“I Am the Original Horse Girl”: Eight Minutes with Collina Strada’s Hillary Taymour

FRIDAY 7:04 PM SEPTEMBER 6, 2024 EAST VILLAGE

When I pulled Hillary Taymour aside to take part in our “Smoke Break” column, I discovered that the Collina Strada designer doesn’t actually smoke. “I’m a vegan,” she told me after the brand’s SS25 show at Performance Space New York. “I don’t drink anymore either.” That doesn’t mean her clothes don’t burst with a sense of play, which was evident at Taymour’s state fair-themed after party. Partygoers including Crackhead Barney and Aaron Rose Phillips saddled up for carnival games and a hobby horse performance—horse girl everywhere were altogether redeemed. But Taymour says they didn’t need to be. “Don’t even speak about this,” quipped the designer when I asked why horse girls get a bad rap. “I am the original horse girl.” Before taking a ride on a mechanical bull, we talked to Taymour about being a workaholic, going mainstream, and the pleasures of having a muse, or several.

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EMMA STOUT: So, you don’t smoke?

HILLARY TAYMOUR: No. I’m just a healthy girl. I’m a vegan. I don’t drink anymore either.

STOUT: Have you ever smoked?

TAYMOUR: I smoked a pack of cigarettes when I was 14 years old and never did it again. But I did go through a period where I would smoke native herbs.

STOUT: Ooh, that is healthy. I read that you’re into psychedelics and mushrooms.

TAYMOUR: People always think that I must be so high all the time, but maybe I just did enough. You know what I mean? I don’t really get high on psychedelics that much anymore. I’m down for whatever, but I also just know what’s best for me, my body, and my mental health in order to be the peak person I can be at the moment. I have to operate on 1,000 at all times.

STOUT: Especially this week.

TAYMOUR: Well, most weeks. I’m a woman who runs her own business.

STOUT: Are you a workaholic?

TAYMOUR: I wish I wasn’t. I wish I didn’t have to be. But I love my job. I love my dog and I love my job.

STOUT: Since we’re looking at the horse right now…

TAYMOUR: His name is Chips. And I made those little boots for him as well as the halter.

STOUT: Oh my gosh, a Collina Strada special.

TAYMOUR: It’s part of our UGG campaign. We shot the campaign in Colombia at this miniature pony farm, so I made them for the pony and now we’re here.

STOUT: Let’s talk about horse girls.

TAYMOUR: I’m a horse girl. There’s going to be some horse girl action upstairs pretty soon.

STOUT: What do you have in store?

TAYMOUR: Hobby horsing.

STOUT: I’ve been seeing that on TikTok. I’m obsessed with it.

TAYMOUR: I used to do it when I was little, but we called it “people jumping” back then. I’m not going to tell you what era that was. You can Google it. But I grew up riding horses. I would have a clique of friends who would all have sleepovers and we’d throw on our own horse shows and jump around and judge each other.

STOUT: Were you the toughest judge?

TAYMOUR: Yeah, for sure. I was the meanest. I was like, “Well, your canter wasn’t very smooth and your posture wasn’t very good and you didn’t really have your reins right.”

STOUT: Shit, not the canter.

TAYMOUR: “Your distance wasn’t very good on that last jump I saw.”

STOUT: Why do you think horse girls are so hated?

TAYMOUR: They’re not at all anymore. Stop this. Don’t even speak about this. I am the original horse girl. I’m a trendsetter making horse girls alive again.

STOUT: I read in an interview that you like to have multiple muses at a time. Are any of your muses here with us tonight?

TAYMOUR: Yeah, Indira’s here, Aaron [Rose Phillip]’s here, and then there’s Eva [Nelson] and Mannat [Kaur] and Taylor [Larzo] outside.

STOUT: Can you tell right away if someone inspires you creatively?

TAYMOUR: Oh, yeah. If I like the vibe, I can tell. It’s instant. It’s energy. It’s nothing to do with the way they look. It’s the energy, it’s the style, it’s the feeling and also the connection, connecting with a person and being like, “Oh, yeah, I want to dress you and I want to know how you like to dress and how I can dress this person in a way that looks like them, but feels like me, too.” When the talent comes in, we try on the look and then I style. If it’s not working, I try on a lot of looks, a lot more than most people, because I want to see it click. And when I see the smile, then I’m like, “Oh, that’s the one.” Because that’s what you get in a Collina Strada show: the talent are feeling themselves. They feel good in what they’re wearing. They’re happy to be there. And I don’t get that in a lot of other shows.

STOUT: Yeah, there’s a joy to it. What’s the vibe of the after party? What do you want it to give?

TAYMOUR: Hobby horse girl. We have line dancing. We hobby horsing. We have cumgirl8 performing.

STOUT: I didn’t know cumgirl8 was a horse girl.

TAYMOUR: Yeah, they have a hobby horse music video.

STOUT: Oh, shit.

TAYMOUR: Yeah, tap in. It’s going to be fun. There’s a mechanical bull.

STOUT: Are you going to be on it?

TAYMOUR: Yeah, I’ll go on it. Are you?

STOUT: If you do, I’ll do.

TAYMOUR: Let’s do it.

STOUT: Since we’re celebrating your collab with UGG and you just had one with BAGGU, I wanted to ask how it feels to have become progressively trendier.

TAYMOUR: Well, I feel blessed and happy that I’m able to create products for all different types of customers that maybe wanted to buy my line but couldn’t afford it.

SECURITY GUARD: I’m sorry to interrupt. I’m going to take that from you.

TAYMOUR: Okay.

STOUT: That’s probably best for my lungs anyway.

TAYMOUR: Smoke break just got canceled. The security guard came in.

STOUT: We just got busted.

TAYMOUR: You got me busted at my own party.

STOUT: Shit.

TAYMOUR: But yeah, I like being both sustainable and accessible.