Tanya Taylor shows a sweetly retro vibe at NYFW (and has the MoMA’s first ever fashion show)

By Frances McInnis | September 11, 2012

By Frances McInnis | 09/11/2012

Toronto-born womenswear designer Tanya Taylor generated a lot of hype after her first presentation in New York last February (she now counts both Rashida Jones and the New York Times as fans). So it was no surprise that her second show, at the Museum of Modern Art, was packed (it was also the first time a fashion show had ever been held at the MoMA—Taylor had to keep calling the museum for months to secure the space). Her new collection draws inspiration from the vacation wear of the 1960s, with reimagined hibiscus prints and flirty bustier crop tops, all styled by fellow Torontonian Natasha Royt.

Taylor’s own wedding will be in Barbados next spring, at the famed Sandy Lane Hotel, and it was while looking through the resort’s archives that she began to imagine what a sophisticated woman vacationing there circa 1962 might covet. The resulting looks are eminently wearable—we especially like her A-line dresses with side cutouts (they show off some skin at the torso’s narrowest point). A pair of easy jackets in cheery colours and a pocketed full skirt also make us hope the winter will be short.