![\"\"](\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/03\/GZ_ME17_Covers_Tigerlily-scaled.jpg\")
Tiger refuses to fit into a mould where she\u2019s known as any kind of nepo baby, where a patriarchal world would feel a lot more comfortable in its ability to box-tick and label her. \u201cI\u2019m not scared of being associated with my dad\u2019s name,\u201d she continues. \u201cI respect everything he\u2019s done and everything he\u2019s achieved, but both of my parents have always really encouraged me and supported me to do well in my own right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet if there\u2019s one thing Tiger has learned from navigating legacy, labels and the low hum of expectation, it\u2019s that identity is never something to be handed down \u2013 it\u2019s something to be claimed. In an industry still quick to define women by who they belong to, rather than what they build, her insistence on authorship feels quietly radical. And it\u2019s here, between heritage and selfhood, that the conversation naturally turns to feminism \u2013 not as a buzzword, but as a lived, daily practice of carving out space on your own terms.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m definitely not a neutral person,\u201d she answers emphatically. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m neutral in anything I do. I like to have strong opinions, and I think that as a woman it\u2019s so important to be a hardcore feminist \u2013 to associate yourself with that phrase and to be proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her confidence is striking. I love it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a strange revival of the \u2018tradwife\u2019 trend happening on TikTok, which I find bizarre.\u201d She continues. \u201cBut I view feminism purely as equality of the sexes, so the lens in which I view things like the tradwife trend, means that I just want women to be adopting this persona for their own purposes, rather than the purposes of your husband or partner. I\u2019ve always been that way, but as I\u2019ve got older, and since studying English literature at university, I\u2019ve identified so much more with feminism. It\u2019s become so integral to my character, and I know I can get a little bit argumentative about it sometimes, but I really feel like it\u2019s my entire personality.\u201d<\/p>\n We steer off-piste here, losing ourselves on a long, windy tangent about Simone de Beauvoir and Sylvia Plath\u2019s The Bell Jar<\/em> \u2013 a novel that Tiger read only a few years ago but which left, she says, a permanent imprint. We talk about the claustrophobic fate of outspoken women, about institutionalisation as punishment, about how female sadness was once medicalised into silence. She brings up The Yellow Wallpaper<\/em> by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (which I write down a note to myself to buy as soon as the interview wraps) and I recommend a podcast by Deborah Frances-White called The Guilty Feminist.<\/em> I almost forget we\u2019re in an interview, so animated is the exchange \u2013 two women volleying book recommendations and battle stories, bonded less by the iPhone voice recording between us than by the shared, unshakeable conviction that women\u2019s stories deserve to take up space.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re basically just always told we\u2019re crazy,\u201d she says, shaking her head. Now in her thirties, she laughs that all she really wants is to be surrounded by women \u2013 drawn to their energy, their camaraderie, their resilience \u2013 a full-circle evolution from the self-described tomboy who once orbited boys in her youth.<\/p>\n Tiger started her modelling career at the age of 17, entering an industry where the conversation around body and beauty standards was \u2013 and still very much is \u2013 paramount. \u201cIt took me a very long time to feel comfortable in my own body. I was so young and I wasn\u2019t comfortable being on camera; I was very intensely shy, very introverted, anxious and nervous. But I do think, at the same time, it\u2019s taught me unbelievable resilience and a lot of strength. It teaches you to develop a sense of self, in spite of the industry. Only now in my thirties, to be honest, have I become 100 percent comfortable with my body and who I am. It\u2019s a lifelong journey to learn to accept yourself fully as a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n Feminism is often positioned as being in conflict with beauty. There is still a cohort of people out there who believe the two are mutually exclusive. That we can\u2019t be makeup-wearing, fashion-loving girly girls, and also be protesting on the streets, rallying for women\u2019s rights. I ask Tiger where she sits with this at this point in her life, where she is now a couple of years deep into her new-found beauty brand of biodegradable press-on nails, Claws.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is what annoys me when I have a conversation with a man that doesn\u2019t quite understand the concept of feminism. Feminism is about having agency and license over your own image, which is exactly what beauty should be for women. If you choose to be very feminine with your beauty, that\u2019s your choice. If you want to have a more tomboy look, that\u2019s also your choice. As long as its your choice, you\u2019re doing it in an empowered way and you\u2019re not doing anything for the male gaze; I think that\u2019s very feminist.