Black Fashion Spotlight: Tracy Reese

During my customary stroll along New York Fashion Week highlights and commentary I came across Tracy Reese, a black designer from Detroit, Michigan. Though her brand has been around for 10 years, I am not sure I was aware of her before now.

According to her website, Ms. Reese studied at the Parson’s School of Design in Manhattan and designed for a time at a small firm whose clients included Perry Ellis. She later launched her own labels: Tracy Reese and plenty by Tracy Reese. She has also branched out into home design and accessories, and opened a flagship store in Manhattan’s meatpacking district. She recently received the New York City’s High School of Fashion Industries’ Designer of the Year award and Marymount University also named her 2007 Designer of the Year.

Click here to view a slideshow from the New York Times of Tracy’s Spring 2008 collection. Her label is said to epitomize “feminine chic.” After viewing the slideshow and the collections available for view on her website, I found Ms. Reese’s designs accessible and modern. I particularly love her use of silver tweed and silver lame (pictured right) on tunics and coats giving relatively tried-and-true cosmopolitan ensembles an at-once glam and industrial look. There is also a warm simplicity in her clean lines mixed with graphic and floral prints. I am not sure Ms. Reese has a vision so singular as to lift her into the upper ranks of the fashion elite and couture; and that may not be her goal. Either way, there is an undoubted polish and considerable promise that will make waiting to see if she does exciting and fun.