” When I saw [‘Moonstruck’] I knew I wanted to move to New York City.”
IT was just 15 years ago that designer Rebecca Taylor picked up and moved from the New Zealand seaside to a budget hostel on 23rd Street and Lexington: “We came off the plane at 6 a.m. and drove through Queens. There was a big sign that said Jamaica, and for a minute we thought we were really in Jamaica. Our driver said, ‘You’re in New York City, man!'” Today, Taylor calls Brooklyn home, and her eponymous women’s wear label of flirty, feminine designs, which she founded in 2000, is a multimillion-dollar operation. In between stops at Mood, “for last-minute fabrics,” and M&J Trimmings, “for buttons and trims,” Taylor likes to grab lunch at the Market Café, and sketch on the sofa of her Garment District office. This is her New York.
1 George Smith,
315 Hudson St.
We’re doing most of our furniture shopping in New York – we go to George Smith a lot. And we wait and wait for the sample sales.
2 Bryant Park Ice Skating Rink
It’s just an amazing half-hour breather out of a crazy day. And there are people from The Bronx, Indian people, Mexican people – everyone’s just getting out and doing it. Sometimes I go by myself after fabric meetings for a 20-minute skate.
3 Burgers and Cupcakes, 458 Ninth Ave.
We order from Burgers and Cupcakes at the office. I’m a vegetarian, so I get veggie burgers. I sometimes stop by to pick up cupcakes for the staff.
4 Tenement Museum, 97 Orchard St.
I like to go and walk around the museum. There’s so much of old New York and history down there in the Lower East Side. I really like all the bookstores and specialty shops in the area.
5 John Derian, 6 E. Second St.
I go here for inspiration and great home accessories.
6 23rd and Lexington
We lived in a hostel at 23rd and Lexington for two months – I worked at the reception. Then, our first lease, next door to the hostel, was crawling with cockroaches. Some crazy person lived there before us, and we had to chuck everything out – it didn’t come out as a clean white box. We were really, really strapped for cash, so everything was homemade, even our first Christmas tree. I tied Liberty-print
fabric in bows at the ends of the branches. We made our own art. It was a really fun time.
7 Helios Diner, 82 Sixth Ave., Brooklyn
For delivery, our favorite is a Greek place – Helios Diner. And we like to go for pizza, Brooklyn pizza.
8 Joyce, 646 Vanderbilt Ave., Brooklyn
They have the best croissants. On the weekends I like to stop here for a chocolate croissant.
9 City Opera Thrift Shop, 222 E. 23rd St.
I have a costume background – I worked for a costume shop in New Zealand; we made Queen Nefertiti costumes, costumes for Peter Jackson and a splat of other movies. My aunt is a ballerina, and I was always putting on her old dancing costumes.