It’s back to school time for me which means it’s time to start thinking about actually getting dressed for work again. But it’s also 100 degrees here so my motivation has been pretty low. As I was making my Fall clothing wishlist, I reached out to a new company I’ve connected with on Instagram, Taylor Tall, and asked them if they would be willing to gift me a couple items to review. These items came in this week…
…and let me tell you, they are so, so good! When I first saw Taylor Tall on instagram, I thought “FINALLY!” I’ve been dipping my toes into slow fashion this year and one huge roadblock I’ve come up against is finding ethically produced clothing that comes in tall sizes. Taylor Tall is exactly that.
Now, if you’re a tall person this is probably where you start thinking “yay long inseams!” But Taylor Tall is also doing us one better than tall inseams–because one challenge of being tall is that ALL of me is tall–not just my legs. These items are made for tall women in every way (in bust and hip placement, for example), and it definitely showed in the pieces I got to try.
First up: The drop shoulder button down (cost: $120). The fabric was nice and light on this and the front shoulder seam is really cute and feminine. But the best part, obviously, was that I got to pick my own custom length (between 25″ and 29″) on this shirt (I picked 27″). This resulted in a cropped, boxy top that is actually not too cropped for me. I love this shirt so much it’s already gone on two outings–business-y (above) and to Ikea with shorts (below). The cream color and the grid pattern give it something a little extra that sets it apart from my other shirts. Also, there are enough buttons on it that there was no boob gap for me, which is a big deal.
The second item I chose was the high rise ankle pant (I got the “midnight herringbone,” cost: $210). Custom inseams on this ranged from 27″-33″, I got the 31″ inseam, which is just about perfect for ankle length for me. The pants I’m wearing are 100% linen, but the fabric just switched to 50/50 linen and cotton. I actually would welcome this change because I can find linen to be a little scratchy and bet the blend would help. This linen is pretty substantial–as a plus, I haven’t had any issues with it wrinkling yet (which is wild to say about linen, truly), but it’s also not as light as other linen pants I own. I think it will be a good fall transition weight, though.
The pants did get me more excited for teaching outfits so I brainstormed a couple more pairings here. It always helps me to reach for a new item faster when I try on a few outfits ahead of time 🙂
A couple cool things about the company: They’re run by a wife/husband team out of Chicago. Taylor, the founder, is herself tall, so she genuinely knows about the challenges of finding tall clothing. They work to build ethical partnerships with manufacturers, including fair trade manufacturers and women-owned businesses.
Cost: Ethical fashion is not cheap, as I am learning. Taylor Tall’s prices ($100-$230) seem pretty comparable to other ethical fashion brands, but I recognize that these are a reach, price-wise, especially for grad student readers. For me, picking a couple items out that I love and know were made with care was appealing and I will plan to look here for similar investment pieces in the future (Taylor told me there’s a blazer coming soon so I’m intrigued!). The site does offer $20 your first purchase if you sign up for the newsletter here (it’s at the bottom of the page).
Overall, I know these items will be on heavy rotation at work. As a tall person, I have felt the discomfort of too-short shirts and pants that bunch up and become capris. The best part of these pieces was that once I had them on I knew I looked great and that I could just forget about what I was wearing and go about my day.
These items were gifted to me in exchange for a review. All opinions are honest and my own. I reached out to Taylor Tall because I liked their clothing and was interested in trying them out. There are no affiliate links in this post.
PhD in Clothes 