Why Real Women Lead the Conversation for This Designer
Meet Tanya Taylor, “a strong and optimistic woman, designing for strong and optimistic women.” She’s the creative force behind her namesake label, favored by Michelle Obama, Olivia Munn, and Emily Blunt to name a few, and she’s not only taking time to understand what her audience wants to wear, she’s delivering on it. In an industry that can feel exclusive and unattainable for many females, Tanya Taylor collections deliver pieces that can be incorporated into any woman’s wardrobe—no matter her size, background, or day-to-day. Here’s how she’s making sure of it.
Photo courtesy of @TANYATAYLOR
Photo courtesy of @TANYATAYLOR
You shared earlier this season that your SS19 collection was about “about real women, real dressing.” Who is she?
Our customer is a real woman. She has a job, she travels, she has an active social life and most importantly she has passion and seeks purpose in everything she does. She has a point of view and she is fearless about what she wears. She never wants to be the loudest in the room but always want to be heard and seen. We focused the Spring ’19 collection around styles that are practical and comfortable for everyday while still being bold in color and print. Our real woman is dressing for her everyday but still wants to be playful and stand out.
You also chose not to do a runway show for NYFW—what happened instead, and what was the inspiration behind your decision?
We brought together a group of women across industries, ages and ethnicities that represent how dynamic and diverse the Tanya Taylor woman is. We wanted to use fashion week to connect with our customer and show them that we understand who they are. We have always had real women on our mood boards and have used real feedback in our design process so we wanted to highlight that to our customer.
What are the reoccurring challenges women face when it comes to dressing, and how do you try to address those problems in your designs?
The challenge is in creating styles that work for many body types. The options are really limited. That’s why you often hear that shoppers have a specific brand that “fits them the best”. It’s our goal to have pieces that work for everyone so we really focus on getting our fit right. We use fit models in different sizes to ensure consistency across our size range. We also try to make shopping easier for our customer by showing models of different sizes across our website and social media so she can see fit.
Have you found that certain styles work best for specific body types? How about colors?
Long sleeve and short hem work for everyone…so does a short soft sleeve with a midi length hem. No matter the shape our girl always loves a flirty neckline and a balance between sharp with feminine. Getting feedback from fit models, customers, our team, friends and family has really helped us identify what works and what real women want to wear.
A way to get into color is to choose one place to experiment and from there get more comfortable with playing. We consider scale of prints when mixing. A graphic or stripe mixes well with a floral. We also like mixing micro and macro prints together.
Some of the famous faces that don Tanya Taylor designs!
What do you discuss with a woman before designing for her? What does that process look like?
We talk to her about what shapes make HER feel the most beautiful and what makes sense for where she is going. We made a custom look for Aidy Bryant at the Emmy Awards this year – she had to be in the look all day. It needed to be lightweight, surprising and playful. We wanted her dress to look like candy.
How have you seen the industry develop in terms of inclusivity since you entered the fashion world?
It has absolutely changed with 11 Honore and Nordstrom leading the conversation. Inclusivity is a new important language or marketing and social media. We put so much emphasis on inclusivity because the visual language for inclusivity is the first way to understand the morals of a brand, and this is something at the forefront of what we stand for.
Who are some women you love seeing in your designs?
Our team’s favorite is when we pass women on the street wearing our designs. We have coined it as #TTinthewild and we quickly share photos as soon as we spot someone in a TT look. The personalized style of our customer inspired our design process. People wear our dresses with sneakers riding over the Brooklyn Bridge, others layer T shirts underneath dresses and pair with platform heels to go to a party. The different personality everyone brings to wearing our collection is what we are most proud of. The clothes don’t wear them – they very much wear the clothes. We love seeing women love and project power through our styles. Some celebrities that have worn us that we love are Michelle Obama, Aidy Bryant, Olivia Munn, Emily Blunt, Chrissy Metz, Beyonce and Sandra Bullock.