Speaker 1: Welcome back to another episode of Excuse My Grandma. It's Kim and my cohost.
Speaker 2: Grandma Gail.
Speaker 1: So we have a lot of opinions about fashion on Excuse My Grandma, which is why we had to bring in the pro. Tanya Taylor, founder of Tanya Taylor, a brand that I am wearing right now and wear all the time.
Speaker 2: Yes. You do. I look beautiful in it, by the way.
Speaker 1: Oh, it's it's so flattering. Like, it just makes you feel like your best self all the time. She launched her namesake brand in 2012 at 25 and has since dressed Michelle Obama, Beyonce, Kristen Wiig, Tracy Ellis Ross. I could go on. And then she also recently launched her other brand, Delphine, which I wanna get into.
I love having multiple generations on the pod. She brought her mom today. Yay. And multiple generations of entrepreneurs. This is so exciting.
So welcome, ladies. You.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 4: Thanks for having us. We love it. This is the
Speaker 1: first podcast you've done together.
Speaker 4: Oh, definitely.
Speaker 3: It's the first one I've ever done.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So You get used
Speaker 2: to it. You're gonna get addicted. You'll be here all the time.
Speaker 3: Is that right? Okay. I'm on. You will.
Speaker 4: Have you
Speaker 1: got addicted, grandma?
Speaker 2: Yeah. I sort of like Sometimes I'm it's more fun than others because I give my absolute opinion, but today, I love to have somebody my own contemporary or a little younger than I on the podcast. It gives a better perspective Yeah. To you young people.
Speaker 4: Well, fashion through different generations. Correct. They're just
Speaker 3: fun to talk about. Right.
Speaker 1: True. So okay. Going to the beginning, Tanya, you launched the brand at 25. I actually launched, excuse my grandma, at 25.
Speaker 2: Oh. Quarter of a century, hon.
Speaker 1: Yes. And I feel like it's obviously in hindsight, like, to create your own brand. At the time, did you feel like you were novice? Or like, did you feel like you knew what you were doing?
Speaker 4: No. I don't think I ever knew what I was doing. And I don't think I do now. Like, I grew up in Toronto. There wasn't a fashion industry there.
I was definitely surrounded by incredible entrepreneurs like my mom and my aunts and my grandfather. So I knew what it looked like to enjoy starting a business. But I think you're so naive at 25 that it's almost to the what's good for you. Like, you have the courage because you're naive. You're not scared of what the problems might be because you don't know what they Yeah.
Curious too. Yeah. Totally. And so you just have this like bold kind of point of view of like, I'm gonna try something. I'm gonna have a message that's different to share.
And I have the family that's gonna support me and feel like I'm gonna give it a go. And I think that's probably like, you might not have started it when you're older. So it's, like, the right age.
Speaker 1: Right. What was it like watching your daughter go through this process?
Speaker 3: A little bit scary, actually. I I know we're a business family, so we've always been creating businesses and building businesses. But then to to have my daughter announce to the many generations that fashion was her passion, which is really And we all yes. But we all stood there in it from a gas and oil and communications and everything, and we're going, what?
Speaker 4: And my my her grandfather's
Speaker 3: saying, Virginia, what does she mean fashion? What's her passion? I said, well, dad, she has an economics degree from McGill. She is sounded and grounded. Don't worry.
You always said, go find your passion, and it will never be a day's work. It will be just play. Yeah. So, dad, we gotta let her do it. But maybe she's coming back to the fold, but maybe not.
Mhmm. It's a risk.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: We went to make remember, we went to Toronto recently. Oh, we passed it. Well, of course, we went to visit Miguel. We saw Miguel. Yes.
Yes, we did. In the beautiful park right across the street. And we were up there on a project for the Marriott. Yeah. It had just reopened, and it's a beautiful city.
Yeah. And we went to the wonderful museum.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And we were there where there was a
Speaker 2: graphic show on a lot of the buildings. They had a lot of graffiti was going on the on the buildings. Know, remember, you've blocked it out.
Speaker 1: I just say, I'm sorry. It was mon we went to Montreal.
Speaker 4: Montreal. That's absolutely right. That's Miguel. That's right. Miguel, though.
Speaker 2: Miguel. But I have
Speaker 1: been I'm sorry. You're absolutely right. I excuse me. Take it back.
Speaker 2: I have been to Toronto many times. You have not. We were in Montreal together.
Speaker 4: You're right. But Montreal is an amazing city. Yes. It's it's the most fashionable city in Canada.
Speaker 2: Yes. Great restaurants.
Speaker 3: Great restaurants. Great restaurants.
Speaker 4: Met my husband there. Yeah. A romantic city.
Speaker 2: Oh, it is. It's a beautiful city.
Speaker 4: We met in college. So we both went to McGill University, and he knocked on my door. He was the new boy on the floor in the residence. And we became friends at first, but I just kinda knew when we first met. And you knew too when you met him the first You were like, that boy's different.
Like, that's a good match for you.
Speaker 2: Now are you in business? Is he at all involved in your in the business? No.
