As she prepares to showcase the latest collection of her eponymous brand taylor at New Zealand Fashion Week 2026, Vicki Taylor reflects on three generations of fashion lineage, navigating industry turbulence, and why nurturing the next wave of New Zealand designers is her greatest legacy. <\/p>\n
\n In an era where
\n fashion often operates at breakneck speed, dictated by fleeting micro-trends and hyper-commercial algorithms, Vicki Taylor remains a calm force of considered proficiency. Whether hands-on styling a customer at one of her namesake boutiques or hosting elegant events at her multi-brand design haven The Shelter, Taylor possesses the polished presence of someone whose relationship with fashion is woven into her DNA. Taylor is proud of her third-generation garment industry lineage in Aotearoa.\n <\/p>\n
\u201cMy grandfather was involved with a company called Broadbanks, which in those days was an apparel and haberdashery business working out of Queen St back when everything happened right in the centre of the city,\u201d Taylor says. <\/p>\n
That rag-trade connection deepened with her father, Grahame Taylor, a prominent textile wholesaler who ran his own business. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s probably where my passion for textiles really came from,\u201d she recalls. \u201cHe would travel overseas when I was a kid and buy amazing textiles from all around the world, bringing them back from Japan, Italy or the US.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fashion designer Vicki Taylor is proud of her third-generation garment industry lineage. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray <\/p>\n
For a young Taylor, school holidays were spent on the warehouse floor among bolts of fabric. She lugged around big rolls and learned about minimums, observing what designers would purchase to create their collections. While it made an impression on her young mind, Taylor was initially resistant to entering the industry. <\/p>\n
Driven to carve out her own path, she explored fine arts and visual design. She was accepted into the prestigious Elam School of Fine Arts but instead opted for a comprehensive one-year art and design foundation course, a decision that shaped her multi-disciplinary creative perspective. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe had two-week modules doing sculpture, painting, photography, graphic design, interior design and architecture. I didn\u2019t try that hard at fashion or textile design, but I seemed to do well anyway and that set me off on my journey.\u201d <\/p>\n
Taylor headed to Australia to gain a degree in fashion design. A creative city, Melbourne gave the emerging designer a broader perspective and was an important learning curve. <\/p>\n
Returning to Auckland, she continued to hone her craft as head designer for fashion label Suzanne Gregory (now Gregory). Wanting to design her own label, Taylor launched her eponymous brand five years later, opening the doors of her first boutique in March 1999.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey always say you go into business in something you\u2019re a little bit naive in and I had never been in the retail side of fashion, so of course that was the side I started my business in,\u201d Taylor says, with a laugh. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut I think that naivety is quite a good philosophy because you\u2019re prepared to just try things and see what works. New Zealanders are great at writing their own pathways through out-of-the-box thinking.\u201d <\/p>\n
Starting her own business meant taking on major financial risk. Taylor sold her house, moved in with her parents and took on a retail lease. The workroom was tucked out back where she created the collections that formed the foundation of taylor today. <\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I was going to be totally fine running my retail store between getting my garments cut out back on the cutting table. But within that first week, I\u2019d sold out of my whole months\u2019 worth of stock! I was thinking, \u2018Oh my gosh, I\u2019ve completely underestimated this, I\u2019m going to have to employ somebody\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mark Thomson and Vicki Taylor, pictured in 2013 at Alexandra Park Raceway. Photo \/ Norrie Montgomery<\/p>\n
Enter Mark Thomson, Taylor\u2019s husband, whom she met in Melbourne while he was working for menswear label Rembrandt, and later Rodd & Gunn. When Thomson faced a corporate relocation to Australia, the couple decided to make Auckland their permanent home. <\/p>\n
Taylor told him, \u201c\u2018Take three months off and tell me what you really want to do with your life.\u2019 He came back and said, \u2018I don\u2019t mind what I do as a job, but I just want to be the best dad\u2019. That threw me a bit because I hadn\u2019t even factored kids into the equation yet, I thought I was just going to be running businesses!\u201d <\/p>\n
Third generation in retail himself, Thomson joined to manage operations, establishing a joint dynamic that kept the business resilient while raising the couple\u2019s two sons, now 24 and 21. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look around our industry, there are lots of husband-and-wife teams. This industry consumes you, it\u2019s not a nine-to-five job, so you end up living, eating, sleeping and breathing it. Having Mark there made raising a family possible, and my sons kept my feet on the ground. I\u2019d come home worrying about work, and they\u2019d want me to kick a ball around with them. It keeps life in perspective.\u201d <\/p>\n
