36 Our Voice / Septembery 2014
Woman of Distinction: Fashion Designer, Tracy Reese
Walking into Neiman Marcus doing a little window shopping (It’s one of my favorite things to do on the weekend) there is a beautiful brightly multi-colored sundress that is perfect for the Sunday brunch I have planned with the girls after a summer festival next weekend. Visually it’s striking, abstract, feminine yet bohemian and perfectly Tracy Reese.
Everyone’s wearing “her”. Angela Bassett, Cassie, Taylor Swift and even the F.L.O.T.U.S. Michelle Obama. Her designs have been featured in Instyle Magazine, O Magazine, Women’s Wear Daily, People, Elle, the New York Times, New York Post, the list goes on. Bright, Colorful, Fun, and Feminine all words that have been used to describe the fashion design of this issue’s Fashion Woman of Distinction, Tracy Reese.
Tracy Reese is an American Designer who grew up in Detroit Michigan. Although now her designs are world renowned being shown on fashion runways all around the world, she made her start sitting side by side with her mother making clothes from scratch. Her passion took her to New York City where she enrolled in Parson’s School of Design in 1982. Two short accelerated years later she graduated and began working for several fashion houses. Her hard work paid off when she became the head of the Women’s Portfolio for Perry Ellis.
But she didn’t stop there, in 1998; Tracy took the leap and launched her own label, simply called: Tracy Reese. The Tracy Reese Label focus is both Ready-to-Wear and Resort Wear. New York Magazine describes the Tracy Reese label as “unabashedly girly, but made to fit the lifestyles (and bodies) of real women.” True to her roots, her latest show, Resort 2015, features beautiful colorful pieces that instantly put you in the mood for an exotic evening in the Bahamas, a ladies brunch in Catalina or a stroll through Wicker Park in Chicago.