Melissa Ann Taylor Returns With a Darkly Intimate Runway Show

It’s been a long, hot summer, but the sweltering heat is finally beginning to wane. There’s a chill in the air (yeah, 83 degrees counts as a chill) that brings with it a ripple of excitement, anticipation and, perhaps, even a little anxiety. This transitory energy sets the perfect stage for fashion designer Melissa Ann Taylor to grace the city with her third Dallas runway show.

Known for atmospheric showings that blend darkly dreamy yet sharp silhouettes, Taylor stunned with her two previous collections, Ghosts SS25 and Melissa Taylor FW22. Her next collection, I Tried To Tell You SS25, will represent the continued evolution of her distinctive narrative style. This really is a can’t-miss event, and you will regret it if you don’t go.

I Tried To Tell You engages with deeply personal themes. The collection is inspired by the turbulent year that Taylor experienced following her last runway show.

“I had a year of major disruption and instability where I didn’t really recognize my life or myself,” she says.

Dark periods of life can cause anxiety to manifest jarringly as deeply rooted fears and worries come to the surface and force one to experience them again, as if for the first time. When life becomes a surreal journey where the familiar feels completely alien, Taylor, being a genuine artist, processes derealization through her work. Her mind has been ruminating on mortality and ways to fight against that deep sense of existential unease that most of us do our absolute best to ignore.

“Although I was pretty down and out for a while, I do value the rough time I had, and I hope that I am able to convey a beautiful, impressionistic gesture of that time [with this collection],” she says.

The functional dimension of I Tried To Tell You is about wearability, color, fit and graphics. Since her last runway show, Taylor has amassed practical experience at her day job as a patternmaker and tailor for Dallas couture designer Mackenzie Brittingham.

“I’m always setting a higher bar for myself, and doing frequent fittings at Mackenzie Brittingham has helped me get garments to hang on the body a little better, so with this collection I’m repeating some older silhouettes [from previous collections] that haven’t been 100% there before,” she says.

Taylor is also incorporating experimental dyeing techniques and unique textural components, and using appliqué to create dimensional looks.

“I’m kind of trying to replicate the feeling of walking around a neighborhood at night — the shadows, the colors, the weird reflections,” she says.

These walks are one of the many ways that she copes with anxiety and ontological dread. There really is no better way to get out of your own head than to, well, go outside.

Taylor’s inspiration for I Tried To Tell You isn’t bound solely by her immediate experiences, it also comes from some unexpected cultural influences. As it turns out, indulging in absurdist humor is another good way to cope with stress.

“What helped me through quite a few of my anxiety attacks was watching weird body horror films, and those have been on my mind while designing this collection, the standout movie being The Lair of the White Worm," she says of a film based on a Bram Stroker novel of the same name. (It’s campy, weird and has Hugh Grant in it.)

Taylor also enjoyed watching a lot of goofy French and Italian movies from the '60’s and '70s, such as The Strangler.

“I love the set design, the color schemes and the over-the-top acting in these films, watching them when you’re feeling uneasy is nice because they are so far removed from anything going on in your life, or the world, it just takes you out of your own head,” she says.

I Tried To Tell You is truly an expression of Taylor’s intimate life, but it has also been an incredibly important outlet for her community.

“With this collection I’ve worked with a handful of people that have graciously volunteered their time to work with me," she says. "It’s a lot different than what I am used to, which is typically working in relative isolation, so I’ve just been really grateful to have the help I have had and feel a sense of togetherness.”

The clothing she's created for this collection is meant for her community, and everyone outside of it, to wear — not just to look at.

“I really have been focused on wearability and thinking more about my friends and other creatives and kind of reflecting their tastes and what they would want to wear on a daily basis,” Taylor says.

Ultimately, there is really no better way to deal with fear, stress, turmoil and death than coming together and doing things with people you love, or at least like. Life can take its tolls with unwavering brutality, but real community can help to lessen the blow. Bonus if everyone is dressed extremely well.

I Tried To Tell You SS25 will debut at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 17, at The Oak Cliff Assembly, 919 Morrell Ave. Tickets can be purchased through eventbrite.com. Follow Melissa Ann Taylor on Instagram @melissaanntaylor and visit her website, shopmelissataylor.com.