Tanya Taylor Pre-Fall 2023 Collection
It would be going too far to say that pre-season collections are sequels to the main season ones, but generally speaking, they lean heavily toward the continuation and building upon existing ideas, while adding a bit of something new. Such was the case at Tanya Taylor. She knows that it just makes sense for her customer, who comes to her because they know they’ll find pretty printed or knitted dresses, no matter their size. (Kudos to the designer for her focus on inclusivity.)
Some of the curvy shapes of last season’s separates were streamlined for resort; see a black-edged floral organza bralette top and skirt. There were innovations in knitwear, too: ripple edges added a feminine touch, and the designer worked on the idea of “almost replacing smocking with knitwear.” She continued, “It’s interesting thinking of how we can have these really detailed ribs that give that femininity and flutter, and still fit the body in a way that women are really wanting right now.”
Stretch fabrics used alone, as in a comfortable but body-supporting scuba-crepe draped dress, or in combination with a woven, contributed to creating an easy-breezy resort feeling. Ditto the polka dots and the signature florals. A painter, Taylor creates her own patterns, and this season she experimented with digital drawing after taking a CFDA-offered course. “I went to Washington Square Park and started making all the prints and I felt like I was a student again,” she explained. “There’s something kind of fresh about thinking of two colors coming together in really vibrant ways, like cinnamon and turquoise. It felt a little more like abstract flowers, less detailed—I really wanted it to just be about color.”
Taylor achieved that goal in the color blocked dress that closes the lookbook, a blue and pink column sliced asymmetrically with some float in the skirt. It’s unusual, but welcome, to see such clean, graphic lines from the designer, which perhaps we’ll see more of. “I started a new process for fall for how to think about color and outfits,” Taylor explained. “On my iPad, I just start to put three colors in strokes and say, ‘Okay, this is going to be our coat, this is going to be our pant,’ pre-styling things through a color lens.”
