Before ending her first career 12 years ago as an award-winning journalist, Phyllis Brasch Librach became inspired to trade deadlines for hemlines. She wanted to take the tears out of shopping for her daughter and all daughters, mothers, sisters, aunts and friends with real curves. It all started when Librach failed to find a plus-size Prom dress that flattered her curvy teen-age daughter. “In the beginning,” Librach remembers, “I was just a mother anxious to wipe away her daughter's tears.”
Today, Sydney’s Closet is the leading plus size special occasion dress designer and online retailer for Prom, Wedding, and Formal gowns. Now, Sydney’s has launched a new collection called Celebrations with designs that are more casual and lower priced, but continue to reflect Sydney’s wonderful tagline - “We Size Up Glamour”.
Over the last decade, Sydney's Closet and its retail partners throughout the United States, Canada, South America, Europe and Australia have dressed tens of thousands of plus-size teens and women. This internationally recognized company continues to set the bar for extraordinary plus-sized fashion. Librach said “Our glam prom and bridal designs have been seen on the dance floors in high school gyms for Prom and Homecoming, on celebrities walking the red-carpet in Hollywood and going down the aisle of churches and beaches.”
The company offers on-trend styles for teens and women dressing for every special occasion; from prom night to wedding night in size 12-40. Librach’s designs have been featured on the pages of O, The Oprah Magazine, Teen Prom and Seventeen, The Chicago Tribune, and on several television shows. Librach was christened the “Fairy Godmother of Plus Size Women” by one such publication.
In a world where thin is too in, Librach found it unfair that millions of teens and women were fashion-starved for stylish plus-size dresses to wear to life's most important celebrations.
In June 2013, Librach’s daughter married her love in a romantic ceremony in St. Louis. She was a beautiful bride beaming with happiness as she walked down the aisle. “It's hard for me to believe the years have flown by so fast. It seems like just yesterday that we were shopping for her Prom dress!”, said Librach.
Six out of 10 American women wear a size 12 or larger. Librach says “All curvy women should be able to find a dress for a special occasion that makes her look - and feel - as glamorous as a movie star for her red-carpet moment!”
