Closet Visit : Sunday Taylor

Closet Visit started with my good friend Heather Taylor.  I thought it would be fun and sweet if I finished this first year with a visit to Heather's beautiful mother Sunday Taylor.

Sunday is inspiration to me.  Beyond the fact that she is lovely and has impeccable taste  I'm totally in awe of her dedication to the various charities she works with.  She also recently started a beautiful lifestyle blog called "Ciao Domenica", she is a lover and supporter of art & literature and she is one of the most stylish women I know. 

I had so much fun shooting Sunday on this rainy LA morning.  We took advantage of the weather and got some rain shots. I think her clothes and the house feel so cozy and L.A Christmas. Happy Holidays!


Describe your personal style.
Sophisticated, chic, relaxed.  I like to mix dressy and casual pieces so I look pulled together but comfortable.  I love adding heels to almost everything I wear, and some statement jewelry.  I have some fun necklaces by Balenciaga, Lanvin, and Annie Costello Brown, and some vintage bracelets from The Way We Wore that I wear all the time.  I love to layer thin cardigans over Dries patterned sleeveless tops (they were so pretty this year) and pair with jeans if I'm going casual or leggings or black fitted pants and heels, if dressier.


Who are your favorite designers?
Prada for very special separates; I bought a gold lace jacket two years ago that I love.  Marni for dresses, they really work for me, a lot of my friends wear them.  The Row makes great layering pieces like long thin sweaters and chic, simple coats and jackets.  Dries for beautiful silk blouses and tops.  Lanvin for a a special gown for a black tie event, dressy but never stuffy.  I also love Lanvin's purses, with the charms and the bows.  Speaking of purses,  I love Clare Vivier's , I have several of her clutches and her new black shoulder bag with the gray ribbon embellishment.  They have a chic and simple look that feels very French.
I also love the Gap and J. Crew for fun casual pieces, especially in the summer.



What are your favorite places to shop?
I mostly go to Barneys of New York.  



Can you give us smart shopping advice?
If you like help when you shop, which I do, find a sales person you like and trust and work with them.  Jennie Baek at Barneys helps me all the time and never steers me wrong.  Also, go to the sales.  They come so early at this point, that if you can hold out until November and December, you can get almost everything on sale.



Are there any key pieces you find yourself wearing constantly?
Now that the weather is chillier, I've been layering with two great long sweater vests that are open at the front,  a gray one from Miu Miu with cute puff sleeves,  and a very cozy oatmeal- colored one with a big collar that hangs over the back from Martin Margiela.  People have been asking me if I knitted then myself.  That's how cozy they are.  They both have short sleeves so they are great layered over something.  I wear them to daytime parties or holiday get togethers over a loose silk blouse with fitted pants or my Row navy leggings.


What is your most recent purchase?
A short green Prada jacket  that I bought on sale at Barneys.  I wear it with a navy silk blouse tucked into ankle length black pants and my Prada black pumps and it looks great for going out to a special dinner with my husband and friends.


Did your daughters play dress up in your closet when they were little?
Absolutely!  We had so much fun, they were very girly and into putting on shows and entertaining us.  I had some some chiffon skirts that they loved to wear and of course, spinning in them and making then twirl was a favorite activity.  We had a basket with dress-up clothes and they would play with it for hours on end.  They also loved wearing Snow White and Alice in Wonderland costumes, as well as ballerina and ice skating outfits.   I always loved the fact that their imaginative worlds were such a part of their playtime.



Any perfume that you like?
La Chasse Aux Papillons


Do you keep your old clothes or do you keep your closet small and organized?
I try to edit and sometimes my daughter Heather will come over and help me do it.  But I also hang on to special pieces and am often happy to pull them out after a few years of not wearing them.   It feels like a brand new piece.  I recently rediscovered a red dress by Marc Jacobs that has a burgundy velvet ribbon and bow around the waist.  It feels very prim and proper in an English way, and I would love to wear it to tea at the Peninsula.


5 things you can't live without.
Dark blue jeans, that I can wear casually or dressy
Black Prada pumps from last year, with little gold studs
Thin ribbed Prada cardigans that my niece Tracy Taylor ( US editor of Net-a-Porter) turned me on to years ago.  They are great over sleeveless dresses or tops, they lay great on the clothes, just about disappear, and never make you too warm.  I even wear them in the summer.
Cute striped tee shirts, worn with jeans or tucked into a high-waisted pair of silk pants with a fun necklace.
Gap cotton cropped pants with cuffs, I have then in khaki and olive green.  I wear them all the time, casually with a tee shirt and ballet flats, or dressier with a nice top and heels.   



I know you do a lot of great charity work and it's so inspiring.  Would you share about the work you do?
I am on the "Alumni Council" of Bates College in Maine, and I travel back to Bates three times a year to help with fundraising efforts and building alumni relationships with the college.
I am  on the board of UCLA's "Friends of English," a fundraising group for the UCLA English Department.
I am very involved with "St. Joseph Center," a multi-faceted facility in Venice that helps homeless and low-income individuals.  
I am  on the board of "Friends of Robinson Gardens," a group that supports the historic restoration and preservation of the Robinson Estate and Gardens in Beverly Hills.


*Outtakes on my Flickr

Thank you so much for reading and supporting my Closet Visit series. I'm so happy about the responds and excited to continue this in the new year. I'm going to take two weeks break from Closet Visit and come back early next year. Mean while I'll be posting my normal daily posts. : )