Speaker 4: He runs a media company.
Speaker 2: Oh, good for him.
Speaker 4: Yes. He's he's in a totally different field, but like also an entrepreneur. So really interesting that he can kinda come home and talk about entrepreneurship a lot.
Speaker 1: Right. So grandpa was the skeptic in the family at first. Skeptic.
Speaker 2: He probably thought she'd go into a more traditional
Speaker 4: Yeah. Exactly.
Speaker 3: Or take over
Speaker 4: his family business.
Speaker 3: Exactly. Come on in.
Speaker 2: You You had other choices. And you chose this.
Speaker 3: And and I kept asking her, are you sure? Right. Because as, you know, you go through evolutions of business, whether you're selling, you're moving, you're merging. And I said, are you sure? Because I'm giving you one last chance before I pull the trigger or do something to mom, I'm fine.
Can we just stop at Burdaugh Gordon's? We need to get some shoes.
Speaker 1: Well Right. What I'll
Speaker 3: I'll go to. Yeah.
Speaker 4: That's what it's interesting And about fashion is it has always I've always wondered what drew me to it, and I think I've really realized in the last ten years that I do like I love people. And I think that designing and creating things is my way of getting to people.
Speaker 2: To meet people.
Speaker 4: And so it's it's a business at the end of the day that's very similar to how I grew up learning about the businesses you built with having a team that's your family, having your values be a part of what you create. But more so, I'm just, like, constantly inspired by all the new people we get to meet and that it's like a tool to kind of understand people more. Yeah.
Speaker 2: And it's basically geared because I've been in your shop on Madison. I went into I've looked at it. It's wonderful. Thank you. It's, I would say, geared for 20 40 year olds, would you would you say?
Speaker 4: You know what the coolest thing is about that Madison store is we have grandmothers and granddaughters and mothers coming in. It's very intergenerational. And we get these sales reports every day at 06:30PM, and it tells me about each person. Who's buying?
Speaker 2: Well, that's what I was interested.
Speaker 1: And, you know, for the first year and
Speaker 4: a half of having that store, we never put an age on the people buying things. And then in the last six months, I'm like, I'm really curious about age. Like, I feel like there's
Speaker 2: something who's the shopper?
Speaker 1: Why does someone named Kim come in every
Speaker 3: day. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I need to know who she is. But now we have it by age. Okay. And that gives me a whole different perspective on what products sell to which people. And we're we're it's really broad.
I'd say our main age range, so it's 35 to 45. Like, that's I would have guessed.
Speaker 3: I would
Speaker 2: have guessed that too. Mhmm.
Speaker 1: So then do you take that, like, analytics and business information, I guess? And does that ever affect your designs?
Speaker 4: Oh, yeah. Oh, on a daily basis. Like, the best part about our size of team, we have 40 people on our team, and having a flagship store in our backyard in New York. The best thing is that with that information every day, we're really reacting the next day. If everyone's loving green, well then we can Then
Speaker 2: push green.
Speaker 4: Track more green. Exactly. And it's nice to not be such a big company where that would take a while. Right. And there would be so many layers of decisions versus, like, the best thing about being a fun like, a fashion designer is saying, like, I can make that.
And so we love having retail stores.
Speaker 1: See, I love
Speaker 2: and I'm gonna comment this because Kimmy has it, but not done the same way. You have those same pants Yeah. And I love the way she's put it with the striped shirt. And see, that took Tanya to do it. You would've said, oh,
Speaker 4: I don't think I'm gonna
Speaker 1: put this striped with white
Speaker 3: with Exactly.
Speaker 4: Right. But it's so cool.
Speaker 2: No. But this is cool.
Speaker 4: Oh, thank you.
Speaker 2: And I love it.
Speaker 4: So And it's rainy outside of New York today. It's a weird day of like, what are you gonna wear? Right. So I feel like it felt comfortable.
Speaker 2: No. It's it's a great look. A very, very chic New York look.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Tanya, what's the best advice you think your mom has given you about business?
Speaker 4: Oh. I mean, her sense of resilience and perseverance is like the top of any human I've ever met. Like she has
Speaker 2: She's a Taurus. Yeah. So am I. There you go. My birthday last week.
Speaker 4: Oh, wow.
Speaker 2: Well, there you go. We stay with things.
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 4: That's exactly it. She actually, I think it would be around a theme of stay with it because you have an amazing way of saying put one foot in front of the other. And I've called her even in recent years and been like, oh my gosh. Today was so hard. She'll let me say that for twenty seconds.
Yeah. And then there's a really quick, okay. And now we're moving forward. And what are you gonna do differently tomorrow? And how are you gonna change your frame of mind?
Huge optimist. Like realist, but like also framing it in, don't get stuck in the puddle. So there's a sense of progress, a sense of momentum that you're always kind of encouraging me to find.
Speaker 2: Which is great. Yes. You need that. You need that support system behind you.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Quick interlude. Never thought you would be quoting, like, bringing in zodiacs. I know. I would be like, used to think that she would roll her eyes.
