THE INDIVIDUALIST
Taylor Hill keeps his look long, lean and fiercely his own
“Self-conscious” is how Taylor Hill describes his signature aesthetic. For the Young Empires drummer, performance and presentation go hand in hand. Hill has had a marked interest in fashion since he started playing in bands in his late teens, but his attachment to style as an expression of individuality actually predates his musical experiments. “Once, in Grade 7, my mom took me to the Gap for my birthday,” he recalls with a sigh. “She made me buy all this stuff, and I refused to wear any of it. Even then, it drove me crazy when I saw someone in the same shirt as me.” In the past, Hill pledged allegiance to all things Saint Laurent; these days, his sartorial self-expression involves classic looks inspired by Steve McQueen, though he allows that, at six foot five, clothes invariably look different on him than they do when sported by not-quite-so-vertical clotheshorses. “It’s a little harder to make things look good when you’re basically standing on stilts,” he says.
His Current Obsessions
Common Projects sneakers
“You can pretty much do anything in them and get away with it.”
Garrett Leight sunglasses
“They’re a lighter silhouette and a classic look. I wear them every day.”
Real McCoys jacket
“It’s good, because it’s not too dressy, and it’s not, like, a ‘leather jacket,’ which has kind of been overdone.”
YSL Wyatt Chelsea boots
“I love how rock star they are. I just can’t get enough of them.”
More Best Dressed
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/style/torontos-stylish-taylor-hill/&title=Toronto’s most stylish: Taylor Hill&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/hill_opener2.jpg&description=“Self-conscious” is how Taylor Hill describes his signature aesthetic. For the Young Empires drummer, performance and presentation go hand in hand. Hill has had a marked interest in fashion since he started playing in bands in his late teens, but his attachment to style as an expression of individuality actually predates his musical experiments. “Once, in Grade 7, my mom took me to the Gap for my birthday,” he recalls with a sigh. “She made me buy all this stuff, and I refused to wear any of it. Even then, it drove me crazy when I saw someone in the same shirt as me.” In the past, Hill pledged allegiance to all things Saint Laurent; these days, his sartorial self-expression involves classic looks inspired by Steve McQueen, though he allows that, at six foot five, clothes invariably look different on him than they do when sported by not-quite-so-vertical clotheshorses. “It’s a little harder to make things look good when you’re basically standing on stilts,” he says.
His Current Obsessions
Common Projects sneakers
“You can pretty much do anything in them and get away with it.”
Garrett Leight sunglasses
“They’re a lighter silhouette and a classic look. I wear them every day.”
Real McCoys jacket
“It’s good, because it’s not too dressy, and it’s not, like, a ‘leather jacket,’ which has kind of been overdone.”
YSL Wyatt Chelsea boots
“I love how rock star they are. I just can’t get enough of them.”
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