Rebecca Taylor (born September 5, 1969) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

-born

fashion designer Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, United States. Her retail outlets include

boutique A boutique () is a small shop that deals in fashionable clothing or accessories. The word is French for "shop", which derives ultimately from the Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (''apothēkē'') "storehouse". The term ''boutique'' and also ''d ...

s in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Her company was reported in 2003 as having a US$12 million turnover. Taylor's garments have been worn by celebrities such as

Cameron Diaz Cameron Michelle Diaz (born August 30, 1972) is an American actress. With a variety of works in film, she is widely recognised for her work in romantic comedies and animation. Diaz has received various accolades, including nominations for ...

Reese Witherspoon Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, she ...

, and the cast of 90210 and

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City (newspaper column), newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the ...

Background

, Taylor attended Wellington High School. She received her initial fashion training as part of Access, a government scheme, training at the Bowerman School of Design. She then went on to study Fashion Design at Wellington Polytechnic (now

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

). One of her first jobs on the scheme was making clothes for

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...

's ''

Meet the Feebles ''Meet the Feebles'' (also known as ''Frogs of War'' in New Zealand as the film's English fake working title) is a 1989 New Zealand puppet musical black comedy film directed by Peter Jackson, and written by Jackson, Fran Walsh, Stephen Sinclair ...

''’ puppet characters. After arriving in New York with $600 to her name, Taylor was eventually hired by fashion designer

Cynthia Rowley Cynthia Rowley (born July 29, 1958) is an American fashion designer based in the Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Early life and education Rowley is a native of Barrington, Illinois a northwestern suburb of Chicago. She is one of three ...

, under whom she worked for six years. She débuted at

New York Fashion Week New York Fashion Week (NYFW), held in February and September of each year, is a semi-annual series of events in Manhattan typically spanning 7–9 days when international fashion collections are shown to buyers, the press, and the general publ ...

as part of the Gen Art Styles competition in the late 1990s, before doing her own catwalk show in 1999. In 2007, Taylor was inducted into the

College of Creative Arts Hall of Fame. In 2018, Taylor announced a move to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

for a year.

Personal life

She is married to Wayne Pate, who was introduced to her via mutual friends. Her younger sister, Victoria Taylor, is a nationally known

jewellery Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a wester ...

designer in Wellington, New Zealand, and débuted her Tory Jewellery Company range at one of Rebecca Taylor's catwalk shows in New York.

Rebecca Taylor Brand

In January 2011, the Rebecca Taylor brand was acquired by

Kellwood Company Kellwood Apparel is an American apparel manufacturer. Founded in 1961, Kellwood's portfolio of Women's, Juniors and Girls apparel includes: Parker, Devlin, Briggs NY, Democracy, Jax, Rewind and My Michelle, as well as licensed brands. Kellwood be ...

and

Sun Capital Partners Sun Capital Partners, Inc., is an American private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyouts. Sun Capital was founded in 1995 by Marc J. Leder and Rodger Krouse, former classmates at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and ...

. In August 2019, Taylor stepped away from her company to pursue other fashion opportunities. In November 2019, Rebecca Taylor brand was acquired by Vince, a California-based contemporary label.

External links

*
Interview with Taylor
*

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Rebecca American fashion designers American women fashion designers New Zealand emigrants to the United States New Zealand fashion designers New Zealand women fashion designers 1969 births Living people 21st-century American women