Tamron Hall Has Become One Of Fashion’s Biggest Champions

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Who knew one of fashion’s greatest ally’s is on daytime television? Talk show host Tamron Hall loves fashion and she’s been using her popular show to promote emerging and independent designers with her Up & Coming Designer series. The platform features unknown designers who get national visibility and feedback from industry vets like Tommy and Dee Hilfiger, Norma Kamali, and Prabal Gurung, to name a few. The charming and chatty Hall recently took a few minutes out of her day to tell The Daily about the series and her lifelong passion for fashion. 

Tell us about your Up & Coming Designer series, and how it came about.
It’s a series I launched in 2019 at the very start of the show. The idea was [a reflection of] my clear love of fashion and appreciation of a good look. But more than that, it was this idea that we know the big designers, we know what we see in stores and online, but there are people who, through no fault of their own, but through the reality of life, had to leave those Vogue patterns underneath the table and step away to address life, bills, family. It reminded me so much of my childhood. We weren’t wealthy, and whenever there was a party or a graduation or a prom, someone would get their dress made from someone at the church or a family member. When I would visit my aunt, she had this big basket of Vogue patterns, or we would go to Joann’s Fabric store, and that reminded me that dreams can be deferred, but they don’t have to die. The idea was here’s your chance, one person a day, dress me, come on the show, tell us your story, tell us your life, and here’s this chance to share with the world your dream, and it took off.

It really has!
The first season [we had] André Leon Talley on, who was my dear friend. I called him and said, ‘Can you just come and give some advice?’ He came on, and then Covid happened, and we believe it or not did the show from my home in Sag Harbor. The box was shipped to my home, and this was when everyone was afraid to open something, so I left it out on the porch. I opened this huge suitcase, and via Zoom we ended up interviewing these aspiring designers. We’ve had a gentleman who was from the Boston area who was an architect, and at seventy five years old started doing designs of his own. And so we did it via Zoom, we had Norma Kamali, Badgley Mischka, the names kept coming. Dreams can be delayed, but they don’t have to die.

How do you find these designers?
We put out an open call online. People would come up to me as my [own] fashion started to get its own set of fans, and they would say, ‘I want to dress you one day’ or  ‘My son’s a designer,’ or, ‘My daughter loves sketching,’ and I would say, ‘Send it in!’ Some people you would see a twinkle, others instant fear. It became this inspiration for me personally about, ‘Are you ready to step through that door?’  When I wrote my first crime novel in Sag Harbor, it was during Covid, and I thought, ‘Am I really going to try this? This is something I always wanted to do, am I really going to step out there?’ We have these different moments even in our personal love lives you know, ‘Am I really going to ask this person for a date? Am I really going to pick up the phone and text them back?’ This series is an embodiment of that. It’s fashion, but it relates to so many other levels of our lives.

I understand you learned about fashion from the women you grew up with. Could you tell me a little bit about that experience?
I grew up in a Southern culture of church, and women who were teachers, or worked at the post office and had these 9 to 5 jobs, and they would transform in the church. I had a couple of opportunities to interview Dolly Parton, and we would talk about this culture of these women that you’d see washing some of their clothes sometimes by hand, and then they would walk out just gorgeous. Hats, shoes, style, and confidence. For me, that became a North Star. Fashion and style doesn’t always translate to a price tag. It translates to the confidence that clothing can bring to you.

 You had Tommy and Dee Hilfiger on your show recently as mentors. Are they going to be on regularly?
No, we change mentors every year. Last year it was Michael Kors. The year before that it was Paul Tazewell, who just won an Oscar for the costumes for Wicked.  A lot of them are learning business, a lot of them may go into costume design, and so it became more than, ‘Okay here’s a big name who can offer you a little bit of advice.’ It was more of a life class, a master class. It was more than sitting down and lecturing someone about if their design was good or bad. When I reached out to Tommy and Dee last year, they immediately said they were interested. We don’t pay, it’s not a competition, there’s no offer, but do you want to give a little time to someone who just might really need it? I am blown away that Tommy and Dee would give their time and commit to it. It was absolutely incredible. Zac Posen is coming up  and we just had Prabal [Gurung] on. We are very lucky to be in the New York area to get these incredible designers who have phenomenal stories.

I know you’ve had some success with designers like Parker Zinn. How does it feel to see these designers go out into the world and succeed after doing your show?
It’s so wild to see Parker Zinn now selling at Bloomingdale’s. When she was on the show, she was with her family, and her parents came in and they sat in the audience. Like all of the designers we hug and I say, ‘Keep in touch, and I’m so proud of you.’ Those words of encouragement that I received through my career while I was building this show and my life [were so important]. When Parker called and said, ‘Because of you, I’m in Bloomingdale’s.’ There are no words. She came back on our show, and she said, ‘My whole life changed because of this moment.’ It was also her story, it’s her tenacity, and I think that when the buyers at Bloomingdale’s heard her story, and heard her point of view, that’s a part of it.

What do you like about going to fashion shows, and who are the designers that you love?
I am from a town with a population of two thousand, and I think most of them are my relatives. To be in New York City, and to go to the Met and see the Michael Kors show celebrating this milestone, or Sergio Hudson, who is scrappy and bold and a fierce protector of the industry, and independent designers. To sit there and see that collection, I’m going to be honest, you feel so Sex and the City, there’s this moment where you are like, ‘Move over Candace Bushnell, I am walking down these streets!’  To see intimately what it takes to stay relevant, what it takes to come back every season. I have such a deep appreciation for it. You don’t create something that instantly arrives at Saks, or instantly arrives at Bergdorf’s. That it is a challenge every season. I was at Christopher John Rogers show when he made his return. It is the beauty and complexity of life that you and I face everyday, and they face as designers. That sometimes gets lost in what ultimately comes out on the runway, and you get to see it when you’re there, the energy of it.

Would you ever want your own line?
Wow, that’s a great question. I don’t think anyone’s ever asked me that. I mean, someone should have by now! I don’t know what my point of view would be. If I were to work on it, I’d have to find what the point of view is, and why I am doing it. I am not a straight-laced nine-to-five working gal kind of suited thing. I’m in my Dolly mode right now, and I watched 9 to 5 and there they are in their sneakers, and their skirt and jacket. I loved The Swans and became quite obsessed with Babe Paley and the designs from the show. I went and raided every vintage store trying to find that Burgundy jacket that she was photographed in. I am always in a Jackie Onassis stage. If I had a style idol, it would be somewhere between Ms. Paley and Diana Ross.