Now you're relating Oh, on I'm related.
Speaker 4: Love how
Speaker 3: you're relating. Taurus is no Taurus.
Speaker 1: So true. That's so
Speaker 2: true. We know a kindred spirit will
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 4: Oh. What's your sign?
Speaker 1: I'm a Pisces.
Speaker 4: Okay. I'm a Sagittarius.
Speaker 1: Okay. But I don't know enough about that.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I don't either, all those I
Speaker 1: know about my own.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I know. You really are a Pisces.
Speaker 3: Are you? I'm Okay.
Speaker 2: She's such a Pisces.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 1: Because it's, like, creative in your own little, like, world a little bit, daydreamy, very emotional, empathetic. Okay. And I'm I resonate.
Speaker 3: You know, we're pretty straight. I I know. Get on with it, girl.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Cut it out. Totally.
Speaker 4: Get alive. We've had enough.
Speaker 1: I wanna give you the same question. Is there anything Tanya has taught you about business by watching her run her company?
Speaker 3: Don't take it so seriously, I guess, on the reverse. You know, think Tauruses and or business people, certainly through the years that you had to fight to be a woman to be into business and being on those things, that we tend to be very perfectionists. And Tanya has break those shells of perfection, that it's okay to wear something like Right.
Speaker 2: To wear the white shirt.
Speaker 3: Exactly, but I'd have to wear the white shirts, you know? And Tanya sent me over seven outfits today. You look beautiful. Well, but thank you. And I'm cardi with an underpin, so there were a couple choices on that, but I said, no, no, you gotta do the all one color.
That's just in my head. I can't go with the multiple. So, for her, I think, oh, well, you know, that's a whole new view on life. And not to get take myself so seriously, maybe, and to understand the same values are there that underpin our lives, and that we respect the creativity. That's one thing that we grew up with doing all the time is we were not television people.
So, we were book readers and or Yeah. Creating
Speaker 4: we would do, like every weekend, we would spend eight to ten hours doing arts and crafts.
Speaker 3: Like paint walls.
Speaker 2: Love to craft. Yeah.
Speaker 4: And now I have two kids, and I realize they're so sporty. They're both boys. They're nine and six. And they all they wanna do hockey and soccer and tennis and golf. And I love doing that with them.
But lately, I've felt like, wait. Why do I feel like I'm missing something on the weekends? And it's because I'm used to going and doing paper mache for nine hours as a kid.
Speaker 2: You have to And maybe take up some needlepoint. Yeah. Well, I thought you saying with your hands that or knitting or something that you satisfy your own thing and chill But for the boys? Now they're gonna leave them alone.
Speaker 4: Leave them alone. Don't let them play the No. And and
Speaker 3: you're doing great.
Speaker 4: To do, like, little like woodworking. Oh, woodworking. They're starting to
Speaker 3: No. But you make you do that bake a cake
Speaker 4: do thing. Cake. Oh, do a lot
Speaker 3: of So they all make hockey pucks and cakes.
Speaker 4: You know, like, is a cake, that show that you show they oh, it's on Netflix. It's amazing. It's like
Speaker 2: Is it cake?
Speaker 3: Soccer ball.
Speaker 4: Yes. Is it cake? A soccer ball. We do that, and then we call friends and family, and we say, which one's real and which one's not. And generally, everyone can guess the real.
We're we're getting better. Yeah. And it's it's at least fun for them to, like, you know, use their hands or Mhmm.
Speaker 2: Sounds great.
Speaker 4: That's something I learned
Speaker 3: from you.
Speaker 1: Those moments and in those memories for you Yeah. That I feel like it's great to try to recreate that in your own home. Totally. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Absolutely enjoyable.
Speaker 3: Yeah. It's been good fun.
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask if you always were going to name the brand Tanya Taylor.
Speaker 4: My it's funny. My husband has asked me, like, in reflection, would I have called it Tanya Taylor? I think so. I think it's so personal. Like, it's been from the very beginning
Speaker 2: It's yours. Yeah.
Speaker 4: From the very beginning, I felt really confident making it a reflection of who I was. And so it just always felt natural that it would be called that. I never thought about giving it like a brand name. Like, never felt like it should feel like a brand. It should feel like a story, and it should feel like it's connecting to people like a person would.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 4: And so I I'm happy it's called that. It felt different to, like, have people call pick up the phone at your office and be like, hello. Welcome to Tarte Tiller. And you feel kinda disassociated with, like, your name. But, no, I'm I'm really I'm really happy with it.
Mhmm.
Speaker 1: If people critique the brand, which never happens, but it can be worse, do you feel like you take that
Speaker 4: even more personally because it's your name? At the beginning,
Speaker 3: for
Speaker 4: At the beginning Mom remembers.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, the first couple collections, you know, it's your art. Right. It's your expression.
And what? They didn't like it? Is Vogue gonna write the, you know, lovely Yeah. And that was hard. You know, it's like biting nails and, wow, I feel like I'm in a movie show and everybody's gonna come out with some saint to say about my daughter.
