Camillya Taylor has always loved fashion.

“If you look good, you feel good,” she said.

Her career as a designer only began about eight years ago. She once weighed 315 pounds and didn’t feel comfortable in store-bought clothes, so she started making her own. 

“I started just designing my own: cutting things, tucking it,” said Taylor, “People would literally stop me and say, ‘Where did you get that?’ And I’m like, ‘Uh, I made it’.” 

The hair stylist, model and designer opened her first store, Camille’s House of Styles Salon & Boutique in Johnstown’s Moxham neighborhood in May of 2017. On Wednesday, she opened a second location at 419 Lincoln Street in downtown Johnstown.

“You can get, like, special things, you know. Stuff that you can’t find at the bigger stores,” Taylor said.

The boutique sells shoes, candles, jewelry, purses and clothing. Some clothes are even made by local designers, like Anthony Jacobs.

“Conservative, classy, sporty, urban. I like to integrate all of them into one conception,” Jacobs said, “It’s an extension of your personality.”

Jacobs moved to Johnstown three years ago and met Taylor, who encouraged him to follow his dream of designing his own clothing line.

“She kind of put me in the right places and pointed me in the right direction and I had the follow-through,” Jacobs said.

Taylor would like to add a salon to the downtown location in the future. In the meantime, she wants to recruit more local designers to make a stylish statement in the city.

“I know shoe designers that actually work at Domino’s Pizza in Moxham. Nobody would ever know because he delivers pizza, but his shoes are amazing,” Taylor said. “I know that Johnstown has this. It’s just, there’s no avenue for it. And I’m trying to create a new lane to where more and more people can be a part of this.”

The boutique is open from Monday – Friday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.