Eva Franco, a local designer who has turned her small mid-city roots into a national brand, was featured in the business section Sunday, in the “How I Made It“ LA Times feature. It’s a quick read, giving an overview of the highly-photogenic designer of Hungarian/Romanian descent who realized “Americans judge you by the way you dress.”
The beginnings of her trade included stashing bolts of fabric under the bed in her apartment and selling at the Fairfax Flea Market. “I still go to the Fairfax Flea Market to look at the trends,” Franco told the Buzz by telephone. “I would love to open my first flagship store on Larchmont some day – it’s still a favorite place to shop. I often drop in the cosmetic store, the book store and Wells Fargo.”
Her fashion line, Eva Franco has grown to a business of 17 employees with production (patternmaking, cutting, sewing) and is truly “Made in LA”, but includes artisans from Guatemala, Great Britain, Mexico and Russia. Her dresses have been featured on television in Glee, New Girl, and the The Carrie Diaries and are on the rack now at Anthropologie, among other stores.
A short film detailing Eva Franco’s design process, is shared below.
LA Times: How I Made It: Eva Franco by Dalina Castellanos,
About Julie Grist
Julie co-founded the Larchmont Buzz with fellow buzzer Mary Hawley in 2011 and served as Editor, Publisher and writer for the hive for many years until the sale of the Buzz in August 2015. She is still circling the hive as an occasional writer.
