Fashion design isn’t a job, it’s a calling and Lissa Mar’s founder, Melissa Marshall McGuirk was called quite early in life. Summering with her family on the beaches of Sea Island, Georgia, she loved nothing more than to watch how light, color and form danced in the breeze. Blessed with a truly imaginative eye, Melissa decided the best way to study fashion was to first ground herself as an artist. After rigorous studies in art, design and photography, Melissa graduated from the University of Virginia. At UVA, she headed up The Fashion Club, designing and producing numerous runway productions. She was also the Costume Designer for the University of Virginia Performing Arts Reciter. Her photography documented fashion “from the streets”, depicting people from all walks of life.

Fashion mecca that it is, New York City called and after studies at The Parsons New School University of Design, Melissa then interned with a true Seventh Avenue master, Wes Gordon, to gain true hands on fashion design experience. She also interned as a photography designer for Elegant Island Living magazine in St. Simons, Georgia, as well as modeling for Lilly Pulitzer and assisting in their show rooms in Atlanta.

In 2011, Melissa Marshall launched her own company, Lissa Mar LLC, to create “must-have” fashions. Drawing its name from the sea itself, here resort wear is expressed like never before — for the woman seeking style, casual luxury and color all expressed with a new verve and a fresh eye.