It’s an eerily calm Friday morning on a typically busy intersection of Fifth Avenue and 41st Street in New York City. I cross the street to enter the WWD studio where this photo shoot is to take place, to discover one of our cover stars, Teyana Taylor, arrived before me, 15 minutes early. I miss her on the way into hair and makeup, though the crew is quick to tell me she introduced herself and embraced each one of them as she entered the building. Somehow, hearing that felt entirely unsurprising.
Taylor built a career out of being fully, unapologetically herself, rarely hiding behind the cloak of fame with an unrelenting focus on her pursuits. At just 15 years old, she signed a recording contract with The Neptunes’ Star Trak Entertainment and choreographed a Beyoncé Knowles-Carter music video. She went on to captivate audiences with her Flashdance-inspired performance in Kanye West’s “Fade” video and danced in Jay-Z’s “Blue Magic,” all while forging a music career that most recently earned her a Grammy nomination for Best R&B album. At the same time, she steadily built an acting career that would eventually lead to the role of Perfidia Beverly Hills in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” earning her a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, an Academy Award nomination and two Actor Awards nominations — one for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role and the other for Cast in a Motion Picture.
For the latter award show, she wore a spellbinding creation by Thom Browne that played on the illusion of the female anatomy in a trompe-l’oeil bodice gown with a train made of more than 400,000 sequins and 175,000 beads. The look was one of many red carpet moments between the designer and actress who’s forged a bond over big dreams, fantasy and an enduring childlike wonder that continues to inform their work.
Today, Browne and Taylor are on set to interview each other as “Designer and Muse” in the inaugural installment of a new series exploring the creative process, instincts, and the keen self-awareness fundamental to their craft.
“There’s so much that makes [Teyana] special. I’m just always inspired by people that are true to themselves. She has a really strong sense of who she is and her own style. She is her own stylist and I think that is something that’s very rare today, especially someone at her level,” Browne shares.
The American designer — who’s known for his off-kilt suiting, signature red, white and blue insignia, and theatrical runway shows — was among the first designers to work with the actress and invite her to her first CFDA Fashion Awards. When Taylor hosted the CFDA a few years later, in 2025, he designed the four looks she wore.
When it comes to their collaboration, Taylor professes it works so well because there’s no pride or ego between the two. “When you see people creating magic, it’s not just one person throwing things into the pot. Like we’re all throwing our little seasoning. OK cool, we’ll add this to the chicken. All right, well I’m gonna add this to the pot. You add that to the chicken. We’re always cooking, we’re always brewing something up and I love that.”
After a few hours in the glam room, Taylor emerges. She’s striking, resembling a film noir star with her cool demeanor, platinum blonde pixie and a beaded dress with exaggerated sleeves that extend so long it reminds me of tentacles. Once in front of the camera, she’s more than a model. She directs the crew on how to work the dress. “Pull it evenly, straight down,” as she tilts her head to the left, directing the assistant to move to that side, guiding him, “you come further in, you gotta pull more on this side.”
A few days days later, I sit down with Taylor over Zoom. She’s still adjusting to the time difference between New York and Los Angeles, where she’s preparing to begin filming “Get Lite,” the first feature she will direct. It’s the latest milestone for the multihyphenate, who is the face of Revlon, has fronted an Alaïa campaign, earned a spot on Vanity Fair’s Best Dressed list, founded the TEY Foundation – which supports the next generation in Harlem, N.Y., where she grew up — and is set to portray Dionne Warwick in an upcoming biopic. But when it comes to “Get Lite,” Taylor insists she doesn’t want to reveal too much. “I mean, I can’t really say much about it because I don’t want to curse it. I want people to really take it for what it is,” Taylor says.
The movie is about the litefeet dance movement that originated in Harlem, which the trained dancer was a part of growing up. “Between Harlem Shake and Chicken Noodle Soup and Get Lite, it kept us out of trouble. It kept us safe, and to me, I think it’s bigger than just a dance movie,” she continues, calling out the “insane” casting and the “magic in the script,” before she realizes, “But you see, I just said I don’t want to talk about it,” and gives a soft chuckle.
Taylor is disarmingly forthcoming, speaking candidly about her ambition, philosophy on handling rejection and her connection with the designer as her “spirit animal.”
