Taylor Hill — The New Face of TOPSHOP
TOPSHOP has a new girl crush. Girl next door, international catwalk model and closet sci-fi nerd — Taylor Hill is our new style icon. Born and raised in Colorado — but now a certified New York resident — she’s a fashion chameleon, switching between this season’s trends with effortless ease and looking just as at home on the catwalk as she does walking her dog, Tate, in Central Park. Want to know more? We get up close and personal with the up-and- coming supermodel in the making.
What was it like growing up in Colorado?
It was cold! But fun. I have a lot of siblings and they’re all my best friends. We would go snowboarding, hiking, sledding on snowy days and just hang out. We lived in the middle of nowhere and the closest city was Denver, 30 minutes away, and even that to me isn’t a real city. Coming here to New York was such a shock. I was like, where’s the sky? It was crazy.
What did you love at school?
I really loved reading and writing. At 13 I read a million words in a year, which I’m pretty proud of. In school we had to take reading tests on the computer, I think they were called Accelerated Reader, it’s logged into a system where it tells you how many words is in a book and I read all of the books for that programme, took the tests. I was actually really bad in school but I was really good at reading. So I read them, did the test and read a million words! I’m a sci-fi nerd so I read the Harry Potter books, this series called Eragon which is about dragons. Harry Potter and dragons basically sums up my childhood.
What are you reading at the moment?
I’m reading The Martian — I saw the movie, which was really good, but they always say the book is better than the movie. I’m often on those short three-four- hour flights with no TV and I’m like, what am I going to do? So I often buy a lot of books in the airport before. I’m traveling so much so don’t watch TV so much either. I’ve never seen Game of Thrones which people are amazed by. When I come home I have all these programmes saved on my TeVo but I’m like, I don’t have time to watch five hours of this!
Do you have a favourite movie?
I’ve always loved Pretty Woman. That’s the first one that pops into my head. Otherwise any Disney movie! I know that might sound weird because I’m an adult but I love Tangled and Frozen and even the old ones like The Little Mermaid. I went to Disney World recently with my sister for her 18th birthday, we went to Harry Potter World at Universal Studios — we had a blast! We were like children again. It was amazing!
Is there anything you can’t stop wearing right now?
Sweaters! I have a cheetah-print one by Saint Laurent and I love it. It’s just one little layer, a little cardigan, which is perfect in this unpredictable weather. I don’t want to always wear a coat, even if it is cold. I feel like I’ve been wearing coats for months I’m over it! So I got this sweater and I’m wearing it nearly every day as an easy throw-on. The print is really interesting too.
What is your first Topshop memory?
My first memory was when I did my first New York (fashion week) season and my agent took me into Topshop and bought me black skinny jeans, a white tank top and heels. Everything! I didn’t even know what Topshop was at that point because you were so new to the States. And from then I loved it!
With such a down-to-earth personality, is it any wonder why we all cannot get enough of Taylor Hill?
