Meet the 10-year-old US fashion influencer who has over a million social media followers
PARIS - Taylen Biggs has close to 1.5 million followers across TikTok and Instagram, a wardrobe full of designer clothes and 15 fashion weeks under her belt – and she’s 10 years old.
The girl arrived at the recent Balmain show, one of the hottest tickets of Paris Fashion Week, in a luxurious white jacket-and-skirt combo by the French label, black boots and bag by Karl Lagerfeld and her favourite Vintage Frames shades.
The American influencer was followed, as always, by her cameraman. Also keeping a discreet distance was her “bodyguard”, as she calls him, who also happens to be her father.
“I love fashion and I love meeting new people and interviewing them and seeing what they have to say,” she said, before getting down to business with her microphone.
Taylen, who lives in Miami, United States, has interviewed the likes of American DJ-producer DJ Khaled, American singer Kali Uchis and American football star Patrick Mahomes, as well as a huge number of models, designers and fellow fashionistas.
She is practically a veteran of red carpets, appearing at everything from the MTV Video Music Awards to the Super Bowl, a regular at New York and Miami fashion weeks, and all over Milan and Paris for the past fortnight.
“I really miss my family a lot,” she said. “And I miss Miami. But I don’t miss the food from Miami. I’m in love with the food here.”
Influencers are now the fashion industry’s favoured form of media – a direct line to the public and happy to trade goodies for coverage – and age is no obstacle.
Taylen’s father, Josh Biggs, says he has largely given up his job as a construction contractor in Miami to work full-time as his daughter’s assistant.
“I travel with her everywhere she goes, I am her shadow,” he said.
Asked if his daughter has become a business, he replied: “People see her through the camera lens... but in real life she’s a child first and foremost.”
Taylen landed her first modelling gig when she was 18 months old after her fashion-loving mother, a Colombian who came to the US when she was 13, posted pictures of her on social media that were spotted by an advertising agency.
She now runs her daughter’s social media accounts and oversees home-schooling for Taylen and her brother and sister.
“We take school very seriously, it’s priority number one,” said her father.
They worked through the summer so that Taylen could take a long break during the back-to-back fashion weeks in Milan and Paris in September.
Taylen’s father – who says he has little interest in fashion – says there is no pressure on his daughter to continue if she gets bored.
“If she’s ready to change and pursue a different career, then it’s up to her,” he said. “We will leave the fashion world in a second. There’s no qualms about it.”
But Taylen seems to enjoy her job.
“I’m really good with anyone,” she said. “I’m really good with kids. I love children. And I really love adults – I don’t even get annoyed.” - AFP
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