While the crew is adjusting the lights, Browne and I make our way over to a room down the hall from set. The AC is cranked up so high we both comment on how freezing it is, especially given how we’re dressed for early August weather. He is wearing his signature gray wool shorts that, somehow, after two decades is still stirring controversy, in which he responds, “How bored are we with this conversation? Like, what is the big deal? It’s so boring.”
Browne never saw himself as a classic American designer. “My personality is to always do things that are just not sure understood by people, and to be true to how I want to be. As a designer, I want to make sure that I’m doing things that people are seeing differently, and I think that’s my job.”
Doing things his own way has served him well. From dressing Zendaya, Demi Moore and Colman Domingo to securing investment from the Ermenegildo Zegna Group, which purchased an 85 percent stake in his company in 2018 at a valuation of about $500 million. The founder owns the remaining 15 percent.
Browne offers something few designers do. “I like things to be funny, I like them to be entertaining, because when you come to my shows, I like you to experience something that makes you laugh, makes you cry, you know? Sometimes you like it, sometimes you don’t, and I think that’s good too. I think if you want to do something interesting, I think you have to expect not everyone is going to like it. I mean, still people don’t like our gray suits.”
Throughout our conversation, Browne often offers a perspective that feels distinctly from the outside, an outlook he and Taylor share. The actress describes them as two “weird kids,” she the extrovert and he the introvert, adding that she loves to make him laugh and, occasionally, drawing him into the spotlight.
In their first interview with each other, Taylor’s and Browne’s respect and admiration for one another is palpable as I watch them on-camera. Their innate chemistry, wit and humor offers a rare glimpse into their shared world.
Teyana Taylor: TT and TB with WWD. Mmm hmm.
Thom Browne: [Laughs] So, who are your fashion icons?
T.T.: Ooh, who are my fashion icons? I have to say my mom. She’s the original like Miss Put-It-On for me, and what inspired me. She always loved a theme. Like I see so much of myself. When I do certain things a certain way, I’m like, I’m so my mother’s child. Like she was literally the first fashion icon for me. So I have to say, my mom.
T.B.: When you think of fashion icon, is it just purely about the fashion, or what is it about, like the person? Is it more important the person?
T.T.: In that case, it would be you because, you know, I’m not saying it because I’m sitting with you. You already know how I tuck you in a corner every single time we speak, but for me it’s just about the imagination, you know, and I’m such a dreamer, and I’m such a thinker, and I’m such a daydreamer, and I think it’s really amazing to see dreams and your imagination come to reality. And a lot of people gatekeep their imagination, and they keep it locked in because they’re afraid of what it may come out to be, or what it may come out to look like, and I feel like the way you put your imagination and your dreams on paper is really iconic to me. That’s a fashion icon to me as someone that could put it on paper and you know bring it to reality, and then I just get to wear it.
You know that’s why I was like a little confused because we say fashion icon — people usually go to a person who gets dressed versus like the pen, the sheet, the mind, the genius behind it.
T.B.: But you transcend fashion. That’s what makes you so much, I think, more powerful to me, personally. But also, too, it’s so much more than clothes for me. And I mean, thank you so much for what you just said. But you know, for me, you create the image, but then you also become the image, and that’s what I think is so inspiring, because you are just one of those rare special people that can have amazing ideas, but then you can actually become those ideas yourself. I love hiding behind my ideas. I mean, I personally don’t like doing things in front of the camera, that’s why I love, you know, just doing what I do. But I love the work being.
T.T.: Yeah, you are so shy all the time. You like never want to be in the front, but I just love when you show your face. I love when you show you, you know. Like I think it makes everything else so much more beautiful. Like when I sit at a Thom Browne show, and I’m watching the collection. You know, I get emotional every collection. I’m watching the collection, but then I know the person behind the collection. I know the face behind the collection. I know the spirit and the heart and the calming soul that you have, and that’s what makes it beautiful to me. So sometimes I can see something, but if I don’t know the face behind it, it’s still very like, yeah, that’s cute. Ooh, she fab.
But then you can meet that person, and then they could be nasty. You can say, “Well, I don’t ever have to see another piece from you ever in my life.” You know what I’m saying? Like it’s kind of like when they say “never meet your heroes” kind of thing, and you’re a hero that I got to meet, and it was the the best thing that I was ever able to do. So you know, the heart, the genius, the person behind this work of art is very important for me. That’s why I ride for you the way I ride for you. You know, like that is not something that I do for a lot of people. Like I gotta love here before I can even love the design.
