Kim Taylor Bennett stays on record, in music, style, and upstate life
By Alison Green
Photography Harold Julian
Creative Direction Nhi Mundy
Styling Ise White
Beauty Rebecca Alexander
Above: Vintage crochet top model’s own, vintage skirt at Amarcord Vintage, Star of Siam Bangkok Duster, vintage necklace at Antigo
The multi-hyphenate podcaster and creative producer has always embraced a colorful life- carving out a unique career path or dipping into her closet of 1970’s vintage for a decadent personal style that is decidedly all her own.
The self proclaimed city girl and upstate transplant chats about adjusting to life in the slow lane, and why it’s important to always commit to the bit, in fashion and life.
Interviewing a seasoned interviewer is no easy feat, and Kim Taylor Bennett has already gotten a third of my life story out of me before I realize she has somehow gently switched up the spotlight. Her warm and naturally inquisitive presence is a defining characteristic of her long and layered career reporting on and working in the music industry, the footnotes of which are as fascinating and vibrant as she is. Whether as a music journalist, a red carpet reporter, a podcaster, or a creative producer, Bennett has always had the gift of making other people gab – that is, feel seen and supported enough to open up about the intimacies and intricacies of their art, lives, and creative philosophies.
“I just love being nosy,” she laughs from her sun-dappled living room in Kingston, New York. “Aside from helping young artists, which I’m really into, I’m also just into being nosy. Whether it’s behind a camera or on a podcast, it’s just fun to talk to new people and hear about their lives.”
Born in San Francisco to a Filipino mother and Italian father, Bennett’s family relocated to London when she was eleven. She cut her teeth as a freelance music editor in London in the mid-aughts, interviewing bands and reporting on the burgeoning indie rock scene (a fun footnote: she was the first person to interview the Strokes face to face in the UK, at the height of their floppy-haired fandom, while she was still writing for her college paper). “I was a real grunge and Brit-pop girl,” she reflects, “so it was such a fun time to be young and dumb and in London.”
Above: Bonwitt Teller shirt and pants, Nike sneakers; right: vintage dress model’s own, Givenchy necklace, Hirst Collection earrings
After successful stints as a multimedia reporter and a red carpet host, she landed in New York, where she heads up production at Spotify for Artists, the arm of the streaming service that supports up and coming artists and demystifies the ins and outs of the industry. “In my music journalism, I did a lot of writing about new artists that I wanted to champion, and Spotify for Artists felt like an extension of that.” In May, she launched her own podcast, Best Advice, in which she has in-depth conversations with a smorgasbord of storied names in music, asking them to share the best advice they’ve ever been given, as well as their own advice for young artists navigating the often murky intersection of music, commerce, and creativity.
It’s precisely the kind of podcast many have been drawn to during the endless slog of the pandemic: a reminder that art and music bind us together and lift us up, no matter how low it feels like the world has sunk. “Obviously, the podcast has a very specific music lens, but my hope is that it resonates with people who are just trying to move through the world and be productive,” she says.
Moving through the world and being productive seems like second nature to Bennett. Her latest project, an interactive music and productive education program called Song Start, is set to launch in early fall. A collaboration between Grammy-nominated songwriter Ali Tamposi and artist-activist Tamar Kaprelian, the free program will feature articles, videos, and podcasts aiming to pull back the curtain and democratize access to the music industry by providing viewers with the tools to write and produce their own music. As Bennett puts it, “A major thrust of the series is there’s really no one way to do it. There’s no one size fits all; there’s no roadmap. You just have to keep banging down doors, keep experimenting, and keep doing what feels right and authentic to you.”
“I’m not scared to cry or share whatever is going on with me because I feel that openness should be a two-way street.”
