Kara Laricks is an American

fashion designer Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashio ...

. Laricks was the season one winner of ''

Fashion Star ''Fashion Star'' is an American reality television series on NBC, created and executive produced by E.J. Johnston, James Deutch and Rick Ringbakk which focuses on fashion design and is hosted by Louise Roe. It was hosted by Elle Macpherson in t ...

''.

Personal life

Kara Laricks was a fourth grade

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

for ten years before she quit to become a fashion designer. She loved design as a child and chose to become a teacher because it was a "safe career." Laricks lives and works in

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Laricks attended the

Academy of Art University The Academy of Art University (AAU or ART U), formerly Academy of Art College and Richard Stephens Academy of Art, is a private for-profit art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded as the Academy of Advertising Art by Richard S. ...

and graduated in 2008. Laricks is a

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

who hid her orientation whilst a schoolteacher but remained out personally. She came out publicly on national television during the first season of ''Fashion Star''. She stated she was nervous about coming out on television.

Professional life

Design aesthetic

Laricks' design aesthetic is very contemporary with men's fashion influences. Laricks cites designer

Yohji Yamamoto is a Japanese fashion designer based in Tokyo and Paris. Considered a master tailor alongside those such as Madeleine Vionnet, he is known for his avant-garde tailoring featuring Japanese design aesthetics. Yamamoto has won notable awards f ...

as her "design idol." She finds influence in Yamamoto's "minimalistic color palette and the

avant garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or 'vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical D ...

cut of his designs." Her other favorite designers are Yves Saint Laurent and

Jil Sander Heidemarie Jiline "Jil" Sander (; b. 27 November 1943) is a German minimalist fashion designer and the founder of the Jil Sander fashion house. Early life and education Heidemarie Jiline Sander was born in Wesselburen, Nazi Germany on 27 Nov ...

. She also cites actor

Tilda Swinton Katherine Matilda Swinton (born 5 November 1960) is a British actress. Known for her roles in independent films and blockbusters, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award, in addition t ...

as a style hero. Laricks has described her design aesthetic as "modern-day

Annie Hall ''Annie Hall'' is a 1977 American satirical romantic comedy-drama film directed by Woody Allen from a screenplay written by him and Marshall Brickman, and produced by Allen's manager, Charles H. Joffe. The film stars Allen as Alvy Singer, w ...

meets a

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese

street style Street fashion is fashion that is considered to have emerged not from studios, but from the grassroots streetwear. Street fashion is generally associated with youth culture, and is most often seen in major urban centers. Magazines and Newspapers ...

Fashion Star

As a designer, Laricks has been described as having a "unique perspective," by H&M fashion buyer Nicole Christie. Her first round of designs during the first episode of ''Fashion Star'' featured her signature men's tie, which was made from the collars of men's

dress shirt A dress shirt, button shirt, button-front, button-front shirt, or button-up shirt, is a garment with a collar and a full-length opening at the front, which is fastened using buttons or shirt studs. A button-down or button-down shirt is a dres ...

s. Laricks designed only ties and was almost eliminated from the show.

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; colloquially Saks) is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street shopping district of Washingt ...

fashion buyer Terron Schaefer questioned whether she was a "one trick pony," which was challenged after the second episode and Larick designed a drape-tie dress which resulted in a bidding war between the programs buyers. In the final episode of ''Fashion Star,'' Laricks introduced a pair of drop crotch pants, similar to

harem pants Harem pants or harem trousers are baggy, long pants caught in at the ankle. Early on, the style was also called a harem skirt. The original so-called 'harem pants/skirts' were introduced to Western fashion by designers such as Paul Poiret around 1 ...

, which ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' described as "a bit too contemporary." Designer

John Varvatos John Varvatos (born 1954) is an American menswear designer. Early life The Varvatos family is originally from the village of Poulata on the island of Kefalonia, Greece. Varvatos was born in Detroit and grew up in Allen Park, Michigan. He ...

called them "too crotchety." After presenting three capsule collections to buyers from H&M,

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

and

Jessica Simpson Jessica Ann Simpson (born July 10, 1980) is an American singer, actress, entrepreneur and philanthropist. After performing in church choirs as a child, Simpson signed with Columbia Records in 1997, aged seventeen. Her debut studio album, ''Swee ...

responded that Laricks challenged "every woman to step outside the box." This outsider design style lends Laricks to being considered a specialty designer. Laricks won the first season of the reality-contest program. ''Rolling Stone'' credited the show with embracing an "unconventionial" designer and applauded the buyers, especially Macy's, for thinking outside the box and awarding Laricks. Laricks was awarded a grand prize of $6 million of purchases by Macy's, H&M and Saks Fifth Avenue. ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Gl ...

'' fashion critic Rachel Raczka calls Laricks' geometric prints "awkward," while contrasting Laricks' day-to-night workwear as "luxurious."

References

External links

Laricks biography from ''Fashion Star''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laricks, Kara Living people American fashion designers American women fashion designers Schoolteachers from New York (state) American women educators Lesbians LGBT fashion designers Artists from New York City 1973 births Academy of Art University alumni Educators from New York City 21st-century American women