Edited by author 01-04-2008 11:47 AM
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...ition1.3736acf.htmlTyler Beard: Western designer, author, collector who 'swam upstream'
12:00 AM CST on Friday, January 4, 2008
By JOE SIMNACHER / The Dallas Morning News
jsimnacher@dallasnews.com
Many know Tyler Beard as an internationally recognized authority on cowboy boots and Western heritage. After all, he wrote several books on the subjects and sold Western wear to customers around the world – most notably designer Ralph Lauren.
Still others know of the less-documented portions of his life that began after he graduated from Skyline High School in 1972.
First there was the English-antiques phase. Then came the Edward Scissorhands-phase as an avant-garde New England hairstylist and real-estate investor.
Most recently, he was considering writing and illustrating a children's book.
Mr. Beard, 53, died Dec. 20 in his sleep at his Dallas home. His health had been compromised by treatment for head-and-neck cancer a dozen years ago. He also had never seemed to fully recover from the 2005 death of his wife, Teresa Beard, said his sister, Debra Conkling of Granbury.
"He came out of the womb entirely original," Mrs. Conkling said. "He swam upstream his entire life. You could look at the same thing, and he would see it differently."
Born in Dallas – his given name was Barry William Beard – Mr. Beard was a born trader. As a child, he could spot random treasures in alley trash while riding his bicycle, his sister said. He would sell his finds.
"He had an unerring eye for that," Mrs. Conkling said. "Even at a young age he could do that. ... That really supported him his entire life."
Mr. Beard attended W.T. White High School and graduated from Skyline. As a teenager, mutual friends introduced him to the love of his life, Teresa Skelton.
Mr. Beard became a dedicated Anglophile, having spent his formative years under the influence of the British rock invasion.
"The day he graduated from high school he moved to England," where he bought and sold antiques, his sister said. "The music probably pulled him to England."
After about a year exploring and working in England, Mr. Beard returned to Dallas, where he studied to be a hairstylist. He set up shop in Portsmouth, N.H.
"He opened a salon there called 210," Mrs. Conkling said. "He was the Edward Scissorhands of Portsmouth, N.H. I got some calls from his old clients yesterday."
The young and stylish Mr. and Mrs. Beard brought tonsorial change to their new town.
"They were beautiful and glamorous and friendly and colorful, and they had wild hair," Mrs. Conkling said. "Pretty soon the entire town and people from as far away as Boston were coming to have their hair cut at 210."
Mr. Beard created cuts and used unusual colors, "like nothing anybody one had ever seen" in the town, his sister said.
"When I went to visit him there, I couldn't believe it; I felt like I was in a movie," Mrs. Conkling said.
Many of the conservatively dressed people of Portsmouth "had green and pink hair and asymmetrical haircuts with shaved-out places," Mrs. Conkling said. "It was phenomenal."
In Portsmouth, Mr. Beard bought and restored some old homes and buildings.
"He sold them for a good deal of money and retired – he thought – at the age of 35," his sister said.
Mr. Beard returned to Texas, where that more widely known period of his life began.
The Beards bought and restored a home in Comanche, Texas, that became the base of their True West company.
True West became an international name after Mr. Beard contacted designer Ralph Lauren.
"Tyler called him and said, 'I've been in your stores, and I've seen your props. I can provide you with better stuff at no doubt better prices,' " his sister said. "Ralph Lauren said, 'OK, let's try it.' And that launched really an empire."
Mr. Beard began to sell items of Western heritage and clothing to customers in Europe, Japan and across the U.S.
"Ralph Lauren and Euro Disney were his biggest clients," Mrs. Conkling said. "He had people flying into the ranch from Japan and Germany."
Mr. Beard became known as an authority on Western wear and heritage, and he wrote several books on cowboy boots and one on life in Texas.
"He sort of did it all," Mrs. Conkling said.
In addition to being creative and original, Mr. Beard was obsessively neat and orderly.
"We used to tease him that he was very Monk-ish," his sister said, referring to the compulsive television detective Adrian Monk. "He was like that; he would straighten pictures and things like that. He was totally organized."
Mr. Beard was constantly reinventing himself, his sister said.
He had retired from the Western business about five years ago.
"He would change his appearance, he would legally change his name, he would create a whole new persona and launch into that," Mrs. Conkling said.
He had been a musician, a painter and loved to travel.
Mr. Beard also had an amazing capacity to compile a huge collection – the best of the best of something – then wake up one morning and divest himself of the items, his sister said.
Mr. Beard lived in Santa Fe, N.M., after his wife's death and returned to Dallas in June to be near his family, especially his cousin and best friend, David Slack.
In addition to his sister, Mr. Beard is survived by his mother, Betty Beard of Granbury.
Mr. Beard requested no funeral service. Family and friends will gather for a celebration of his life at a future date.
