Tanya Taylor Comes Home With Her First Canadian Store In Toronto

For more than a decade, Toronto-born fashion designer Tanya Taylor has been making her mark on the international fashion scene with her signature mix of vibrant colours, hand-painted prints and effortlessly feminine silhouettes. Her designs have found their way into the wardrobes of some of the world’s most recognizable women, including Michelle Obama, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Rachel McAdams, while her namesake label has become a fixture at major luxury retailers across North America. Now, after building an internationally recognized fashion brand in New York City, Taylor has come home.

On October 15, the Canadian designer officially opened the doors to her first Canadian boutique in Toronto’s Rosedale neighbourhood, bringing her distinctive design sensibility back to the city where her love of art and fashion first took shape. Located at The James at 8 Price Street, the intimate 750-square-foot space is the brand’s third standalone retail location, joining existing boutiques on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and in Greenwich, Connecticut.

“We chose this location because we like to be part of a community and connect with our customers in a more intimate way,” Taylor explains. “We’re always drawn to neighbourhood destinations where there’s a strong sense of local character and discovery. Opening in Toronto feels especially meaningful because it’s my hometown, and returning here with the brand feels like a full-circle moment.”

Designed by Toronto-based firm Ashley Botten Design, the new boutique feels less like a conventional retail store and more like stepping into the home of a particularly stylish friend. A bronze-engraved Tanya Taylor logo featuring the brand’s signature swan motif welcomes visitors at the entrance, with the elegant bird appearing throughout the space on everything from a custom door knocker to decorative hooks. Inside, a fireplace anchors the room beneath a painting by Taylor herself, while vintage-inspired fixtures, custom upholstery, ceramics and carefully selected furnishings create an intimate, residential atmosphere. A sculptural ceiling light by designer Anna Karlin and a one-of-a-kind ceramic side table add to the sense of artistry, with every detail reflecting Taylor’s appreciation for craftsmanship, colour and thoughtful design.

That artistic sensibility can be traced back to Taylor’s childhood in Toronto, where she grew up in a creative household that encouraged experimentation and self-expression. From taking painting classes to covering the walls of her family home with colourful murals, art was an integral part of her upbringing and would eventually become a defining element of her fashion career. After earning a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from McGill University, Taylor followed her creative instincts to New York’s Parsons School of Design, where she studied fashion before launching her namesake label in 2013.

Her collections quickly became known for their expressive prints, sophisticated silhouettes and optimistic approach to dressing, attracting an international following and securing space at retailers including Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s and Shopbop. But while her career flourished in New York, Taylor continued to maintain strong ties to her hometown, particularly through initiatives supporting women, children and emerging creative talent.

In 2022, she co-founded Baby Love with Julia Miller Black, a Toronto-based initiative that provides diapers and other essential supplies to families experiencing financial hardship. Inspired by her own experiences as a mother, the organization has distributed more than four million diapers since its launch. Taylor has also established the Tanya Taylor Fashion Lab at Toronto’s Havergal College, introducing a fashion design curriculum for students in Grades 10 and 11 to encourage the next generation of young female creatives and entrepreneurs.

For Taylor, the Toronto boutique represents both an exciting new chapter for her growing fashion business and a return to the creative roots that helped shape it. And perhaps nowhere is that connection more apparent than in the painting hanging above the store’s fireplace. Decades after she first began experimenting with colour on the walls of her childhood home, her artwork has found a new place in Toronto, this time surrounded by the clothes, objects and ideas that have come to define her career. It’s a fitting homecoming for a designer who has never lost sight of where her story began.