Over the 27 years Taylor has traded, our country\u2019s fashion landscape has undergone radical structural shifts. When she started, local manufacturing was still thriving and around 45 wholesale textile importers operated nationwide. <\/p>\n
Today, that number has dwindled to just five and many locally made garments are produced through a network of outsourced specialists. The competition for customers has also increased with the rise of e-commerce, and keeping those customers engaged means either making your clothes appeal internationally or adapting your local model to capture depth. <\/p>\n
Taylor\u2019s response to shifting consumer behaviour was strategic evolution. She expanded by introducing 10 pieces, a relaxed line designed to complement her label\u2019s sharper, architectural silhouettes, and restructured seasonal collections into considered monthly drops to keep her loyal client base engaged across the six-month cycle. <\/p>\n
Every Vicki Taylor collection begins with the textiles. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray <\/p>\n
Being a fabric-led designer, every taylor collection begins with the textiles, mostly sourced from premium European and Japanese mills. Taylor credits her commitment to high-quality fabrics and thoughtful design among the reasons for her brand\u2019s longevity. Watching costs closely with her accountant and listening to her clients has also factored into the label\u2019s success. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m privileged to have dressed some clients for the whole 27 years I\u2019ve been in business. They still come in wearing pieces from my early collections. That longevity is an absolute honour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wanting to expand further, Taylor took a gamble by securing a sprawling 300sq m former industrial laundry just off Ponsonby Rd. In October 2014, she opened the doors to The Shelter, a curated concept space that sits at the intersection of fashion, art and design. What began as an opportunity to house taylor alongside international designers such as Issey Miyake, Rick Owens and Uma Wang, soon evolved into a crucial incubator for local talent.<\/p>\n
The Shelter in Ponsonby, Auckland. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray <\/p>\n
Through The Shelter\u2019s emerging designer programme, Taylor actively mentors and stocks around two dozen up-and-coming labels. She stocked the early collections of now well-known brands Maggie Marilyn and Wynn Hamlyn, and is currently championing the likes of Fringes, Julia Palm, Rhian, and Outer Lines. Taylor subsidises these young businesses with her own, by taking a reduced wholesale margin and paying them weekly to support their cash flow. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t give them design help, their talent and passion are already incredible,\u201d Taylor says. <\/p>\n
\u201cI give them business structure, helping them learn to cost a collection, manage accountancy and transition from sewing every garment yourself to scaling production. When a supplier lets a young designer down, we jump in and advocate for them.\u201d <\/p>\n
Jo Knight and Maggie Hewitt of Maggie Marilyn, with Vicki Taylor.<\/p>\n
Her commitment to preserving local industry infrastructure is future-focused. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we see our factories close and their machines auctioned off, it\u2019s heartbreaking. Keeping manufacturing alive allows young designers to make three or five units of a garment to test the market safely. If we can build a supportive framework for them our entire creative ecosystem grows stronger.\u201d <\/p>\n
In a culture saturated with artificial filters and hyper-curated perfection, Taylor advocates for embracing uniqueness, and champions authentic self-expression through thoughtful dressing. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn all my years in fitting rooms, I\u2019ve met very few women who are completely happy with the way they look. Every woman, regardless of size, harbours self-criticism. As I\u2019ve gotten older, I\u2019ve realised: I am who I am and I dress for who I am. <\/p>\n
\u201cA client once told me she put on her taylor outfit for her corporate job because it was her armour. If I can make a woman feel good, empowered and comfortable through what she wears, then I\u2019ve done my job right.\u201d <\/p>\n
Vicki Taylor actively mentors and stocks around two dozen up-and-coming labels at The Shelter. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray <\/p>\n
Doing her best work extends to the upcoming New Zealand Fashion Week, with taylor and The Shelter again featuring on the schedule. <\/p>\n
Taylor is adamant about the event\u2019s importance to the industry and the opportunities it creates. <\/p>\n
\u201cNZ Fashion Week is a vital platform for celebrating our creativity. It also gives young designers that dream of seeing their designs under those bright lights, and it shows our unique perspective to the world.\u201d <\/p>\n
Vicki Taylor and Kiri Nathan at the New Zealand Fashion Week launch in May. Photo \/ Ruby Jayne Hamilton<\/p>\n
Taylor\u2019s goal for her own event is to create an immersive, inspiring experience that stays with viewers long after the lights go down. <\/p>\n
Her brand\u2019s presentation will create a dreamscape not a catwalk, as Taylor reimagines the fashion show format for her Somni collection, which showcases her enduring love of textiles. <\/p>\n
With three generations of industry heritage behind her and a thriving ecosystem of emerging talent growing under her wing, Vicki Taylor continues to prove that fashion in Aotearoa is strongest when it evolves with purpose. <\/p>\n