Tanya Taylor & Pantone Just Dropped Vibrant T-Shirts In Feel-Good Hues

Tanya Taylor's eponymous womenswear collection is known for its un-shy juxtaposition of brilliant tones, based on prints hand-painted in the designer’s studio every season. Earlier this year, the designer fittingly contacted Pantone about a collaboration — which has finally come to fruition in the form of vibrantly hued t-shirts adorned with the company's trademark sans-serif logo, proprietary color name, and code: Tanya Taylor x Pantone Color Therapy Capsule. The conversation between the designer and the color agency started in January, but “when the pandemic hit,” explains Taylor, “the idea of emotion being tied to different hues [felt] so important.” The designer knew the uplifting feelings she wanted to convey, and the team at the Color Institute helped the designer isolate three options: PANTONE 15-2913 Lilac Chiffon for confidence, PANTONE 16-5721 Marine Green for calm, and PANTONE 18-3946 Baja Blue for creativity. “I always believe in the psychological impact of color,” explains Taylor. She was awed by the specificity and expertise of the Pantone team. Using Baja Blue as an example, the designer shares some specific rationale: “This blue has a little bit of red in it, which helps creativity — it’s not a flat blue. That’s what’s so special about working with [Pantone], is we feel as deeply about color [as they do]. It’s awesome to have that synergy.”

Taylor has seen firsthand the transformative emotional effect of color, thanks to a color painting class she’s conducted on the pediatric ward of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center — a series that started in 2018 after the designer was tapped to redesign the exam-room curtains on the children’s floor. “It’s fun,” shares the designer. “[The kids] are like, half-listening, drawing stuff, but it’s really cool.” Taylor reveled in the opportunity to provide respite from the bleak reality of the hospital setting, helping the young artists “feel like kids again, and not patients.”

As a nod to these efforts, the new Pantone collaboration will also benefit children. At the beginning of the pandemic, the designer — like scores of other independent brands in New York City — used a surplus of fabric from canceled retail orders to start making masks, and to date, they’ve produced over 200,000. Now, with the help of New York non-profit Fund For Public Schools, Taylor plans to use 20% of the sales from the capsule to manufacture and donate children’s masks to 100 schools throughout the five boroughs. (Taylor also added youth sizing to the t-shirt collaboration — her first foray into pint-sized apparel.) “I think kids are the most affected by [the pandemic],” explains the designer, “and if there’s anything we could do to give them a little bit more optimism, then we wanted to do that.”

The collection starts at $95 and is available in youth sizes XS-XL and adult sizes XS-3XL. In addition to the proceeds from the sale of the t-shirts, customers also have the option to add a mask donation to their orders.