Pictured: Camilyn Beth's new location features an in-store design table, where customers can see how a dress is designed and made. Photo provided by Camilyn Leavitt.

When Camilyn Leavitt, founder of Camilyn Beth, was invited to 16 weddings in just over a year in 2012, she decided to begin making the dresses she’d wear herself. Leavitt attended school for fashion design, but had left the design industry to work as a creative director for several years. However, posting these dresses on social media brought her back to the fashion world—a small boutique in New Orleans requested to see her designs and then made a 32-piece dress order.

“I decided I was just going to sew all the dresses myself,” says Leavitt. Inspired by that order, she began building the Camilyn Beth brand and selling dresses wholesale to boutiques around the United States from her studio in the Mira Mar building in Downtown Sarasota.

The 2020 pandemic led Leavitt to reroute—she began selling online and directly to customers to adapt to lockdowns and changing shopping habits. “ I love the business more than ever before, now that we are not doing wholesale. When we were selling to stores, it always felt like I was trying to match what the store wanted,” she says. “Now I feel like we get to tell the story of Camilyn Beth and create my classic style for dresses. And classic is wonderful because it's sustainable. You can wear them over and over again.”

As Leavitt’s brand continues to grow in popularity in Sarasota, Camilyn Beth is now moving to a new location at Quay Commons near the Rosemary District. “I'm very customer-focused right now, listening to what customers want. The beauty of designing within the retail space is that we're constantly listening to customers. It makes us like the best designers we could be, because we're constantly seeing them try dresses on,” says Leavitt.

Although it has been 14 years since Camilyn Beth was founded, Leavitt has maintained her careful attention to detail and dedication to creating high-quality formal dresses—everything is designed in-house and offered in sizes 0-22. “In the new space, we have the design table as part of the front window display. It's always been my dream to be able to do this,” she says. “I just think it's so cool for people to be able to see behind the scenes, where designs are happening and where this dress started.”

Camilyn Beth, 468 Quay Commons Suite C, Sarasota, camilynbeth.com, 941-313-2217.

Pictured: Camilyn Beth's new location features an in-store design table, where customers can see how a dress is designed and made. Photo provided by Camilyn Leavitt.