Emmy® Award-winning Costume Designer, David Zyla has collaborated with some of the most recognizable faces of contemporary culture including Tom Hanks, Susan Lucci, Neil Patrick Harris, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Kelsey Grammer and Carol Burnett.

David Zyla's career began in fashion design at the age of twenty-two with his own Seventh Avenue label. The progressive designs of his eveningwear were featured at New York's Fashion Week and sold at the nation's top luxury stores, including Bergdorf Goodman and Henri Bendel.

By 2001, David had already earned a reputation as a tastemaker with strong ties to the global fashion community and was recruited by ABC to reinvigorate the visual quality of its daytime programming. David has held the position of head costume designer for various television shows including ABC's All My Children (2010 Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design Emmy Award) and General Hospital, CBS’s The Young and the Restless and Lifetime's Devious Maids.

For twenty years, Zyla has also designed for Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theater, commercials and film. His numerous theatre credits include the Broadway, Mark Taper Forum and international tour of Big River as well as the Ahmanson Theatre's production of Sweeney Todd, starring Kelsey Grammer and Christine Baranski. His Off-Broadway credits include Fraulein Else, Dreyfus in Rehearsal and Clue:The Musical. Regional theater credits include productions for the Pittsburgh Public Theater, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Theatreworks and Capitol Repertory. Film credits include Heart of the Country, Sara's Life and Nice Guys Sleep Alone.

In 2010 Zyla revealed the "secret formula" behind his success as a designer as well as his theories on color and design with the publication of his best-selling book The Color of Style (Dutton) and the subsequent paperback Color Your Style (Plume). In 2015 he followed this up with the reveal of his stylist shopping secrets in How to Win at Shopping (Dutton).

His unique platform on style makes him a sought after authority on fashion and color in the media. He has been featured in a variety of broadcast media including The View, The Nate Berkus Show, The Jane Pauley Show, Marie, and CNN Style, as well as on CBS News, FOXNews, ABC News, Martha Stewart Living Radio, and Playboy Radio. He has been profiled in People magazine and The New Yorker, and featured in publications including Life & Style, More Magazine, Real Simple, Women's Wear Daily, The Huffington Post, USA Today, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Traditional Home, Vogue UK, Brides Magazine, Women's Health, Daily Mail, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, Reuters, and Yahoo.

David Zyla's unique personal style has been chronicled in The New York Times, in the book I am Dandy (Gestalten), and on websites such as Scott Schulman's The Sartorialist, and Richard Haines' What I Saw Today.

Zyla often serves as a teacher and guest lecturer at major design institutions, museums, and schools, including New York University, Hofstra University, SCAD, LIM, Otterbein College, and UC Davis. He is a faculty member at Marymount Manhattan College where he teaches a regular course on Fashion, History, and Society. He attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. 


The Buzz About David Zyla

“David's eye for color and shape is extraordinary, and his sense of style is always exciting. What I really love about David's choices though, is the way they always make me feel like the best possible version of myself.”        
                                                                                                                                      
-- Susan Lucci, Actress

 
 "David's passion  to design and create a palette and wardrobe specific to each character combined with his talent of knowing what enhances an actor's attributes while collaborating with the talent and producers, not only makes the result successful but becomes the 'something special' that separates a production's look from expected to extraordinary."

--Julie Hanan Carruthers, Executive Producer, All My Children, ABC Inc.

 
“David Zyla is a director's dream. He is highly creative, but also extremely collaborative, and a delight for the cast as well. Most importantly, he gave my film a real world patina that helped me tell the story in every costume and every scene. "Heart" is a better picture because he was there.”

--John Ward, Director, Heart of the Country, Bayridge Films, Inc.