If you’ve been following our Million Dollar Shoppers interviews, you can easily tell we’re a little obsessed. Just a tiny bit. So when the opportunity arose to talk with Tayler and Gregg again, there was no way we could pass up it up. Sitting down to chat exclusively with JustLuxe, the dynamic duo in fashion was cracking jokes, giving tips and fervently discussing men's fashion—spoiler alert: they are not fans of a pleated pant.
In the middle of seasonal allergies, Tayler explains (with a still bubbly personality), how the two shoppers became partners. Working for Dior straight out of college, she ran into Gregg at a company party, and that was it—the two were inseparable. After blogging, PR, editorials and attending numerous fashion shows, she started speaking with people who wanted her to be their personal shopper. “One thing lead to another and I started picking up clients that wanted me to style them and shop for them and—Gregg always kind of has been with me,” she says.
Gregg agrees. “I did follow her around like a lost dog,” he adds before he corrects himself. “She pulled me around like a lost dog!”
“He’s my bitch! Literally and figuratively,” she chimes in.
“We just have so much fun together so it’s kind of just a natural progression as she moved—we just shopped really well together,” he finishes, trying not to laugh.
Their rapport suggests a sibling relationship—the two are often finishing each other’s sentences, jumping into each other’s comments, and making little jabs at the other. Not only their style, but their personality is completely complimentary to one another. “We don’t even have to call each other, that’s how in sync we are,” Gregg explains, talking about the numerous time they’ve arrived in similar outfits. “I mean, our clothing always matches, we’re like twin brother and sister, you know? Obviously I’m a little older so her mother held her in just a little bit longer.” They both burst out laughing.
But when fashion gets in the way, even the best of teams have been known to have an all-out throw down—these two, however, swear that’s not the case. “When we get on each other’s nerves we just tell each other. We don’t really have…” Tayler pauses, “we just work really effortlessly together.”
“We would argue about silly stuff like where we’re going to have dinner or she gets tired and she gets cold a lot and in the car she hates to have the air on and I’m like—‘I could sweat an igloo! I have so much body hair!’—and then she has to go to the bathroom,” Gregg says. “We get on each other’s nerves in so many different ways that has really nothing to do with shopping.”
When it comes to style, it seems like their differences are actually what makes them such good partners. A balance between the two helps keep them, and their high-end clients, right on the cusp of fashion. “I push her to kind of be a little more edgy and she pulls me back sometimes to really listen to the client. But I think at the end of the day we have fun with fashion; we have fun shopping,” Gregg explains.
When shopping for the client, the two even each other out into the perfect blend of beauty and edge, but when it comes to their own style it’s all or nothing. “I have a bit of a shopping addiction,” Gregg confesses. “I’m an acquirer of high-end stuff…”
“He’s a hoarder! He’s a luxury hoarder!” Tayler laughs.
“Yeah—but I think you work really hard in this world and it’s like, I’m not going to settle for just having the Gap if I can have, you know, Gucci or whatever. So I just have different philosophies, and it’s probably just because I grew up having not very much,” he says. “I’ve just always worked really hard to acquire the things that are pretty, and I think you should have things that are pretty.”
“I have you and you’re pretty!” she adds quickly, making them both giggle.
“You can’t return me,” he laughs. “30 day policy.”
And while you might think making a name for them in the tight-knit world of fashion would take more seriousness than the two could muster, you would be totally wrong. Their motto is to play just as hard as you work, but never take anything too seriously. Which is saying a lot considering all fashion ever does is take itself too seriously. “It’s really just selling some girl something that she wants, you know? And I don’t think that we take that seriously,” Gregg explains. “I mean, I don’t think you can have a grown man wearing a full sequin outfit and really be that serious about anything.” Touché.
Focusing on clients, however, suddenly brings out the business side of the two shoppers. Giving each customer exactly what they’re looking for is the goal—to leave each client with a new wardrobe that’s current, cutting edge and still embodies their personal style. “That’s why they hire us. They don’t necessarily have the best taste. They might have a lot of money, but as we know, money doesn’t buy you taste—or class,” Tayler says.