And she took it as to herself in the early years for sure. Until you get a little leather skin. You get
Speaker 2: a little tougher.
Speaker 4: I remember I used to have we used to do runway shows, and we used to do shows in Fashion Week when that was really
Speaker 2: When that was happening. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I would know that about five hours after that show, our Vogue review would go up. And I would go and lock myself in the bathroom Yeah. And I would read Hold
Speaker 2: your breath.
Speaker 4: And I'd read it over and over. And I would spin into, like, what do they really mean by that? And I it was not a good thing. No. I was too young.
It was too much public kind of feedback when you hadn't figured out who you were. I we get a Vogue review now. I may read it the next day.
Speaker 2: Right. Like, I Well, it's also not as consequential. No. It really isn't. You know, I grew up in a fashion family, and that women's wear daily panned your collection, your season was over.
That no longer happens because everything is online. The public is your critic. Absolutely. It's no longer the three people sitting inside of whatever magazine that you're depending on to read. So it's a very I think it's a much more it's on meritocracy more than on who somebody likes or whatever.
One person's individual take. Yeah. I mean, you know, I watched that Met Gala the other night. I mean, please. I mean, that could be over as far as I'm concerned.
I know. So, you know, but that's and that was my opinion last year. Now it's even more reaffirmed. You know, it's over. It's a moment in time that should move on.
Just very much like a lot of other things that we have. You know, you have to move forward. There's a new world out there. Totally.
Speaker 1: Well, and I think your barometer of success is different. Like, I wanna see someone go into a
Speaker 4: change room, try and address, and feel really great in it.
Speaker 1: Right. That is success to me. And if they don't feel great,
Speaker 4: I wanna fix that. And so it's nice that it's been kind of re centered around the customer and less about the industry. So I don't take it that personally
Speaker 3: at all.
Speaker 2: No, I think you're right. And it's better for your mind and better for your health because the customer likes it, that's all that's important. They're gonna come back. And I also think that's
Speaker 4: the same relationship with like Instagram. Like, think back in the day, you would really evaluate yourself through the number of likes and followers. And now, I know that there's it's so arbitrary. Like, I know that you don't have control over all those things. So as long as you like the content you're putting out and you think that you did your best job, then that's that's kind of how we evaluate if it works
Speaker 3: or not. Right? Yeah. Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Good job, Kim. Are you gonna ask about the new line? What the new line?
Speaker 1: Yes. No.
Speaker 2: I'm curious. Because Tanya Taylor was the was the original Yes. Which I think is fabulous. So what made you come into a second
Speaker 4: right now? So I I have a really I like going out. I've always had, like, a really I I kinda come alive at night more. I and my mom's an amazing entertainer. I grew up with great parties at home and, like, tablescapes and just this sense of, like, kind of theatrics Right.
Around, like, how you entertain. And I've always felt like I wanted to get really great at contemporary fashion and build a brand that could be supportive of a team and grow quickly and, you know, be a bigger brand. But I always had this itch to develop something that was more vintage inspired, glamorous, fun, dramatic. Mhmm. And so it was really interesting.
It kinda came about two years ago now where very quickly I was like, what if we created a whole other brand that could have its own personality? It's really fun for marketing. Like, it's interesting for me. I'm 40 now to say, I know how to describe and have a tone of voice around our Tanya Taylor brand, but let's have some fun and be a little bit kookier and more playful with this other younger, like, character. And our team has a blast with it.
Like, we've developed who she is. And I think what's been interesting is she's my alter ego. Her name's Delphine, and that's what I my friends call me when I wanna stay out late at night. But
Speaker 1: How did that happen? How did they start calling you that?
Speaker 4: So when I was at McGill, I wanted to apply to go to school at Parsons. And for the application, I had to create a mood board of who my muse would be if I was a fashion designer. Right. And I actually took Tory Burch's head, and I put it on Bianca Jagger's body. And I said, this would be my muse, and her name is Delphine Pratt.
And Pratt is my husband's last name. And we were broken up at the time. So I was, like, deeply manifesting the fact
Speaker 1: that I
Speaker 4: was no. Gonna be like, the coolest girl in New York. We were gonna get married.
Speaker 3: You have to.
Speaker 4: Name Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Like I was like, this is gonna be my life.
And then when I was thinking about a brand name, again, I needed it to be personal. And I needed it to have some connection to, like, memory and what, you know, that person it means to me. But it has been
Speaker 1: what my husband and my friends have called me So fun.
Speaker 3: For years.
Speaker 4: Like It's so cool. We're on a dance floor, and they're like, oh god, when is she gonna leave? And I was like like, Delphine, come on.
Speaker 3: We gotta go. We're gonna be at hometown.
Speaker 1: And So Delphine's like a party animal, like, stays out late. Like, what else is she?
Speaker 4: I think she's she's very bold, curious, single. Mhmm. You know, definitely toys with boys. Right. Like, she's just but she also dresses really confidently, and she loves the eighties.
She loves, like, fun volumes, and she likes evening wear.
