LiveWorld Transcripts

CosmoGIRL! presents

Fashion designer Rebecca Taylor
Find out what will be in fashion for the year 2000!

December 9, 1999

Why do different regions have different fashions? How do you become a model? What's with all the models and their eating disorders? Fashion designer Rebecca Taylor has the answers to these questions and many more!

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CosmoGIRL!: Welcome to CosmoGIRL! Live! We are chatting with fashion designer Rebecca Taylor. Share your dreams of becoming a designer and get some tips from a real pro. This chat is sponsored by CosmoGIRL! - a magazine for REAL girls with REAL issues. Log on at www.cosmogirl.com. Welcome Rebecca!

Rebecca Taylor: Hi everyone

Sigmagirl: Hi Rebecca! What do you foresee as the hot new trend to kick off the millennium?

Rebecca Taylor: I'm thinking metallic sandals for all of those feminine dresses out there.

CGFan: Where did you go to school, and what did you study to become a fashion designer?

Rebecca Taylor: I went to school in New Zealand at Wellington Polytech And I studied fashion design and construction.

Cheesewiz: Is it better to work for another designer first?

Rebecca Taylor: Absolutely, if you can gather some experience with another designer you can learn by mistakes. Also what you learn by other designers is completely valuable. Even though when you leave there you think you know everything, having your own business is a completely different story.

Bubblegum876: How did you create your own company?

Rebecca Taylor: I have a partner, Elizabeth Hutchens. We met at Cynthia Rowley and I left Cynthia Rowley with the intention of starting my own business and set up a small workshop in my living room. And basically barged in.

ILoveBSB4Ever: Hi! What is the salary for top fashion designers today?

Rebecca Taylor: It depends a lot on whether you own your own business. It tops at about $200,000 but with that comes a LOT of responsibility - not just sitting at a desk drawing all day.

TaylorAnne: How can a person become a fashion designer?

Rebecca Taylor: I think that they need to be clear on what a fashion designer is. There is a lot of misconception that I would sit at my desk and draw all day. There are a lot of different aspects - from designing fabrics to merchandising.

TheWIZ: What's hotter? European fashion or American trends?

Rebecca Taylor: I think European tend to be more creative, while American tend to be more commercial. Which tends to be the "flavor of the month", so to speak, because a lot of European designers are trying to "show" America.

Slurper: Have you met any famous supermodels and if so, which ones?

Rebecca Taylor: James King who is a DKNY model. Marcus Vandloo who is male model.

Cosmogirl3: Where can I go to buy your clothes?

Rebecca Taylor: Mostly concentrated in stores on the west coast like Neiman Marcus, and on the East coast maybe Barney's, Saks. In Chicago area, Pheobe 45.

Shygirl: I see a lot of "basic brown" and "basic gray" dresses and skirts. Are we moving away from basic black or is that still OK too?

Rebecca Taylor: In fact we are moving towards basic black. It sounds like an old fashioned term but we are going back to it, and using a lot of fresh colors that give it a "freshness"

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