All things feminine and pretty were on display at Tuesday’s Tanya Taylor‘s show. Floral fabrics and embellished detailing caught the light as silhouettes fluidly traveled down the runway. The pace of the models breathed grace into lighter flowing fabrics that charmingly swung with each step. Colored headscarfs added pop to the collection’s black and white ensembles, while the season’s favoured cropped tops and open-backed dresses infused a touch of the coquette into Taylor’s sophisticated collection.

We caught up with Taylor backstage, and discovered a Tanya Taylor “she” in the designer herself.

Who is the “Tanya Taylor” girl?

I would say she is a very confident girl – very creative. She appreciates a high attention to detail in all the clothing that she wears. I don’t think she takes herself that seriously, and she is very playful with what she wears.

Which global city’s sense of style best represents your current collection?

I work in New York, and have been there for five years, so I can definitely see a New York girl wearing it. But, because it is more tropical and vacation orientated, I could see someone in Greece — maybe like on a Greek vacation. Barbados was the inspiration for the collection, so definitely a girl on vacation in Barbados would work too.

What is your favorite piece from the collection?

I would say one of my favorite pieces was the bomber jacket with the light print and cotton pique sleeves. I really liked how we played with the front and the back of the fabric, and all these different textures. We also had never done embroidery, the last dress that is sort of a column shape with hand painting and hand embellishment was one of my favorites, and one of the most laborious projects we got into, but it was worth it.

What music were you listening to while designing this collection?

We were listening to “The Girl from Ipenema,” like very bossa nova music, which is not normally my favorite. I would say that I am a Bon Iver kind of indie girl, but we had it playing all the time, like Sam Cooke and the early 60s kind of bands. That really gave us the energy to design this kind of time period collection as well.

What is your uniform, and from this, what piece can you not live without?

I wear a lot of knits, and I think that’s why I got into designing knitwear as well with the collection. I normally always wear a pegged trouser, which I am wearing today, and a knit sweater, and a little bootie or something. I also like very easy voluminous dresses.

Tanya Taylor SS13 Collection