From Santa Barbara to Ancient Rome: The Story Behind Tarquin Taylor

Tarquin Taylor was born in Santa Barbara, a city where the California sun hits the Spanish architecture just right and everything feels a little more European. It's a place that naturally draws you toward beauty — and toward the question of where that beauty comes from.

A Designer Born from Two Worlds

The name Tarquin has ancient roots — it was the name of a Roman king, and there's even a city called Tarquinia, just an hour north of Rome, where that history still lives in the walls and the soil. Our designer has never been there — yet. A trip to Italy is planned for the coming year, and Tarquinia is already on the itinerary. Growing up with an Italian mother, the beauty of Italian design, craftsmanship, and la dolce vita wasn't something learned from books. It was lived. Italians have long been the world's great designers — from fashion houses in Milan to the artisan workshops of Florence — and that sensibility runs deep in the DNA of this brand.

Learning Fashion from the Ground Up

Our designer's first job was as a prep cook at the Nordstrom café — but the real education was happening just beyond the kitchen. Surrounded daily by one of America's most respected fashion retailers, it was there that a deep appreciation for style, quality, and how clothing makes people feel first took hold.

The Education Behind the Craft

Great design doesn't always happen by accident. Our designer studied business, art, and sewing in college — a rare combination that bridges the creative and the commercial. Understanding how a garment is constructed from the inside out, how color and form speak to the eye, and how a brand sustains itself over time: these are the foundations that Tarquin Taylor is built on.

The Coin That Started It All

Look closely at the Tarquin Taylor logo and you'll find a coin — not a modern one, but a design dating to 1553. Coins like these were the original storytellers: portraits of rulers, symbols of power, records of a civilization passed from hand to hand across centuries. Our coin logo is a reminder that great design outlasts trends. That something made with care and intention carries meaning far beyond its moment.

Where It All Began

Our first collection was where the vision came to life — Italian-inspired silhouettes cut for the California lifestyle, relaxed enough for a morning at the farmers market, refined enough for a sunset dinner on the mesa. And it's just the beginning. The La Dolce Vita collection is on the horizon, a fully realized expression of everything the brand stands for — worth the wait.

What's Next: A Brand Built to Last

The Tarquin Taylor story is still being written. With the brand name trademark currently in process, the next step will be protecting the TT monogram — setting the stage for an expanding line of luxury leather goods: men's wallets and cardholders, women's bags, purses, and briefcases, belts, and eventually shoes. A fragrance line is also part of the long-term vision. Tarquin Taylor is evolving from a clothing brand into a full luxury lifestyle house — rooted in the same Italian heritage and California sensibility that started it all.

Santa Barbara Fashion, Made to Last

Santa Barbara has always had its own sense of style — unhurried, sun-warmed, quietly sophisticated. It's a city that appreciates thoughtfully made clothing, artisan craft, and Italian-inspired design that doesn't shout but simply is. Tarquin Taylor grew here because it couldn't have grown anywhere else.