Speaker 2: So is that gonna go into your into your retail stores as a separate line, or are you gonna create a whole different store for that particular line? It's a
Speaker 4: really good question. I think we have we have a lot of people that want it to be its own store. For where we are right now, we have it sprinkled in our store. And we have customers come in just asking for Delfines. Great.
Because they're hearing about it. We sell in Moda Operandi and Kirin Isabet. And so those are our two main retailers. Right. And they hear about it, they come in, and they try it, and they have a different customer base.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 4: So I think going forward, it'd be so fun to think of, like, what does Delphine's world look like that is a little naughtier and different and separate. But for right now, they're kind of friends.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Wait. Virginia, have you met Delphine real life?
Speaker 3: Yes. I have. What was your reaction? And I've taken her home.
Speaker 4: So good. She hosted my bachelorette party, so I would say Delphine was on full force
Speaker 3: In Barbados.
Speaker 4: In
Speaker 3: In Barbados. Okay. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's so fun. Oh my god.
Speaker 2: Love it.
Speaker 4: You have a you are a Delphine too. I would say, like, there's a shared
Speaker 3: Well, I think everybody has Every that. Delphine in them.
Speaker 2: Delphine in them. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Like, we have a tradition on New Year's Eve that we often in our, like, amazing evening gowns will jump into the pool at midnight. And that's like a very Delfin move.
Speaker 3: Right. So
Speaker 1: funny. Is there any inspiration you've gotten from your mom or your, like, your grandma when it comes to fashion or even, like, a piece they've passed down to you?
Speaker 4: So many. You guys had such epic, like, eighties fashion, specifically the sweaters, I think, have been memorable to me of just how wild, like, there would always be like a cheetah with, you know You
Speaker 1: had that kind of stuff. Right?
Speaker 2: Well, yeah. But that was the moment.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I that moment. You've kept a lot of your handbags and shoes, and grandma had a great sense of color. Like, she always wore cardigan sets and these amazing colors.
Speaker 3: And beautiful suits. She had Beautiful suits. Her our my mom passed just only a year ago. And so when you're going through a lot of her clothes in various locations, and I was in Florida and I'm looking through these suits and things, and I thought, you know, I better call Tanya because they're very vintage Right. For
Speaker 2: be wearing them.
Speaker 3: Exactly. And so, Tanya says, Mom, send me a video. And so, I'm describing as I'm going through, and then I do the same in Toronto. Mom, those are amazing suits. I said, They really are.
And I actually don't remember my mom when she always wore all these different ones. Obviously She kept style. She had the occasions, and that was wonderful.
Speaker 4: She had a bold sense of style. Oh, very much. Even since she passed her jewelry that you've like
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
Speaker 4: She wore these like she would go she would get them custom made in Palm Beach. And they were these like
Speaker 3: West Palm.
Speaker 4: Epic, crazy, like, chunky, kinda cool, with pearls,
Speaker 3: and like It was very cool.
Speaker 4: That style. And I thought that was so cool to see, like, just what she chose when she could custom design something, and how, like, strong of an aesthetic. This is definitely in your blood. And and my grandma sewed all your clothes.
Speaker 3: Well, we all sewed. So, you know, I always say to people, and I is that I never had a Botton dress until I was 23 years old.
Speaker 2: Bless you.
Speaker 3: And so, I made all my own clothes, and my mother knitted, so we all sewed, and my sister as well. And Tanya, you know, in brownies, she had to get her brownie sewing badge, and she really didn't wanna do it, but we all didn't understand why not. Just sit there and do the lines, Tanya, and you'll get your badge. So we
Speaker 2: used to all do that. It's so fascinating. That's a skill that they've lost in schools. I know. Because we all did it.
We had classes in sewing. We had classes in woodwork.
Speaker 1: I definitely thought.
Speaker 2: No, no, no. You were long gone. Even your mother didn't as well. But I grew up in a school where you had to learn how to sew, how to repair a bench, how to do vocational skills that serve you well into whatever career you're having. It's always good.
You can't sew a button on, you bring it to me. I mean, you know, We try to you know?
Speaker 1: Because why would I learn when I could just bring it to Well,
Speaker 4: that's bummer.
Speaker 2: One day grandma won't be around. Hopefully, will be. But anyway but it is a skill, and it it's a wonderful skill to calm us down.
Speaker 4: I know. I wish they still had that. Our son actually has woodworking at school.
Speaker 2: Which I think is terrific. They do.
Speaker 4: It's terrific. He did like a little car this semester. And I just think that's like those are life skills that are Well, really great to
Speaker 3: Sawyer wanted what did he want for his birthday last year? And he turned five. And and I said, what do you what can grandma get you for your birthday? Grandma, I want a sewing machine. I said, oh, okay.
So what color? Red. Okay.
Speaker 1: That's so cute.
Speaker 3: That's fine. Yeah. Leave it with me. And in came the sews pillows. He needs
Speaker 4: nonstop pillows. Yeah. This is
Speaker 3: like Better thing.
Speaker 4: Yeah. But it's so cute.
