lela Rose

Who is Lela Rose?

Lela Rose is an American fashion designer.

Lela grew up in Dallas, Texas. She attended the University of Colorado where she was a painting and sculpture major and graduated in 1991. She had a business in college making vests from vintage scarves and decided to go into fashion. She moved to New York City and headed to Parsons School of Design which she graduated from in 1993 with an associate's degree. She worked under Christian Francis Roth, a fashion designer, and Richard Tyler, a designer based in Los Angeles. She then launched her collection in 1996 out of her own apartment, which featured feminine clothing with lots of embellishments.

In 2001 she garnered attention when she designed the outfits worn by Jenna and Barbara Bush at their father's presidential inauguration. Until that point, she was mainly working with private clients. After that, she began to expand her business with retail businesses like Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus.

Some of her well-known clientele include Mischa Barton, Molly Sims, Jessica Simpson, Ashley Judd, Mariska Hargitay, Mary-Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen, Selma Blair and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.