Women's
You’ve Come A Long Way, Rebecca Taylor
Taylor, third from left, with models in her designs.
New Zealand-born designer Rebecca Taylor visited Dallas to present her girly, Seventies-infused spring and summer collections at Neiman Marcus NorthPark. NMdaily sat down with the warm and chatty Kiwi to discuss the inspiration for her collections and embracing the feminine. Throngs of women roamed the floor in Taylor’s signature flowing dresses. The gracious designer even signed a copy of the coffee-table book, American Fashion Designers at Home, which features her and her young family in their stylish New York apartment.
NM: What was your inspiration for your spring/summer collection?
RT: I really love that concept of the Charlie girl from the Seventies. She’s not a hippie, not bohemian; she’s very stylish and confident and career-oriented and sexy and smart. It was really the beginning of women’s lib and that’s what I grew up with… All my cousins were like that, my mum was like that. The flared trousers, the high waisted pants, the silk blouses, the gold hoop earrings.NM: What are your favorite pieces from the collection?
RT: That’s like asking a mother to pick their favorite child! I like what I’m wearing today, it really is one of my favorite pieces. The drawstring skirt really sums up the versatility and it has a real Seventies vibe. You can wear it with little Seventies sandals or knee high boots and a cashmere sweater. So, it’s a little bit the ‘Eyes of Laura Mars’ type feeling. All our clothes are very functional, so it has an elastic waist that’s also very comfortable.
NM: How would you describe the Rebecca Taylor woman?
RT: As you can see she’s really varied. She’s really not afraid of her femininity, which I think is lovely. Because I think a lot of emphasis now in fashion is on this kind of New York, downtown, street style. I feel a little bit of that is good, but I think it’s nice to mix that in with feminine dresses and things. I think that is very chic.
NM: You are originally from New Zealand but now based in New York. How would you say that has influenced your style?
RT: I’ve been in New York for 20 years, but I don’t think it has influenced my style. I am so unique in New York, and what we do is so unlike what the other New York designers do, really. We are known for our femininity, which is almost a dirty word in New York. They say things like “unapologetically feminine” when they describe us. But why would you apologize for being feminine? I use a lot of color. I use a lot of print. It’s optimistic clothing. Of course I love the New York designers too, I wear Helmut Lang and Rag & Bone. I like to have a mixture and not do it too seriously in one direction. But I was really influenced by my mum who made all our clothes growing up—Seventies patchwork dresses, broderie anglais, white cotton eyelet, pintucks. I was like the hippie girl at first communion with the white cotton dress, the square cotton veil for crying out loud, and the clogs. All the other girls had on white patent tap shoes and lacy, puffy frocks with flowers. I love my mum for it now and I get it that she was really fashionable. She made all our outfits. Denim pinafores, denim shirts—she made the whole thing—my brother’s shirts, my dad’s suits. She had four children very close in age, and she would put herself in the playpen with a sewing machine while we ran around.
NM: Did your mother teach you to sew?
RT: She didn’t, I learned to sew in my twenties. I didn’t find out what I really wanted to do until later, well after I dropped out of high school. I was on unemployment, worked as a cleaning lady, and did a lot of finding myself until I found myself into a program for unemployed people and they said you had to do something, you can’t just take the money. So I asked what are the options and they said electrical engineering, construction, or costume design. So I said right, costume design, I‘ll do that work. And one thing led to another. I have been very fortunate.
NM: So how did you end up in New York?
RT: I finally went to a design school in New Zealand, a modest design school that taught me everything. I’m actually a trained pattern maker before I’m a designer, really. It’s very useful and I make all of our patterns. So I got a student-exchange visa and then went with my boyfriend at the time, who said “I’m going too.” We took a backpack, literally, and arrived with $600 at 22 years old. It was great, but I wouldn’t do it again.
NM: Could you describe the lifestyle or the setting you imagine the Rebecca Taylor woman in as you design?
RT: I would love to be more articulate in this, but there are so many deliveries—we ship 12 months a year now—and you very rarely get time to stop and think about it. But I often think a lot of the south of France. I spent a summer there with my auntie who was a ballerina. For me she was the quintessential girl in the south of France—an elegant, natural beauty.