Speaker 3: Oh, he's so cute. Yeah.
Speaker 4: That's so I think sub like, subconsciously, like, I never really know if my kids know what I do. But then when he starts making blows, I'm like, wow. I'm like, you know what
Speaker 1: I do. The showroom. Yeah. How has motherhood changed the way you design?
Speaker 4: I think when I for me, when I became a mom, like, it's all about feeling function like, functional clothing matters. Right. Like, in any given day, I'm running around the the city in so many different neighborhoods. And so I think comfort, I think the idea that you're just moving more. And I also just wanna feel, like, polished.
I wanna feel feminine. I wanna feel like I can look like I'm dressed up without trying so hard. There's an easiness to it. And I think as a business leader, being a mother has been so great. Like, it has helped me feel more focused.
And you just have less
Speaker 3: time.
Speaker 2: You have less time to to to waste. Exactly. You have to get everything done in a day.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No toiling with Right. Should I? Like, you just have to make that choice. Yeah.
I want to talk about what to wear on a date a little bit Okay. And get everybody's opinion. Oh. Oh.
Speaker 2: First date. First date.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Well, it's been a half
Speaker 1: minute since I've been on a first date. Okay. And I feel like it's honestly easier to, like, dress to impress when you haven't met someone yet because you can wear the same, like Yeah. Outfit that you know is gonna work.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Obviously, you're not gonna wear the same outfit on every date once you're in a relationship.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But for people in a relationship, I also wanna hear how you can kinda keep it fresh.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So what would, like, all of your ideal first date outfits be?
Speaker 4: I love this. Why don't you guys start?
Speaker 2: I'm Well, I always said to Kim, well, I I had a million first dates, but I was married at 21, so I can't talk about it that long. But I always used to say to her, wear a pretty little sexy top. Doesn't have to be terribly sexy, but a little black little top off the shoulder, a little tiny neckline so they see your very pretty attributes, and then jeans or a pair of black pants because you don't know really where you're going on the first date. Usually, it's usually a bar or maybe a casual restaurant. So don't overdress.
To me, underdressing is always better. My mother used to say never overdress. You can always add something to it, but you can't take something away really at the end.
Speaker 1: It's funny because most people say, like, they'd rather be overdressed.
Speaker 2: But I don't love that because you don't know the type of person you're sitting across from
Speaker 4: for a
Speaker 2: first date. Right. But something that's flattering on the top. Mhmm. So that when you're sitting across from somebody, they say, oh
Speaker 1: You're looking out.
Speaker 2: She's nice.
Speaker 1: She looks good. Virginia.
Speaker 3: Very difficult. I've not been on that many first dates, to be honest. And I I know one of my very first dates was your father, and and it was a purposeful trip. So you knew what to wear. You know?
You're you're hiking or Right. Whatever. So Did you
Speaker 4: go hiking on your first date? She did. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 3: That's weird. And I came back with, yeah, with bleeding feet and stuff because you had to get your feet in certain shoes. Oh, right. Hiking. I mean, it was And your feet weren't No.
They were not colorful. I like the high shoes and whatever in those years. But, yeah, I would actually echo what you were saying too, Gail, is that I would under underdress. I would not show skin. I would not be into the in fact, I'm against the cleavage and all this kind of stuff.
If you've gotta show it, then I think you're missing your your whole selfhood, and you need to believe in yourself more.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Like giving the wrong impression.
Speaker 3: That's right. And leave something to the imagination.
Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.
Speaker 3: You know? And if it's not, then they're not worthy for your second
Speaker 2: date. Don't wear the skims underwear on the first date. Don't wear that.
Speaker 3: I don't know
Speaker 2: where they found so many nipple bras about the nipple. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Oh, goodness. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I I like your idea of a great black little date top. And it's funny because we have a lot of single girls in our office, and I'm always excited to see if they wear what to work, what they're maybe going for a drink after work wearing. And we have this Marlow top, and it is like been called the single girl top. And when someone comes into the office wearing it, I'm always like, do have a date tonight? Right.
And it is black. Right. And it has little spaghetti straps, and it has a really pretty neckline.
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 4: And so it's not showing anything, and then they're wet with And they maybe have a cute little blazer on their shoulders or something. And it feels like then you have the choice of, like, taking the blazer off, showing more if you want. But I also love a bias skirt. Like, I think women look so good in, like, any kind of easy top, but, like, a beautiful bias skirt that's, like, kind of that Caroline Bessette world of, like, simple, understated, still elegant, but not not getting dressed up. I wouldn't wear a dress.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I feel like it's so much about the fit Yeah. And less about, like, the color or, like, the style. So whatever, like, looks the most flattering on you is Mhmm. They're gonna notice or remember.
But, like, not to be boring, I feel like I also would do a black top. I know in the winter dating in New York City, I was always in, like, a black turtleneck
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 1: And jeans. And I know people are like, don't wear turtlenecks on dates. I it was freezing.
Speaker 3: Yeah. It was freezing. Yeah.