They explain that they try to take the client just beyond their comfort zone where they can try new styles, but still enjoy each piece. For the clients that are starting from scratch or need a revamped wardrobe, they emphasize that education is necessary. “A lot of it is education—I think Tayler would agree—and just educating a client [about] why they need something.”
They confess that real-life and Million Dollar Shopper clients are not the same. The clients on T.V. had ridiculous requests (which lead them into agreements about how they never want to even think about another purple Birkin again) and were overly dramatic when the cameras were rolling. “They cast the client to come on the show, so you’re going to get a person that is wanting to be on T.V. for whatever reason,” Gregg says. But the two swear that behind the scenes, once the cameras were off, even the worst clients were friendly and invited them out for drinks, dinner or even weekends in their vacation homes.
“Every show needs to have a little bit of drama, but what we liked about the show is they didn’t make it too dramatic,” Tayler explains. “Like, we got to have fun with it; we weren’t pulling each other’s hair out or mud wresting in couture…”
“Although, I would have mud wrestled,” Gregg adds.
But it wasn’t all fun and games on set. With hours of shopping, styling and consulting, most of what the cameras captured had to end on the cutting room floor. With all the hard work that went into each client, they were a little disappointed the majority of what they do didn’t actually make it to the final cut. “There was so much that wasn’t shown,” Tayler explains. “There was so much clothing that we pulled, there was so much shopping that we did that didn’t get put out on the show and we hated that.” But even with the heavy editing the two shoppers are hoping for a second season to show what they’re made of.
And in case you’re wondering what to wear when that ball drops at midnight, they have a few suggestions. “This is the time of the year to be festive, you know, wear sparkle, be over-the-top!” Tayler says, adamant that you can never have too much glitter. They talk fondly about the day when people had dinner parties and swanky soirees, and really dressed to the nines.
Thinking of sporting your favorite LBD? They say no. “Black is a lint catching mess,” Gregg says. “And if you have a cat or a dog, or you know, kind of a dirty car, you’re going to look like a wreck when you get there. But no one can tell anything when you’re wearing sparkle. They’re just looking at the shine.” Now we’re suddenly wondering why we’re not wearing sequins every day.
But ideas for menswear soon turn into a full-fledged discussion on the market as a whole. “I think [men’s fashion] is stagnant and that’s why I’ve opted for years to go into a woman’s—more of their—wardrobe,” Gregg explains. “I think that they actually do elevate the level, I don’t know, I think they push themselves to do more and more.” While men’s fashion is still slow-moving it’s absolutely leaps and bounds from where it was in previous years, and Gregg believes designers like Rick Owens and Duckie Brown are trying to push the envelope. “[Men’s fashion] is usually either geared toward two things: the professional man or a man that is an athletic kind of guy—there has to be something in between and the in between that I’m seeing right now is really more of a gay man’s outfit,” he laughs hard. “It’s either you’re corporate America, or you’re going hiking or jogging, or you’re a gay man.”
Tayler talks about her husband and the way that he dresses (which is undoubtedly spectacular as he's married to one of the best personal shoppers) and how men need to focus on what really flatters more so than whatever is comfortable. “Men just need to step up their game and stop being sloppy. Get out of your Underarmor gear and your Nike gear and put on something that fits,” she says, before she really lets the hammer fall. “Don’t wear pleated pants! No man looks good in a pleated pant unless it’s a supermodel doing some kind of editorial piece, [or] an homage to the 1920s with a monocle on your eye or something!”
Gregg wholeheartedly agrees. “Pleated pants are nothing but a crotch—it’s a crotch attention-er, don’t you think?” he says with disgust. “I mean, it draws the eyes straight to the crotch.” So unless that’s your thing, they suggest you stay away.
“If you want to look like the monopoly man, then go for the pleated pants,” Tayler added as the two break out into laughter.
