Touchstone of Taste
Santa Barbara icon Wendy Foster, the local brand that’s always in style
Written by Jenn Thornton
Capturing the essence of the Santa Barbara lifestyle, Wendy Foster is a local institution, a legacy lifestyle brand with an impeccable reputation as an arbiter of good taste and a collection of urbane local stores under one vibrant umbrella. From sumptuous clothing boutiques to the artisanal provisions and worldly treasures of Pierre Lafond, this local success story has faithfully—and fashionably—served the coastal community for over 50 years.
Foremost a story of connoisseurs and kinship, Wendy Foster is the product of the creative and collaborative synergy of brand namesake Wendy Foster and her partnership—in business and in life—with late entrepreneur Pierre Lafond. “He was operations, I was beauty,” Wendy says of an alliance that began in the 1960s, when the forward-thinking Pierre, at the time the proprietor of a small liquor store, invited Wendy, a printer with her own graphic design business, to lend her eye to an already established clothing store.
Remarkably, the undisputed doyenne of Santa Barbara style remembers her first fashion buying trip as something of a disaster, confronted as she was by a sea of uninspiring polyester. Sobbing, Wendy rang Pierre from downtown L.A. to say that she simply couldn’t continue. “It was just too hideous,” she recalls telling him. Saved by her talent for “looking into the corners” and sourcing fabulous finds, Wendy found her raison d’être in retail, and at every subsequent Wendy Foster location—in Santa Barbara, Montecito, and Los Olivos—she built buying teams to “bring the best back to Santa Barbara.”
The defining Wendy Foster brand aesthetic—sophisticated, understated, chic—reflects Wendy Foster herself. A child of both coasts, she was born in New York and raised in Santa Barbara. Growing up with a mother and grandmother who loved clothing and shopping, Wendy says, “I was immersed in style.” She also enjoyed a vibrant and creative cultural education, including formative experiences as an anthropology student in Mexico, working at UNESCO in Paris, and living on a kibbutz in Israel.
Naturally, this woman of the world brings the breadth of the experiences that helped influence her fine eye and meticulous touch to the brand that bears her name. Drawing her “soft and strong” aesthetic from the subtle hues, natural textiles, and artful trinkets that characterize wares she finds at the world’s finest trade shows, and in the hidden pockets, galleries, and independent pop-ups of places like Paris and other cosmopolitan outposts, she describes Wendy Foster as “not couture, not fashion, not trendy” but “innate style.” A taste that cannot be taught but which spans across all Wendy Foster and Pierre Lafond enterprises. As for the brand’s personalized customer experience, “That’s the core of the brand—it’s everything,” Wendy says. “We carry the best styles for the season, but service is what we have to offer.”
Decades after embarking on her first emporium with Pierre, Wendy Foster is still minding her business. An adventurist to this day, she continues traveling in search of exquisite treasures and muses on a dream trip to Peru, but also dedicates time and attention to her beloved garden, to reading, and to piano. As the years tick by, Wendy Foster’s philosophy endures. “Never fashion, always style.”