Speaker 4: It's better than a jockey boot. Size sweater.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Like, you know Oh, that's true. Like, six to you and is Yeah. Like a bodysuit kind of thing. Yeah.
That's good. Yeah.
Speaker 4: And then a cool coat.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Cool coat. Cool coat.
Speaker 4: You know, show style through that.
Speaker 1: Yes. And when you walk in, their first look at you, like, you're ideally, like, in a chic coat. Yeah. And then you take everything off and you're like but I honestly think also hair and makeup makes such a big difference. Totally.
Like, if that's good, then you're probably You can
Speaker 3: wear Okay, anyway.
Speaker 4: Yeah. In a white t shirt.
Speaker 1: You also just don't wanna look like you're
Speaker 2: t shirt is always good with a blazer. Yes. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yes. Yeah. I feel like I went end up wearing t shirts now on my dates a lot, like a black or white, like, baby tee and a blazer. Yeah. Yeah.
Easy. That's good. Okay. Quickly, wanna go through some questions that our audience wrote in knowing that you were coming on. What are five staples to have in your closet at 40 years old?
Speaker 4: I have been 40 for five months. Staples. A great men's shirt. I feel like I'm always reaching for. I think it's great tucked into a good trouser.
It's great with a great skirt. I feel like that's a go to. I've it in, like, many different stripe colors, many solids. Like, you can't go wrong. Cashmere.
Like, I feel like I'm now collecting every color of incredible, like, crew neck, v neck, short sleeve, just like I feel like you can. Also, if you're traveling, it works really well. Denim, like, I think getting the right fit of jeans that can be, like, a go to for drop off and the right length where you're not fussing with having to wear a heel, but it feels practical is probably really important. I don't know. My closet is like a rainbow.
Like, I'm I'm not good at having exact formulas. Like, every day I wake up and I dress entirely different. Interesting. And so probably just at 40, like, be yourself and don't feel like you have to No pressure. Yeah.
No pressure. Like, bring out the old vintage. Bring out your mom's favorite sweater. Wear it sometimes. Like, live life in things that you love.
Right.
Speaker 1: Love that. That's good. Grandma, I'm gonna give this one to you. Tips on looking polished and elegant in a world of sweatpants.
Speaker 2: Well, you want me to wear sweatpants?
Speaker 1: No. In a world of people wearing sweatpants Well, you know
Speaker 2: I would never wear sweatpants. No.
Speaker 3: I would never eat. And I never would never eat.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I I I think everybody needs to wear a black pair of pants Yeah. A white shirt, and a black cardigan. To me that's perfect.
Speaker 1: And And feel comfortable like sweatpants.
Speaker 2: Well, a looser pant.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Like You know, like loose pants. It doesn't have be a tailored pant necessarily. A more casual pant, but a pant. I'm not a lover of sweatpants unless, you know, you are freezing cold, you're in a log cabin somewhere, and you've got with a big heavy sweater. Then you're allowed to wear sweatpants.
For me, especially living in a large city, I never think it looks great. But, you know, you're free to wear it. Mhmm. It's just not what grandma would wear. Mhmm.
Speaker 4: Do you wear black sweatpants? Yes.
Speaker 2: Do you
Speaker 4: like sweatpants?
Speaker 1: I I, like, live in sweatpants and leggings, I
Speaker 3: love it.
Speaker 1: But if I'm leaving the house, I'll probably change Okay. Unless I'm just doing, like, errands or something. But most days, I'm, like, on the computer at home, like, one's gonna see me.
Speaker 4: Yeah. You're, like, cross legged
Speaker 3: Yeah. Typing. I get it.
Speaker 1: So I don't know. Maybe I can change it up. But for now.
Speaker 3: No. No. Don't bother.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Feels good.
Speaker 1: Virginia, do you believe in less is more? That saying, like, less is more.
Speaker 3: No. I under I understand the saying. It's just that it's a very difficult answer to to give. It depends on this what you're asking about less and more. I mean, you know, you can go through food and you can go through clothes, but then we have too much more.
We
Speaker 4: I'd say you're a more is more kinda girl.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4: On your table, you are putting more feathers, really interesting. It has
Speaker 3: to be thoughtful and Yeah.
Speaker 4: Very
Speaker 2: yeah. Don't like it through. You're thinking through. Well, I also think at certain times in your life, and I'm gonna interject a moment, more is more because we wanna have more is more.
Speaker 3: Yeah. It's pretty
Speaker 2: on us, and we've earned the right to wear it.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Exactly.
Speaker 2: You know, at a dinner party at my home, I'm gonna put my jewelry on, my best dress, and why not? It's ours. But would I suggest that for somebody who's starting out in their career? No. Exactly.
That's the difference. I think it's all about where you are in your life.
Speaker 4: That's right. And I really
Speaker 3: agree with that. Absolutely agree. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Why don't we all answer this one? Worst fashion faux pas you've ever seen.
Speaker 3: Oh,
Speaker 1: dear. Well, I can't keep saying about that that that
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna talk about
Speaker 1: that skin bra again. I can't. Come up with something else. It's actually kinda hard
Speaker 3: to think about.
