How Taylah Kereama Found Her Voice In Modelling

The charismatic 27-year-old is no wallflower waiting for success.

Model Taylah Kereama is the first to tell you it’s not enough to have a pretty face.

“People want the whole package,” she says. “They want someone who they’re really going to enjoy spending a day working with and who’s going to bring character and fun. You learn where you can have a voice within that as well.”

The 27-year-old Kiwi-Aussie recently moved back to Auckland after three years in London, and what was meant to be a one-month stay has turned into four, during which time she’s shot campaigns for Zambesi, Bendon and Max.

Taylah also brought her natural charisma to the Viva shoot a memorable gig, she says, as it allowed her to truly be herself. She even wore her grandmother’s rings and her own earrings “which I’m usually not allowed to do”.

“I’m always down for having a few laughs and making other people laugh on set just to keep the energy up. I have zero filters,” she laughs.

“I just come to every shoot being myself, having a good time and enjoying every day.”

Off camera too, there’s the palpable sense Taylah has an inner strength that has allowed her to overcome the other ‘not enoughs’ typical of her industry. Paired with her striking features, her pictures convey a sense of confidence and power, a mana this is no wallflower waiting for success.

Now that she’s established herself here and in Europe, it’s New York City she’s set to conquer next, although she’s keeping the door open to Los Angeles, too.

“I’m still very career-focused and driven. Modelling is one of those careers where you just push it for as much as you can. Until you feel that need to slow down and settle down. But I don’t feel like that quite yet.”

Taylah’s father was raised in Feilding but the young Taylah grew up on the Gold Coast. She was 21 when she first moved to New Zealand and signed with Ngahuia Williams’ N Management, not knowing how she’d fare as a curve model.

“It wasn’t really a big thing in New Zealand at the time,” she says. “People didn’t really understand the size ‘curve’."

“For a few years I didn’t know if it would work out or if I was even going to be a model and I was just waiting for [my agents] to drop me. But they were extremely encouraging: no it will work, there will be a time and a place.”

They were right as the industry continues to redefine beauty beyond the stereotypical model mould (and N Management was one of the first to remove models’ measurements from its website), Taylah has gone on to sign with agencies including Kult in Australia, Milk in the UK and Jag Models in NYC. In 2019, having recently moved to London, she became the first Māori curve model to be featured in British Vogue.

It was a milestone not only for the then 23-year-old but the lingerie brand she was representing Victoria’s Secret was moving on from its unattainable sex kitten image with an editorial theme of self-empowerment.

“That was massive,” says Taylah. “That was the first really big thing where I was like, ‘Okay, this can be my career, I’ve got what it takes’, which I’m so thankful for. I remember afterwards I was super busy, going to Germany every few weeks and working with really incredible clients.”

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The buzz around Taylah’s ethnicity also saw her reflecting on her Māori heritage. Growing up in the Gold Coast she says she felt she missed out on learning about her culture but the years she spent in New Zealand were eye-opening.

“I was able to learn more and go out to the marae with my dad and my stepdad, who are both Māori. “Then I lived with my auntie for a while and she spoke fluent te reo. That was cool. Every generation speaks the language less and less so that’s really scary… I’d love to learn more.”

The high-profile Vogue shoot was followed by a collaborative campaign between Adidas and Finnish design house Marimekko, a shoot for luxury lingerie atelier Bordelle, and a 10-page spread in Grazia magazine.

This year she walked the runway at London Fashion Week wearing a mint green cut-out jumpsuit for Canadian-born designer Mark Fast, who told her he’d made it specifically for her to wear. The piece became the favourite thing she’s ever worn, and then pop star Cardi B bought it and wore it at a product launch in Miami.

“It was an honour. I mean, most designers don’t really contact you after you work with them. But he’s been really loyal to the models he loves.”

Taylah also booked a collaborative campaign between Fendi and Kim Kardashian’s Skims shapewear range which was unfortunately scuppered by Covid.

“It was in Milan, a four-day job, and I was so excited but then someone on my flight had Covid and I wasn’t able to do it. But that’s okay. Because I was seen by those people, hopefully it’s just a matter of time before they think, we’ll get her back in.”

Taylah says she’s now excited for the next stage but she’s had to adapt to the challenges of modelling, and have faith the work will come.

“You have to be very resilient in this career,” she says. “Although I do love travelling heaps and I think it’s amazing, sometimes I’m like, ‘Oh not another trip by myself!’”

Navigating unknown cities, meeting new people and doing much of it solo has its drawbacks but she has her “nerdy” side to keep her occupied between jobs.

She’s in the midst of editing a piece of fiction she wrote, a YA fantasy about a young woman who can control the elements, perhaps Taylah’s way of finding order from the chaos.

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“I’m the kind of person who used to need to know what I’m doing and when I’m doing it and how I’m doing it so I can mentally prepare, and you just can’t do that. I get my schedule at 6pm the night before... So you have to learn to really let it go and whatever opportunity comes, just take it. I’ve definitely learned to be more relaxed in my life because I needed to be.”

If she wasn't modelling, she'd be pursuing singing and acting she already has a few short films on her resume and previously toured New Zealand in the musical State Highway 48. But for now, she's keen to follow the modelling work, and to fly the flag for her fellow Antipodeans on the world stage.

“The concept of knowing where you’re from and being really grounded in that I think that’s helped,” she says.

“In modelling, people are constantly criticising the way you look or who you are as a person. I grew up in a very humble household and was taught those hard lessons and learnt where I come from. And I try to take that into my everyday life.”

Photographer / Mara Sommer. Fashion director / Dan Ahwa. Hair, makeup and grooming / Sophy Phillips. Photographer’s assistant / Josh Szeto. Fashion assistant / Annabel Dickson. Shoot assistant / Nathan Lockhart.

Special thanks to Joe Gibson and Webb’s for providing the 1992 Jaguar XJS V12; and Common Place Studios.

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