Tara Lyn Subkoff was born on December 10, 1972 in Westport, Connecticut. Her family consists of her father - an antiques dealer, her mother - a teacher, and brother Daniel. Growing up, her father owned an antiques store, which undoubtedly contributed to Tara’s design style of taking “something old and making it new again”. Her parents raised their children in a Buddhist home and they even visited an ashram. At the age of 15, Tara decided to leave home to attend a boarding school in Massachusetts. After graduating from boarding school, Tara moved to New York City to attend Parsons school of design for less than a year before dropping out. She remained in the city though and soon began acting after getting her foot in the door by doing storyboards and assisting directors.

 In 1993, Tara moved to Los Angeles to further her acting career and landed a role in When the Bough Breaks. She began landing roles in smaller independent films throughout the 1990’s, including the film Freeway, which starred her then roommate Reese Witherspoon. In 1997, Tara received critical acclaim for her roles in two different independent features, All Over Me and Lover Girl. A supporting role in The Last Days of Disco soon followed and that’s when Tara met her good friend, and later Imitation of Christ creative director Chloe Sevigny. The films that Tara is probably recognized for are The Cell starring Jennifer Lopez or Teenage Caveman. The last movie Tara appeared in was The Notorious Bettie Page which starred Gretchen Mol.

 Imitation of Christ was started in 2000 by Tara and co-founder Matthew Damhave. Matthew left the line in 2001 and Tara continued to helm the line (including design all the pieces) until late 2007, when she decided to sell the complete line to Josh Sparks, who used to own Sass & Bide. During Tara’s run as designer for the line, she enlisted in good friend Chloe Sevigny (who is also known for her amazing fashion sense) as creative director for the line. And had good friends model the line during numerous fashion weeks, famous models included Scarlett Johansson and Carmen Electra. Imitation of Christ fashion shows were often criticized as “performance art and cultural theory” rather than a traditional fashion show, other people understood the statements behind the fashion.

 Tara has now designed a special line of clothing for the bebe company. With a long career ahead of her, there is many options that Tara can choose. Hopefully, she’ll continue to both act and design in the future.