T.B.: Thank you.
Do you remember when we met?
T.T.: I do.
We met probably like what 2017, ’18. Yeah, me and my ex-husband. You invited us to the CFDAs. That was my first CFDAs, I remember. That’s before I knew that like those kind of events didn’t really have food, and I had went and got that Chipotle.
T.B.: Yeah.
T.T.: And I had it at our table. That was a good memory. I had a blast. I said, “This is a good suit.”
T.B.: We’ve had so many good times.
T.T.: You remember what I had on?
T.B.: Uuuuh… [Laughs]
T.T.: That’s how much you create.
T.B.: No, we have done so much.
T.T.: We have done so much.
T.B.: I do remember, especially the last CFDA awards, the jacket and the skirt.
T.T.: Yes, the one I hosted. I hosted that one.
Yeah, I got to wear archives. Oh my God, I got to wear customs with new and archives. That was a good night. That was a real good night. Yeah, had a blast.
OK. So, are there rules you apply to working with me that don’t apply in other cases?
T.B.: I feel like for me, I approach my collections and I design for myself. When we work together, I am so respectful to you as a creative and to your ideas on what you want to be, what story you want to tell. That I am fully in, immersed in your world, in creating something for you, and I think, am I answering the question?
T.T.: You know how like maybe when you’re in design mode, are there like certain rules that apply to, I guess, like how you work versus in other cases how you also a chair at CFDAs? Like, do you move differently in certain places or are you always the same?
T.B.: I’m always the same.
Yeah, I think especially with the CFDA, the organization, and being there and being the chairman of the CFDA, I I feel like my only value is basically leading by example, and that’s how I approach that, and with my teams at work too, I feel like I can only be myself, and I can only be true to myself, and that is how I work with them, and that’s how I want to work in general.
T.T.: I like that.
T.B.: And that is probably the most inspiring about you to me, is how true you are to yourself.
T.T.: Thank you.
T.B.: And with everything you do in regards to your work, you can always tell that you would never do something because you have to.
T.T.: Right.
T.B.: It’s always something that you just are so passionate about, and the quality of what you do is because it’s all coming from you.
T.T.: Aww, you’re making me blush!
T.B.: [Laughs] No, because even hearing about you’re directing, you know, your film now. I mean, it’s something that I think is going to be exciting to see because to see a project coming fully from you is
going to be amazing.
T.T.: No, I love that. I definitely feel like you know directors are in a sense, designers as well. You know, having to be a captain and a leader, having your team and your team be a reflection of you and the work. That’s what I always admire about you too. That’s why I love when my staff is like uniformed. Like I love how like I just always know you work for Thom Browne. You are part of Thom Browne family. Like I love when I see them in stripes and I see that suit. It’s just like, it’s always so swaggy to me. Like I love it, and that’s what I love about you when working together, whether it’s for the Met Gala or whatever. It’s just like even at the CFDA, it’s like you always know when it’s Team Thom. Like I love that, and I just creative-directed Essence Fest, and I made sure all my staff was in uniform, and everybody was able to find who was there with Team Teyana and Aunties and stuff like that. [The Aunties is an all-women production company cofounded by Taylor.]
T.B.: But the thing, too, is what you represent. You represent like respect.
T.T.: Yeah.
T.B.: And that is something that is so important to me in regards to how we work. It’s so easy to be able to do things together because you can tell we — one, we understand each other, and also, two, I think your respect is so appreciated. The respect for designers is not always the case from people, so it’s so appreciated.
And especially my team as well, because my team is so important to me and they’re family, and the way that you are with everyone is so, so well appreciated.
T.T.: Thank you. Your family is my family. I love the whole TB family, the way they love on me. Like it’s a two-way street, you know. And it’s not just something that I’m giving and they’re not returning it. Like the love and the respect is so reciprocated. You know, it’s always warm. Like I come in for a fitting, and you know I don’t even like fittings. But I come in for a Thom Browne fitting, I’m kicking my shoes off. I’m walking around in my panties. They’re feeding me. I have pizza, and just it always feels like home. It’s always so much fun, and I love it.
T.B.: Well, it’s because of how you are.
T.T.: Thank you.