\u201d<\/p>\n Claws by Tiger Taylor was dreamt up in lockdown \u2013 born, as so many modern ideas were, from a frustration and a restless itch to rethink the status quo. A longtime devotee of acrylics, Tiger found herself stuck with a grown-out set and no salon in sight. When a friend suggested press-ons, she quickly clocked the convenience \u2013 and the cost. \u201cYou wear a set, you throw it away,\u201d she says. \u201cThey are non-recyclable because they\u2019re under five centimetres, and you can\u2019t actually recycle anything under that measurement.\u201d<\/p>\n What followed was two years of research and development, a deep dive into materials and manufacturers, and a chance meeting with a Brazilian innovator at a sustainable textiles expo who pointed her in the direction of the product she was looking to create. Her early experiments with recycled plastics proved insufficient; the solution had to be biodegradable. Today, every element, from the bioplastic nails and their portable case to the recycled card files, and even biodegradable adhesive tabs, forms part of a completely compostable kit designed to be applied anywhere, anytime.<\/p>\n If Claws sits in a niche of its own, that\u2019s because it had to carve one out. There were no blueprints, no comparable brands \u2013 only a conviction that beauty could be both expressive and responsible. The refill model encourages longevity over landfill, a rebuttal to an industry Tiger describes as one of the largest contributors to single-use plastic waste. Beyond the environmental toll, she\u2019s candid about the physical one too: the acetone, the harsh chemicals, the UV exposure. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy that people don\u2019t even think about how toxic the nail industry is,\u201d she says. \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t go and sit under a sunbed in this day and age, but we\u2019re happy to put our hands under a UV light every other week. I wholeheartedly support nail artists and technicians, because I just think that some of the artistry is just incredible. The industry also provides jobs for so many women across the world, so I don\u2019t want to detract from that, but it\u2019s just an easy product and service to move towards more eco-friendly options.\u201d<\/p>\n Claws, then, isn\u2019t just a product; it\u2019s a proposition \u2013 that glamour and sustainability, femininity and innovation don\u2019t have to exist in opposition. Adornment and empowerment can live in harmony. \u201cIt\u2019s just reductive to think of nails as frivolous. Nails are an art form, and what we\u2019re doing with Claws by bringing the sustainability element into it is really important. Look at Stella McCartney,\u201d she muses. \u201cStella is so innovative with her materials. In her latest runway show she had biodegradable feathers, and I just love that fusion of fashion and science.\u201d<\/p>\n Tiger\u2019s decisions to diversify her career haven\u2019t been coincidental, more planned and calculated. Success, she tells me, has undergone a radical rewrite since hitting her thirties. In her twenties, it glittered in monetary terms: status, security, the external markers we\u2019re taught to chase. Now, it looks different. \u201cCreative success,\u201d she says. \u201cMaking something I\u2019m proud of.\u201d What began as a business idea with Claws has evolved into something more conceptual: a vehicle for innovation, experimentation, and material exploration.<\/p>\n \u201cI literally love my thirties,\u201d she beams. \u201cI\u2019m 31 now, and I\u2019ve never felt so relieved. All my friends told me your thirties are the best and not to be scared, and they were right. Your twenties are tumultuous. They\u2019re chaotic. You don\u2019t know who you are. You\u2019re learning everything. You\u2019re going a bit crazy. Being in your 30s just feels like a relief. It\u2019s definitely my best decade yet.\u201d<\/p>\n The shift, she explains, isn\u2019t just professional, it\u2019s internal. A softer metric. Peace, personal acceptance, and empowerment. \u201cAchieving peace in your own life is a form of success,\u201d she reflects, crediting both age and experience for this mindset. For women especially, she believes, self-acceptance is a hard-won milestone, too often overlooked in favour of material gain. Ageing, says Tiger, is not something to resist but to welcome. An empowering process of shedding noise and settling into yourself. \u201cEvery person has to go through their own journey. Ageing is a privilege; we must be grateful for that and for our bodies and physical health.\u201d<\/p>\n Tiger answers my questions with a disarming vulnerability and level of self-reflection that feels new and important. In a world quick to define women by lineage or looks, hers is a story that serves as a reminder that selfhood, choice, and curiosity are the ultimate forms of power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29103,"featured_media":69522,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[65,35],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/03\/6.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/03\/2-1.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/03\/8.jpg\")