This week, an in-depth look at the strategy behind Delphine, Tanya Taylor’s new high-end dress brand.
Tanya Taylor isn’t seeking a second act. Her 10-year-old namesake fashion brand is an “anomaly” in the challenged retail environment: Its e-commerce sales are up 68% year-over-year, and its first store, on NYC’s Madison Avenue, has proven profitable one year in, she said.
With Delphine, the dress-focused brand she launched on Wednesday, she’s simply indulging a fantasy — that is, in a period when the time is ripe, according to her own customers’ behavior.
Delphine came to life based on the success of an atypical Tanya Taylor dress the brand displayed in its store window. Made to celebrate its 10th anniversary, in 2023, it was a polka-dot frock with a large bow in the back. According to Taylor, customers were willing to wait four weeks and spend $2,000 to have the limited-edition dress made for them.
“It taught me that there’s [customer] crossover with different categories, including more expensive fashion and eveningwear,” she said. Tanya Taylor’s prices top out at $995, while Delphine’s prices range from $995-$2,495.
But that’s not to say that Delphine was a new idea.
“She’s an alter ego,” Taylor said. “Across multiple times in my life, I’ve created this personality — and she’s always defined a sense of freedom, spontaneity and confidence.”
Delphine was first imagined when Taylor was in college and applying to Parsons School of Design. The process included creating a mood board about her dream girl, and confident New Yorker Delphine Pratt was born. She had Tory Burch’s face and Bianca Jagger’s body, Taylor recalled. (Pratt is the last name of Taylor’s now husband, then ex-boyfriend.) Years later, when planning her first fashion show and asked to compile a guest list despite knowing few New Yorkers, Taylor added Delphine Pratt to the invite list along with her own address. For several seasons, Delphine was invited to Taylor’s shows.
“Her personality is really clear to me,” Taylor said. “She’s a little mischievous, she’s bold, she’s got a cheeky sense of humor, she’s glamorous, she loves spontaneity, and she’s not serious in any way. … It’s how I once was when I was younger and how I sometimes strive to be, but it’s not me.”
That somewhat explains the need for a unique brand, despite other brands, like Tory Burch, launching high-end occasionwear within their core labels. It also presents an opportunity to rethink every component of the business. In part to help manage the complexities that come with running two companies, Taylor hired Kate Spade and Coach alum Adrianne Kirszner as CEO, announced last month.
“I want to launch something based on what I wish I had known,” Taylor said. “After years and years and so many mistakes, I feel so much clearer on how you do this now. … [Internally,] we say we’re launching a new brand without new brand problems. Fingers crossed that’s the truth.”
Differences between Taylor’s brands include their sales teams and retail partners. For Delphine, Taylor hired CD Network, the NYC showroom for brands including Alexandre Vauthier and Lemaire. And, while Tanya Taylor sells at Saks and Neiman Marcus — as well as Shopbop, Rent the Runway and various specialty stores — Delphine’s distribution will exclude department stores. In its first two weeks, it will exclusively sell at Moda Operandi, after which it will launch at specialty stores including Hampden, in Charleston; Sosusu, in New Orleans; and Cabana Canary in Dallas.
“They’re stores where people find special dresses and have fun with fashion,” Taylor said. “It’s awesome to create a brand that can live in those worlds.”
In addition, Delphine’s marketing will have more of an edge. For example, in December, the brand will host a 60-person sit-down runway show in Taylor’s home city of Toronto — her old friends will be treated to music by a DJ and Jello shots.
Rather than “a boring dress and a girl walking out and turning in it,” Delphine’s product pages feature a model doing “weird things” while wearing the pieces, Taylor said. Inspired by the moves of Taylor’s kids, she’s shown sliding down stairs on her bottom and blowing a bubble in bed, for example.
Furthermore, Delphine customers who spend above a certain threshold will receive a “fun, silly surprise” to fuel an air of youthfulness and ensure the brand stands out.
“I like that high-low [marketing approach],” she said. “For Delphine, it wipes the seriousness off and communicates that this isn’t meant to be an intense brand. … It’s more extra and exaggerated.”
Delphine will roll out just two deliveries per year. The first collection will feature 15 pieces, while the second will include more than 20. The brand will develop and evolve based on the feedback of the new customer, who is expected to be “a lot more playful and experimental” than Tanya Taylor’s, Taylor said.
Still, through social media channels and customer emails, Delphine is temporarily being promoted to existing Tanya Taylor customers. They were given first access to shop the brand before its Wednesday launch.
On top of buyers, the brand has been introduced to select fashion insiders over the last couple of months. In early October, it debuted to editors at a launch party at Taylor’s West Village home — fitting, considering the personal story behind the brand. And, later last month, Taylor showed it to L.A.-based fashion stylists via appointments at a suite in the Sunset Tower.
“When someone says, ‘Elle Fanning would love this,’ and you designed it with Elle Fanning in mind, it’s nice validation,” Taylor said. “I want the brand to have more of a red-carpet presence and celebrity focus.”
Though Delphine may seem outside of the box for Taylor, who’s best known for making approachable knitwear, shirting and denim, those who know her best would see it as a fitting next step, she said. Some of the silhouettes were directly inspired by favorite vintage dresses in her wardrobe.
“It’s like a playground,” Taylor said of Delphine. It’s worth noting that Taylor is known as a multi-faceted artist who not only designs her namesake brand’s collections but also hand-paints the prints they feature. “I spend 90% of my time focusing on how to grow [Tanya Taylor], and then I get to have all of the kooky ideas go into this box that is Delphine.”
As for getting an elevated brand off the ground when the luxury market is unstable, Taylor said she’s not concerned.
“There is a lot of downturn in sales at higher price points, where [the customer] has to really consider buying a $4,000 dress,” she said. “But this is hitting a price point that doesn’t exist — there’s a white space for dresses that are sophisticated and fun. And our [dress] shapes are so classic and repeatable, they’re an investment in something someone wants to wear for a long time.”
The “light-hearted,” “playful” approach to branding Delphine was specifically meant to contrast the “heavy” feel of luxury brands, Taylor said. And sparking an emotional connection can’t be bad for sales.
According to Taylor, the goals for Delphine’s first year include “launching, having fun, listening to the customer, learning and repeating that again and again.”
“We’re not putting a lot of pressure on ourselves,” she said.
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