Above: vintage green jumpsuit, model’s own; right: vintage leopard blue dress, model’s own
It’s a piece of advice that she has obviously internalized, which is why, when she started feeling “a crazy urge to get out of the city constantly” in the summer of 2020, she and her partner, a molecular chemist whom she lovingly refers to as “the Chemist,” decided to take a big leap of faith in the form of buying a 1970’s ranch house hovering on the edge of a mountain just outside Kingston. “Growing up in San Francisco, I always remember my mom saying, ‘The view is what you pay for.’ You didn’t need any art on the walls because you could just look out the window. That’s always stuck with me. It feels very calming to be able to see a horizon and be surrounded by trees.”
She fell in love with the area after her sister began renovating a farm down the road. The house was initially meant to be a space for Bennett and the Chemist to ride out the pandemic, filled with her mother’s impressive collection of “insanely cool” antique furniture and eventually Airbnb. Still, as the pandemic stretched on and timelines shifted indefinitely, they found themselves there full-time. And how is the self-proclaimed city girl with shoes stored in her spice cabinet and a media job that includes casually chatting with A-list celebrities, adjusting to life in the lush and stripped-down stillness of upstate?
Surprisingly well, it turns out. “Historically, until quarantine forced us all to slow down, I was out every single night. I never gave myself moments to pause. Being up here has forced me to slow down in a really lovely way and not be so scared of my own brain. It’s okay to not be constantly racing somewhere. Living upstate has changed the rhythm of life for me…it’s taken some power out of my hands in a way that I like.” When I ask what she does to combat creative burnout, a topic she touches on many times in her podcast, her response feels decidedly upstate: “My sister has a bunch of pygmy goats on her farm, so I go cuddle some goats. That’s my therapy. City girl cuddles goats.”
“Being up here has forced me to slow down in a really lovely way and not be so scared of my own brain. It’s okay to not be constantly racing somewhere.”
Above: Striped vintage dress at Lovefield, Askew Necklace, London
One of the most compelling things about Bennett is her genuine willingness to boldly commit to the bit in everything from her career to her closet. When she is interviewing, she is “not scared to cry or share whatever is going on with me” because she feels that openness should be a two-way street. Late in our interview, she tells me about her first time doing red carpet reporting for the premiere of Shrek the Third. She had to interview Justin Timberlake on camera, and she was deeply terrified. “I had bought green face paint for a costume party, and I decided to paint my face to walk the red carpet so I wouldn’t be me. I would be this ridiculous green thing instead. I thought it would be a talking point and make people laugh. And I wouldn’t have to look glamorous.” She did it. There’s even a clip still floating around YouTube. I laugh out loud, and she smiles, satisfied. “If you can’t have fun and laugh at yourself, then really, what is the point?”
It’s a philosophy that plays out vividly in her personal style. In a time where hushed minimalism seems to reign supreme, her giddy embrace of color feels unexpected and genuinely refreshing. Her Instagram feed is filled with themed outfit round-ups that are nothing short of inspirational and Negroni-fueled videos from early quarantine in which Bennett swans around her apartment, dressed to the nines and acting out emotional scenes from classics like The Graduate and Great Expectations. She attributes her singular style to a lifetime of dipping into her mother’s vintage hand-me-downs and attempting to embody the energy of a different era. “I’m a total nostalgia-head when it comes to fashion. That really came from my mom, who was a very chic businesswoman and always had amazing Pucci and gorgeous Gucci. A lot of her best stuff is from the ’70s, and I just love that period in terms of the aesthetic and the music and the film coming out at the time. It felt like a fertile period of exploration. It just feels like a very sexy time. Everything felt much more tactile back then,” she says.
The move upstate marks another unexpected twist in the fascinating life path Bennett is carving out for herself, accompanied by perhaps her biggest transition yet: motherhood. “Coming in hot in January 2022 is a baby girl. It still feels a little bit like I’ve eaten a lot of pasta,” she laughs. “But if anything will force you to pull out of FOMO and readjust your priorities, it’s having a baby.” Yet despite the serene new setting, realigned priorities, and growing baby bump, Bennett remains firmly, colorfully, authentically herself: “The secondhand baby clothes section on Etsy is honestly lit. I think I’m just going to clothe my child exclusively in vintage.”
Published in the print edition of the DVEIGHT, issue 16.