T.B.: What’s so special about stepping into something that I’ve done?
T.T.: Again, I think it goes back to what I said earlier: just loving you and respecting you and respecting the work and the art. I’m just always so excited. The way I get into a Thom Browne piece and the way it just hugs and fits my body. Cause you know my shape, so it’s like sometimes I have a hard time in certain areas, and it’s like I step into Thom, and it just always feel like where my body belongs. You know, like I belong, and I’m also such a tomboy, so I love a good suit. So to step into that design, whether it’s every day or on a red carpet, it’s just me. Like if I wanted to wear a suit every single day, Thom Browne is the perfect suit to step into because you get it like sugar and spice and everything nice. You know what I’m saying? Like it’s like a little bit of everything, because I’m a busybody. You know, this is me all day. But then I could like make it simple, and then it still be swaggy because the cuts and the way it’s tailored, like it’s just something that I can’t even really put into words. It’s an aura. It’s a feeling, you know. Like it’s an expression, I guess. I am a, like, a walking conversation piece when I’m in Thom Browne.
T.B.: Well, the thing for me that’s important is to be able to do things together that you really feel like you can live in it, that it’s like very true to who you are, as opposed to just something that you’re putting on. And that’s, I think, because we’ve gotten to know each other, you know, so well over the years, and we’ve done so much. We, I think, we’ve figured out, you know, how to do it.
T.T.: Right, because you know, if it was up to me, my everyday wear would literally be all the runway pieces. It’s like, that’s why I love your imagination. I’m like, no, we need to put this out, put this in stores, or just let me wear it. One of my favorite collections is the toys.
T.B.: Yeah.
T.T.: Oh my God.
T.B.: And you know the story, and I think that’s when we really connected.
T.T.: Yeah, that’s when I cried. That was like our bond right there.
T.B.: We had that conversation, and you know I was asked before, you know how our relationship has grown over the years, and how we’ve influenced, and you know I think people from the outside would think we’re very different.
T.T.: Right.
T.B.: But we’re so weirdly similar.
T.T.: Yes.
T.B.: And you know, I don’t know. For me, I think our relationship is very humbling to me because you are so true to yourself. You’re so smart, but also too, and I hate this word, but you’re so cool. And you’re so like relevant of today, and I always think of myself as so not cool, and so not like really…
T.T.: And you know I think you’re the coolest. That’s what makes it funny.
T.B.: But that show, you know, it was based on you know the Island of Misfit Toys, because I feel like we are like so true to ourselves. Sometimes we are very much on our own, and New York is, I think, a melting pot of so many. Like sometimes you look around and you’re like, “Where do these people come from?”
And so for me, that is a really important show, and it did really connect to us because we’ve had this conversation about really, you know, sometimes we are so like in our own worlds that, you know, it’s up to everyone else to kind of, you know, try to keep up.
T.T.: Exactly. Oh my God, that show, it’s just really, really special. Like that show was for dreamers, for real. You know, like that’s what made it so beautiful. And I think also what draws me to you even more is because I feel like I’m your spirit animal in a weird way; I’m like your otrovert and you’re like my introvert. Whereas just like a lot of people don’t know that I’m like super shy, so I like hide that. Like I’m me to the world to the cameras. I’m like the toy version of myself. Whereas I also get really shy, and I felt like the collection gave that you know it started off really just reserved, and then it’s like you see this big dream and this big heart and these big personalities within this space, and you know it’s really that perfect balance.
But I love that I make you laugh, and I love that I like bully you out of your shyness. Like I just love it. And I love to see you sometimes actually even uncomfortable, but blushing at the same time. It’s just like, “she just pushed me to the front. OK, I’ll stand here, but I’d rather be in the back.” You know, but it’s so cute. I love it. Love it.
T.B.: OK, what’s one rule in fashion that everyone should break more often?
