Terry Costa, Dallas fashion visionary and businessperson, dies at 86

Terry Costa, a visionary Dallas fashion figure and entrepreneur, has died at age 86.

Costa is best known for her namesake store at Preston Road and Interstate 635 where shoppers have bought dresses for special occasions for 38 years. The shop lets visitors buy must-haves for events such as proms, homecoming and weddings.

Tina Loyd, who now owns the store, said Terry Costa’s legacy is evident in the longevity of the store that continues to reach new customers. Loyd bought it in 2007.

“Terry was tiny but mighty,” Loyd said, noting she was about 5-2 ½. “She had an enormous impact on me. She was a person who was always educating herself. So she never stopped learning. And she never stopped continuing to become better.”

It’s a business whose influence and reach is historic and widespread. In 1989, the Los Angles Times did a story on her store, saying “women from Laredo to Los Angeles find plenty of sparkle at the Terry Costa boutique. And the prices are worth the trip.”

Costa knew fashion. Before Loyd joined Terry Costa, she remembers working for a wholesale supplier — and how Costa could size up potential dresses for the store. After Loyd bought the store, Costa continued to assist for about two years as a consultant.

“I knew she had such a wonderful eye in being able to pick the sellers and being such a great buyer,” Loyd said.

Costa, born in 1938 in Houston, became interested in fashion as a teenager when she served on the Foley’s department store teen board and had a summer job at Neiman Marcus, the iconic Dallas retailer, according to an obituary. She was even trained by Stanley Marcus and would never forget his lessons.

In high school, Terry met future dress designer Victor Costa, later eloping in Paris.

They moved to New York, and Terry began a career as a mother. The family also kept connections with Texas, spending many summers in Houston and Galveston.

In 1974, the Victor Costa company was founded in Dallas, and as Terry Costa’s children matured, her involvement grew in the company. She managed the company’s factory outlet, which eventually evolved into a retail store.

The Costas separated in 1984 and divorced two years later. As part of the divorce settlement, Terry retained the retail part of the business — and named it Terry Costa. It also added designers such as Oleg Cassini and Tadashi and others.

With Terry Costa, she created a new kind of discount retail fashion store with a comfortable high-end boutique environment and provided customer care equal to that of the city’s fine department stores. She served as chief buyer, traveling to New York several times a year.

Costa in 1986 met Paul Weathers, a former banking executive who owned multiple automobile-related businesses and they later married, the obituary said. Both wrote poetry, and they occasionally attended the annual National Cowboy Poet Gathering in Elko, Nev.

Today, the Terry Costa store employs about 40 people year-round, and also has several interns from the University of North Texas for seasonal work. The company has more than three quarters of a million followers on TikTok and tens of thousands of followers on Instagram.

There’s also something unique about the actual items the store sells — it’s a “very emotional buy” — as shoppers who bought a prom dress or wedding dress back in the 1990s come back and buy something for their own daughters, Loyd said. It’s a lasting legacy for the shop and Terry Costa.

“Terry founded that, and none of that would be possible without her entrepreneurial spirit and her being a trailblazer,” Loyd said.

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