Tanya Taylor Teams With Memorial Sloan Kettering on Lively Head Wraps for Chemotherapy Patients
Anyone who has ever gazed at a Rothko painting—or watched a pink sunset on a summer night—knows that color can be healing. The New York–based designer Tanya Taylor is putting that idea to good use in her new partnership with Memorial Sloan Kettering hospital. A painter since her youth, Taylor has designed head scarves featuring her brushstrokes, which will be given to women on the first day of their chemotherapy treatments.
The partnership came about when a friend of Taylor’s was diagnosed with breast cancer and lost her waist-length locks. Inspired by a vintage Norma Kamali wrap, Taylor—a 2014 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist who had already taught color-therapy painting classes for the hospital and designed curtains for its pediatric exam rooms—conjured up chic scarves to “bring color and confidence to the lives of women when they need it most.” Says Taylor: “My personal favorite is the paint splattered style. It’s an abstract pattern that exudes happiness and matches the curtains we have installed on the MSK Pediatric floor.”
Facing the realities of cancer treatment is daunting, and Taylor hopes her sunny accessories can help to ease some of the stresses—even just superficially. “As a main focus for the brand is to bring strength to women at all times, it felt like an opportunity to partner with MSK,” Taylor says, noting that the scarves will also be available to purchase on her site for $15 with 100 percent of the proceeds going to MSK. “We have donated 300 headscarves to be given to women on the first day of chemotherapy and have produced matching kids’ sizes to be a tool to connect patients with their children. It was also important for me to design something that was a fashion statement so that it could be worn by women everywhere.”