T.T.: They should break judgment. I mean, listen. At this point, everybody is like doing whatever it is they gonna do. I think continue to, you know, break down walls and you know, f–k jumping over those hurdles. Knock the motherf–kers down and just like stomp on it and do what you want to do. I actually think we are getting into a better place in fashion where people are a lot more expressive, and I feel like it ain’t nobody’s business to be judgmental about what they feel or what character they want to be that day. You know, I feel like sometimes depending on how I’m feeling, I might just want to walk around in a sundress, or I might want to walk around in a mom look, like OK, let me get a little knickerbocker, a little kabuki. You know that somebody may see me and be like, “Teyana got that on?” and it’s like no, let’s just be more expressive with who we feel like being that day because I am a character. I’m not gonna front. I’m a character, and I like to, like, dress the way I feel. If I have a pixie, I want to maybe be in some vintage pieces from the ’90s. It just really depends on like how I’m feeling. So I think we should definitely just like break judgment and allow people to just be free. And and you know wear their expression.
T.B.: And figure out your own style and not always want somebody else’s opinion on what their style should be.
T.T.: And that’s what I mean, yeah I think that’s what I’m saying. I think that got better, but back in the days not even back in the days, even just maybe a few years ago it was this thing of like you had to be in the latest and greatest, or you had to be in archive. Versus now, it’s kind of like you get more into streetwear, but you also get more into what they call the high low. It’s the new term, the high low, where it’s kind of like you can mix streetwear with, you know, bigger pieces and just different things like that. I definitely think we’re getting in a better space of people finding their own space with getting dressed. So what may not be cool to me may be cool to somebody else. So it’s kind of like I love the fact that people are being themselves and not feeling like they have to keep up with the Joneses. Like I don’t feel like I need to keep up. Honestly, if I see a lot of people in something, it makes me not want to wear it. I’m like, it’s just too crowded. It’s just like too much of the same thing. And then I’ll go and wear something that is the complete opposite because that’s just what I’m in the mood to do.
T.B.: Well, I think what people see in you is confidence, and I think that is what is always so appealing.
And that’s what I think it really comes down to, is people really just having the confidence to be themselves.
T.T.: That’s real. I get out the bed and I’m gonna throw on what I’m gonna throw on, and you know, I’m just gonna be me. I’m not trying to meet the thing, whatever that thing is. Like, OK, what should I do today? What should I wear today? I’m kind of like, whatever’s in that closet, baby. I’m gonna put it on, and that’s gonna be that.
T.B.: Do you see that in your daughters as well?
T.T.: I do. So my youngest is definitely the fashionista, where my oldest is more the athlete. I would be like “Junie, what happened here, babe? Like, what are we doing? What are we wearing?” You know, she’s like, “Oh no, you know.” But I love it. I love it. I laugh and I love it. But my youngest, she’s so particular, and she is like the designer. She is the like, ‘No, I need this shoe with this bag, and I need this shirt, and I need you to have my rubber bands and barrettes this color.” Like she’s super duper fashionista. She do not play. She loves her makeup. She don’t play about her hair. And I feel like I got a little bit of both of them in here because Junie is my, “Yeah, I’m gonna put on this vintage T. I’m gonna put on some sweatpants, and that’s gonna be that.” Rue, she has to wear a dress to the gas station. She has to be in Mona Lisa, or she has to be like at the Thom Browne show that we went to. Where was that, in Paris? New Orleans?
Jonathan Zadrzynski, head of global communications at Thom Browne: San Francisco.
T.T.: San Fran! It was Super Bowl.
I mean the ride was long to get to the show. So by the time we got to the show, she was all sleepy and cranky, but she was the most excited to get dressed.
I think the sweater that she wound up wearing was mine. And she was like, “Well, mommy, you’re wearing this, so what’s the problem with me wearing this sweater? And then you can just tie it up. Kelly [Connor, senior director, VIP at Thom Browne] will tell you, she designed out her outfit. Like it was amazing. I love it.
T.B.: That’s funny. They’re so cute.
[Teyana’s daughters, Junie and Rue, walk into the studio.]
T.T.: Hiiiiii, we were just talking about you. Hi baby.
T.B.: I mean, I’ve learned the most important thing is just being true to yourself.
T.T.: I feel like I’ve learned that from you too. It’s something else that you do that I think I might have stole from you, but just like I’ve always been like a selfless person, but your level of like selflessness, and again unity within your team and how uniformed everybody is, and the importance of your team being a representation of you. Like I’ve, I’ve definitely stole a lot of that from you. I’m like, yeah, this is how I want my team to be. This is how I want us to represent one another, and I want to do everything with my team. And you do that, you know. I really feel like that rubs off on me, a lot. I really admire the leader that you are. You’re a great leader. You’re a great captain.