Vibrant and Inclusive: Tanya Taylor

“The fashion girl’s answer to Lilly Pulitzer” is how Sarah Spellings (2019) of The Cut describes the Tanya Taylor brand. Known for her colorful printed dresses, Tanya Taylor breathes life in each and every one of her unique designs. She also adds the vibrance with a meticulous eye, as she and her team hand-paint the prints that are consequently turned into textiles.

To get an idea on how the prints are conceived, watch the following video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVgpbpSpYhw

Another commendable aspect of the brand is the fact that Taylor introduced inclusive sizing (up to size 22) in 2017, after designing a dress for Aidy Bryant of Saturday Night Live. According to Biondi (2019), "The cost of producing a plus-size range – from increased fabric yield, new base patterns, extra samples and hiring new fit models – is relatively surmountable." However, Taylor admits that it actually did not require a lot of extra money or time. Additionally, by adding plus sizes, the Tanya Taylor brand has increased 12 per cent in overall wholesale and the new sizes represent 20 per cent of the brand’s e-commerce inventory (Biondi, 2019).

In 2014, “the Toronto native scored a finalist spot” in the extremely prestitigous “CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund competition” (Anderson, 2014). Another way Tanya Taylor began to gain attention was when Michelle Obama wore “her rainbow scroll cocktail dress from the spring 2014 collection at a naturalization ceremony” (Anderson, 2014).

The overall mood of the brand is vibrant. From loud colors to whimsical patterns, a Tanya Taylor dress is certainly iconic. In fact, “it’s as though Taylor collaborated first with Jackie Kennedy but then invited Marilyn Monroe to add the punctuation marks” (Anderson, 2014).

Mary Kate Donahue, 2019.

In the words of designer Tanya Taylor in her recent interview with Catherine Rampbell of PBS, "People wear us to be happy."

---

References

Anderson, M. (2014, September 10). Designer Tanya Taylor is making a major fashion statement. Retrieved from https://nypost.com.

Biondi, A. (2019, March 7). The payoffs of plus-size. Retrieved from https://www.voguebusiness.com.

Rampbell C. (2019, October 24). How big data became a silent colleague for artists and designers. Retrieved https://www.pbs.org.

Spellings, S. (2019, June 3). The Designer Who Embodies Summer Style. Retrieved from https://www.thecut.com.