I spent the day with Tanya Taylor just days before her big spring/summer 2015 show. We started off the day in Tanya’s apartment, which is in the penthouse of a gorgeous renovated church—original architecture and stained glass windows still in tact—and then stuck by her side for all of her day-to-day activities.
I met Tanya’s adorable cat, Oscar, whom she dances with in the bathroom every morning, walked with her to her favorite oatmeal shop, and landed at her gorgeous showroom where I sat in on a fitting and had a quick chat with Tanya. Read on to see how one of New York’s newest, hottest designers spends her day.Getting Ready for Work
“The first thing I do is dance in the bathroom with my cat nearby, wash my face, and check my Instagram. I always apply a lipstick in the morning because I’m not a big makeup girl, but I do love a bright pop of color.”
Picking Out an Outfit
“I get dressed quickly; I only take about 20 minutes to get ready. Picking out my outfit in the morning is very much based on my mood. I want to be more of experimental lately so I’ll go into my closet and find a dress from five years ago and figure out if that shape feels fun now. I like picking out things that aren’t so new and figuring out how to make them relevant now. Overall, I would describe my style as eclectic, colorful, and very feminine.”
Selecting Shoes
“I’m usually a flats kind of girl for day but I’m a heels girl at night. If you took me dancing and I was wearing flats, I’d feel extremely uncomfortable.”
Walking to Work
“I walk to work each morning.
But I also tend to have Uber on hands at all times.”Stopping for Breakfast
“Each morning before work I stop at my favorite oatmeal shop. I love it because the woman who owns it used to work at Goldman Sachs, and one day she just realized that she really loved oatmeal, so she opened up a shop.”
Tanya’s Handbag Essentials
“I always carry around my headphones and my iPhone. But I never have my keys, and I rarely remember my ID and credit card. I’m super basic and most of the time unprepared.”
Making the Seating Chart
“Doing the seating chart is one my favorite things about the show. It’s fun and it feels so real. When I get RSVPs, I get so excited that people are coming to the show, it’s fun placing the personalities—like who might not know each other but will get along. I love hosting dinner parties, so it’s very similar to that—it’s like trying to match people and really figure out the best cohesive group to make the experience the best.”
Styling the Show (and a Last-Minute Fitting)
“I think my favorite part is the styling of the show because you really get to see everything come together. It feels so real, because the clothes on the rack are beautiful but I love being able to have a girl for an entire day trying on all the looks.”
Combing Through the Collection
“I start the collection months and months in advance. My favorite thing to do is to walk around New York City and collect imagery and take photos–I collect buckets and buckets of imagery. That’s how my mood board begins. It’s really about which images jump out to me and why, how can fabrics relate to them and what’s the color story.”
To tune out of the work day, which usually ends around 8:30pm for Tanya, the designer tries to meet up with friends after work or she hangs with her husband on their outdoor patio with a bottle of wine and just “chills out.” At the end of the day, Tanya tells me that she binge watches TV with a face mask on. She recently watched Breaking Bad: “I’m two years late, I know,” she admits while also fessing up to watching Bravo‘s Real Housewives.
But where can we find Tanya during her big runway show? “Right behind the white wall, staring at the scene. I’m extremely nervous but very, very excited.”
For more from Tanya, follow her @TanyaTaylorNYC.
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