Isabella Rose Taylor: The 13-Year-Old Designer Who Took New York Fashion Week By Storm

Design & Trend writer Carrie Weisman summed up what many people’s feelings probably are when they hear about Isabella Rose Taylor, the 13-year-old design prodigy who recently debuted her juniors’ collection at New York Fashion Week:

“At 13 years old, I was still practicing how to fold my notes into some origami-inspired pyramid. Maybe I’d make it to the movie theater on Friday nights, but most were spent in mom’s basement, thinking up lists of boys I wanted to kiss. But none of that seems very impressive when compared to what some teenagers are doing with their time.”

“Impressive” may only begin to describe Taylor. She is a talented artist who, at the age of nine, took a week of sewing classes. As The Daily Mail notes, her intent was to incorporate textiles into her artwork, which she had been producing since the age of three. Instead, Taylor became interested in fashion:

“I just really fell in love with it the way I fell in love with art, and I realized that I just had so much fun connecting the two.”

Her hobby quickly turned into a business.

Curious about how Taylor balances the competing demands of schoolwork and running a design house? Well, that’s another point to support the “impressive” label. Taylor graduated high school at age 11. She did her classes on an accelerated schedule that allowed her to get her certificate years early. She hasn’t given up her educational goals entirely, however. In addition to the attention paid to her business, Taylor is taking courses at community college.

Dell sponsored her fashion week show and Nordstrom’s picked up her fall line. Taylor describes it as “street with a little bit of grunge,” emphasizing small details like an unusual stitch or button. Nordstrom’s spokesperson Pamela Lopez expressed excitement at the collection and told ABC News it is already selling well:

“Our design team had seen her on TV and just were curious about her. They loved that Isabella’s line is a really good fit for our juniors’ section. She has this unique ability to create fun, stylish clothes that really represent her customer – who are also her peers. That’s what was interesting to our team, is that she’s the age of the customer she’s creating for.

It’s still early in the process -– we’ve only had about two weeks of selling Isabella’s collection so far –- but customers are responding well both online and in stores.”

To have a look at some of Isabella Rose Taylor’s fashions, check out the clip below.

[Isabella Rose Taylor Image: Google]