ABOVE: From the Rebecca Taylor fall–winter 2003–4 range, shown in New York.

It is not hard to see why her clothes are favourites with Jennifer Lopez, Courtney Love, Kate Winslet, Uma Thurman and Cate Blanchett

EW ZEALAND-BORN New York fashion designer Rebecca Taylor put buyers into a flutter at Mercedes Australian Fashion Week (MAFW) with the launch of her spring–summer Holiday and Resort collection.
   Her whimsical designs highlighted with hints of a rock-star attitude delivered on Taylor’s reputation for ‘pretty and soft with claws’ and everyone wanted to have her.
   Launching her signature label into Australia and New Zealand for the first time, Taylor travelled to Sydney to find buyers for her range.
   It was an unusual position for buyers desperate to stock her because normally they get to decide whom they buy, not the other way round. Some even went so far as to state boldly they had secured the kittenish label in a vain attempt to make it happen.
   When I asked Taylor for confirmation of these claims she smiled and said, ‘It is a matter of finding the right partner for us,’ and wisely wouldn’t be drawn into the subject.
   The New York Fashion Week runway veteran decided against doing a show at MAFW, instead choosing a small exhibition space in front of the Sydney Opera House with a million-dollar view.
   Her racks hang with pretty jewelled objects in smoky lilac, pink topaz and biscuit, contrasted with intense hues of sunshine, azure, coral and violet.

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