What Ever Happened to Taylor Jacobson?
The former 'The Rachel Zoe Project' star has forged her own styling career and counts Jon Hamm as a client.
Looking back at our shows, we often wonder about the people who've left. Where did they go when their moment in the Bravo spotlight was over? What are they up to now? Each week, we'll be looking into the lives of one of these familiar faces. Today, it's Taylor Jacobson from The Rachel Zoe Project.
She was the outspoken, attitude-heavy and hard-working platinum-blond styling associate who'd been by Rachel Zoe's side for years. But between filming on seasons two and three of The Rachel Zoe Project, drama unfolded off-camera and Taylor Jacobson was fired by Rachel and husband Rodger Berman, who strongly implied that Taylor had stolen from their business—something she repeatedly denied.
In the Season 3 opener, which aired in the summer of 2010, Rachel made it clear that even though months had passed, things were still raw: When another member of her staff at the time, Brad Goreski, told her he'd heard Taylor was styling a star for the Golden Globes, Rachel replied, "The last thing I want to hear is something good about Taylor."
Taylor opened up about her work ethic following her exit from the show. "I'm about the job. I can't get caught up in this," she told TVGuide.com after her controversial firing. Ties were severed. Whatever happened happened, and it's time to move forward."
Taylor did just that and after leaving the show things quickly, she told HollywoodLife.com, started getting "better with a capital B." She launched her own styling business (Kate Beckinsale was one of her first A-list clients and remains with her to this day), designed a denim line called Kasil+Taylor Jacobson jeans, signed with Atelier Management and blogged for Everyday Minerals. She wrote "everything from how to throw a garden dinner party to caftans to picture of my parents in the '70s, because they were so cool. It's literally anything," she told TVGuide.com of her early post-Bravo life.
Taylor briefly return to reality TV in 2011 to serve as a judge on the second season of Oxygen's Hair Battle Spectacular, and in 2012 starred on the first and only season of the network's Hollywood Unzipped: Stylist Wars series.
These days, however, she tries to fly under the radar, and aside from her colorful personal inspiration blog Pillz and Thrillz and darkly humorous social media accounts, tries to stay focused on her styling business. "When I'm not working I really keep a low profile. I like to stay home," Taylor told HollywoodLife.com. "I work so much that at the end of the day the last thing I want to do is go to an event."
Her client list has grown to include a slew of Hollywood stars including Jon Hamm, Rumer Willis, Marisa Tomei, Naya Rivera, Mena Suvari and Colin Farrell. In March 2015, Taylor begrudgingly started promoting her celebrity styling work with a new social media presence. "Selling out and starting a fashion Instagram account. I drank the Cool Aid," she Tweeted along with a link to her first post.
After surviving a period where her reputation was put thorough the ringer, Taylor says she's learned not to take everything so seriously. "I think that it gets to a point where who cares what they say, just move on!" she told Laura Ling for PopSugar in 2014. "People are going to sh-- talk no matter what. You could be the most successful, the wealthiest, the skinniest… people are always going to bring you down," she explained, adding that she just wants "to do the best possible job."
She's spoken of someday segwaying into costume design, but has also expressed a hope of turning into an eccentric hermit down the line. "I would love to wear Mrs. Roper [from Three's Company] meets the woman from Great Expectations—the grandma [who's] so chic: thick eyeliner, diamonds and martinis and people only see me when I'm [grocery shopping] at Bristol Farms or Whole Foods and they say, 'Is that Taylor? Did I go to school with her? She looks so oddly familiar'" she told PopSugar. "And then I'm just gone."
[Sources: TVGuide.com, HollywoodLife.com, Taylor's blog, Taylor's Twitter, Taylor's personal Instagram, Taylor's fashion Instagram, PopSugar]
