About Peggy Lutz and her Plus Size Clothing Designer Team

Who is the typical Peggy Lutz client?

• Small business owners who travel a lot
• Soap opera writers up for Emmys
• High-powered attorneys running for public office
• Book publishers enjoying life and working in their 70’s
• Math professors at Cambridge University
• HR directors at Nikon
• Directors of Learning Strategies at Microsoft
• Breast cancer specialists in Bristol, England
• Art Gallery and antique shop owners
• Adventurous documentary videographers
• Mothers of five living in the south of France
• Worldwide Marketing Intelligence Managers for IBM who also make beautiful jewelry
• Mature brides, pregnant brides, first-time brides
• Lesbian couples getting married
• Political activists in Florida, wheelchair bound and swimming upstream
• University Chairpersons and Presidents of Art Colleges in Pennsylvania
• Excited women taking their first cruise or their 7th cruise
• Beaming mothers and grandmothers attending a cello concert, a graduation ceremony, an anniversary dinner
• Newly-in-love or long-time lovers looking forward to an intimate, romantic evening
• Women of all shapes and sizes, goals and lifestyles seeking clothing that lets them be who they are in every moment.

21 Year Evolution

Peggy Lutz Plus began in 1987; quite by chance I fell into this mode of self-expression from costume design for the theatre and art-to-wear. Living in San Francisco I discovered the new plus size market being born just as I ventured into designing for it!

My first line was "Upscale Sweats". Sweatshirt fleece was having its 15 minutes of fame in the 80’s, so my separates were from the finest fleece in the world, manufactured near Paris!

The segue from fleece to cotton interlock was an easy one. French Vanilla was top dog in plus size ready-to-wear and everyone was mad for versatile, interchangeable pieces that practically performed acrobatics on the body. The Peggy Lutz Shell was born, as were the Drape Lapel Coat, the Tee Dress, Six Gore Skirt, and the most popular silhouette of the 80’s: The Tent Dress.

Yes, we’ve come a long way in 20 years! No one wears such totally enveloping garments anymore, but the Tent Dress was exactly that and we sold lots of them.

The shape of the company was also evolving: Working closely with clients, plus size women short and tall, Hourglass, Apples and Pears, gave us a terrific education in plus size body types. I started a database which continues today, listing the vital statistics of every woman I could get my tape measure on. These stats are the basis for our unique sizing system and come in handy when fitting women across the globe with only measurements.

Evolving in collaboration with clients started during this period. I often say that my best ideas come from my clients and who knows better what’s needed, wanted, what fits, what works, what flatters.

A move in the early 90’s to Sonoma County gave us our first retail Showroom. Working in a large loft space was a revelation and set the tone for all subsequent spaces: Large, light, and airy, with workspace and retail space combined.

Customers perused our fabric racks for their ideal textiles and returned in a few days for fittings. This formula continues to work for us.

By 1998, I wanted to work in silk, velvet, sparkle and drama; the urge to create more formal clothing could not be denied! Beautiful Sonoma County, the center of the Wine Country, is quite an informal environment, so we needed an international market. It was time to go online.

Our recent move to Santa Rosa brings us to our present Atelier, complete with a bright and spacious Showroom, large, open work spaces with towering fabric racks, a living lounge/kitchen, photo studio, ready-to-wear inventory staging and shipping areas, and my office/design room.

Our clientele is truly international now, including well-dressed women from five continents.

We hope you’ll visit us soon! Come enjoy the fruits of this long, creative evolution and be part of shaping the next phase.

We are Home-Grown!

Everything we sell we make, and we make it all right here in Northern California. Our fabrics come from all over the globe, but our talent – designing, pattern-making, cutting, sewing, models, photography and web expertise, are all local:

Peggy Lutz, Charlotte Bird, Anthelma Arellanes, Mari Maldonado, Huong Ma, Tracy Holcomb, Joe Tucker, Deb Kuykendahl, Margot, Lorance Arellanes, Emily Bird, Phung Kim Trieu, Nina Giampaoli and Muz are the heart of Team Plus.

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