The Buyers Eye ... 5 questions for Vicki Taylor

I still remember being in Auckland in 2005 and coming across a store called Taylor. At the time, I didn't realise that it was one of the defining names in New Zealand fashion, but I would soon learn just how influential the brand is.
Years later, during Paris Fashion Week, I met Vicki Taylor, the founder of Taylor and the visionary behind the multibrand boutique The Shelter in Ponsonby. Little did I know then that I would soon be moving to New Zealand, where I would spend the next several years completing a degree in Gender Studies and Criminology. Even less could I have imagined that I would end up in Dunedin, where my journey with The Shelter truly began.

I remember one day during my second semester, Vicki reaching out to me to get a feel for Dunedin as she was considering opening a boutique there. She asked my opinion about a specific location on Filleul Street in Central Dunedin. I was genuinely excited by the idea, as I felt the fashion scene in the Otago region could greatly benefit from a multibrand store of the calibre, vision, and quality that Vicki has always brought to her businesses.
It is both a pleasure and an honour to now be part of The Shelter's legacy, with my work represented in both their Dunedin and Auckland locations.

So, without further ado, this month's edition of 5 Questions For features Vicki Taylor of The Shelter. In our conversation, she reflects on how fashion can inspire social change and explains why leaving her own footprints in the sand remains one of her most important sources of creative recharge.

You’ve been in this industry for many years. What still excites you about buying today, and what has lost its meaning for you?
I always love to see the creative interpretations that every designer makes each season, where their interests are drawn from and how those are translated into a collection. There is always an energy that surrounds each designer’s work, and I feel that today the individualism and authenticity of each designer are still what excite me. 
When it comes to what has lost its meaning, I feel the gender barriers we all worked within in my early years of the industry are the biggest change. This loss gives us a more positive outcome.

When you select pieces for your stores, is it more instinct or strategy, and has that balance shifted over time?
Each season, it is a blend of both. Instinct leads the search for brands, but buying is quite a mathematical and strategic process. While a buying process may be similar in theory, knowing your clients and target audience is also hugely important. You must always buy for tomorrow, not today.

My new collection, Sapphica, is rooted in the idea that what we love holds more value than power or status. How does that resonate with the way you curate your stores?
This idea is one that truly resonates with me personally, and reflects the stresses of the world that we operate in today. In our store we focus on what each designer loves by creating their own unique area and we work hard to ensure our clients know the story the designer wants to convey with each collection. The designer’s work is exhibited to reflect the designer’s beliefs and ideals.

Do you think that fashion today has the ability to resist mainstream narratives, or has fashion lost its artistic vision and become part of a system which art challenges?

I feel firstly, we need to realise that there is a difference and tension between artistic fashion - where the body is used as a canvas for creativity and expression - and commercial fashion, which is driven by consumerism and consumption.
I certainly do believe artistic fashion can resist mainstream narratives and create change; we saw this in the 80’s with Gaultier’s work and the challenge to perceived luxury by Margiela, Yohji, and Comme des Garçons in the 1990’s. 
The downside is that fashion is still driven by a capitalist infrastructure. Fashion can certainly spark successful conversations about change, shift cultural perspectives and provide a visual language to  protest and illustrate change. To completely resist the mainstream narratives, the garments must remain as art and not become products of the commercial machine. I think today it is important that garments hold meaning and do not exist solely because they look nice.

Outside of work, where in the world do you go, physically or mentally, to truly recharge, and what is it about that place that restores you?
As a creative, it's important to recharge and reset. I am fortunate to get recharged in nature, and living in New Zealand, our remote and untouched landscapes are never more than a few hours' drive away. I find there is nothing better than being removed from the everyday and completely surrounded by contrasting landscapes, sunrises, and empty beaches where my footprints are the only ones in the sand. I love to explore these as darkness starts to fade and as the sun rises, putting light shafts onto the world, I love the peace right before the world awakes. Nothing is more inspiring than Mother Nature’s beauty.