Speaker 2: It's hard to think about it, Kim. I don't really know. See, I think fashion depends on the person. If somebody can look ridiculous in something like myself, and then somebody else, my my friend, can wear the same outfit and look fabulous. Excellent.
So I think it's not necessarily a faux pas, just what looks good on you. I think I have to follow you know, I wear a blazer all the time in the same white shirt. I just change the color. So it's basically always the same outfit. Sorta boring.
Speaker 1: But I've gotten to taking I didn't do it today.
Speaker 2: I sort of put my mother's pins on my pal's hat. So Oh, we were at something recently, and Andy Cohen loved my brooch.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I was gonna start going and talk about my mother, but I didn't.
Speaker 1: We enough time. We have enough time. I love brooches.
Speaker 2: I've now started to wearing them all the time. She had a lot of them, and I don't wear them that much. Now I put them all over the blazers.
Speaker 4: We have a lot of Grandma's brooches. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And thank you for
Speaker 2: reminding me. And it makes me feel very good when I wore it. You know, this is just something I started a few months ago, and I really feel good
Speaker 3: about I'm gonna start. So there you go.
Speaker 4: She has some very ladybugs
Speaker 2: and Yeah. That's exactly And the bees.
Speaker 3: And the gnomes.
Speaker 2: I've got those bees too. Bees that we all I'll give those to you next year in Palm Beach, Kim, because I have
Speaker 4: them sitting
Speaker 3: there. They're so lovely. When I grew up in the seventies and we would use brooches and we'd have them on a dress or we'd put them on a sweater enclosure or something. And that's a lovely idea.
Speaker 2: I think we have to start doing it again.
Speaker 4: They're conversation starters. People are like, where did you get that? And then you can have a story behind it.
Speaker 3: And it does. Oh, they're a story.
Speaker 1: I really how we styled it in a video the other day, which people listening, they should go look at this. Like, imagine the sweater around your shoulders. We like Oh, yeah. In the middle. I I love
Speaker 4: with a brooch.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: We love that. Right there. We definitely get to
Speaker 1: look folk.
Speaker 2: And I also saw someone online, and I think that's what made me think I'm gonna give them to you. On a white shirt, she put the bees on
Speaker 4: the Oh, cute.
Speaker 2: Which I think is so great. Of course, the only problem is you don't wanna lose
Speaker 4: the bees. No. But they're very, very cool. That's cool.
Speaker 3: That's cool.
Speaker 4: Bifou Pie, I think, is like the, like, legging like tight leggings that are shiny
Speaker 1: Yeah. With high heels.
Speaker 4: It's over. Like, like, I don't know. Feel like
Speaker 2: that was a 2000 disaster.
Speaker 4: And I I do see people still sometimes wearing that. And I like, you know, like, the Giuseppe Zenotti heels that are, like, stacked and, like, super, super high? Yes. And then the leggings. And I'm like, you don't look comfortable.
Like, it's they think it's Especially
Speaker 2: since they're not Dolly Parton. Yeah. Right. If they were Dolly Parton, you might be able to get it by the yeah.
Speaker 1: This I don't know why this is popping into my head because I am okay with mixed metals, like, if you're wearing a few things that are mixed. But I don't like when it's like a gold belt and then like silver hardware on your shoes.
Speaker 4: No. Yeah. I know. I know.
Speaker 3: They have to match. Right?
Speaker 1: Yeah. Either the same or I feel like do mixed in other places.
Speaker 4: I do have metal.
Speaker 3: It's Oh, okay. Yeah.
Speaker 4: We have this we sell this brand Dahanj belts, which I feel like you've maybe seen, but they're like very cool. Some are gold, some are silver. And when I get dressed in the morning, I get so confused between the colors of them. Because I'm like, what's the hardware on my bag? What's my button on my jacket?
It. Yeah. But it's Yeah. Kinda You get, like, going.
Speaker 2: Fix it. Yeah. You've earned it. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I'll I'll start mixing it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I'm
Speaker 4: mixing it.
Speaker 2: Don't mix the colors.
Speaker 3: Yeah. You can do it now, Tanya.
Speaker 1: Thank you both so much for joining us.
Speaker 3: Oh, it's lovely to meet you both. Oh, well, thank you. I intend to. Nice to be in New York. We're going for champagne.
Speaker 4: Yeah. But thank you for having us.
Speaker 1: Of course. Thank you. Everyone listening, like, where they can find you and the brand.
Speaker 4: Yeah. So we have a website, tanyataylor.com, and Delfine isdelfinenyc.com. And we have a store in New York on Madison and 77th across from the Carlisle, a store in Greenwich, Connecticut, and soon in Toronto.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Again, you'll probably see me in the one on Madison. So
Speaker 4: Yes. Come say hi.
Speaker 1: And you know how to follow us. We're Excuse My Grandma on TikTok, Instagram. And, hopefully, you are watching the video either on Apple or Spotify, and we'll see you next week.
Speaker 4: Bye. Bye.