One of the best things that happened to Gayla Bentley was when she broke her neck while delivering jewelry to a client’s husband, whom she had met at Saks Fifth Avenue. While injuries are never a thing to celebrate, if it hadn’t happened, she probably would have never gone to Paris, France. She wouldn’t have been able to send notes to the human resources department at Sakowitz, and her career would not have inspired an entire wave of people.
Similar to how a neck injury was crucial for Bentley’s career in the long run, Bentley’s career was crucial for the existence of plus size fashion, plus size acceptance, and confidence to be a plus size woman, proudly.
Bentley made waves when the water seemed to be forever still, but it was by no means easy for her. After years of working at Saks Fifth Avenue and being a pioneer to help bring in petite and larger sizes, she took a leap of faith to create the Gayla Bentley Fashion Design Group.
“I worked out of my home for three years, till I had it down, and then I had a huge fashion show. I would invite all the who’s who of Houston in the fashion industry to come to a private fashion show with all my designs, and I gave them all these small booklets to fill out, without putting their name on it, to score each outfit,”…
