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For fall, it was all about
star power! Glamourous colour! And living life in a gilt frame!
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Tracy
Reese
IN THE PAST three or four years,
designer Tracy Reese has stolen my heart with her beautiful collections
of ultra-feminine and vintage-inspired designs; not to mention her
extremely accessible personality and demeanour. She began her fashion
career by earning an accelerated degree from Parsons School of Design
in 1984; and was briefly employed as an assistant to Martine Sitbon
before leaving to produce her own contemporary collection. The key
to Ms Reese's flirty style is the fact that she is her own customer,
which translates into her ability to design not for the mythical
‘Tracy Reese’ customer but for women like herself who wants to look
good at all times but not turn themselves inside out to do so. During
seasons where miniskirts was all the rage, she countered by showing
designs with hems at a more wearable length. When she was asked
by a writer for another magazine, she replied, ‘Because I want to
wear [them] too, and I have chubby knees.’
For fall, it was all about star power! Glamourous
colour! And living life in a gilt frame! And it was beautiful. She
knows how to cut a mean coat and she opened the show with a petunia
gingham coat over a lemon–blonde-striped turtleneck paired with
a vintage marigold wool sculpted skirt. Right from the beginning,
she let the sunshine in and banished the darkness. This was followed
by a series of skirt, pant and daytime frock designs that was true
to her be-kind-to-the-ladies æsthetic. Skirt hems tend to
hover just above the knee and tops ran the range from wool chiffon
edged cardigans to paintbrush floral camisoles. Other favourites
in the outerwear department include her floral wrap coat, her lovely
textured wool coat and her black graphic floral wrap coat (worn
over a blonde charmeuse camisole and jade wool lace skirt). Her
ability to layer dressy sweaters over equally dressy tops and the
sure-handed way in which she mixed various prints, patterns and
other textured fabrics added an extra bit of glamour to her daywear
pieces, especially her jade charmeuse pendulum halter top (with
jewelled racer back detailing). Her skirt suits were versatile enough
for the office and other social occasions.
For evening, she endeavoured to stretch herself
a bit; and while it wasn’t the total success it could have been,
here too, she excelled more often than not. The following pieces
stood out for me: her rose carthane charmeuse pendulum gown with
jewelled neckline detailing, her body hugging puce beaded ‘goddess’
bustle slip gown, her black net antique embroidered godet gown and
her statuesque Tiffany blue charmeuse "gift" dress. Ms
Reese advances each season because she pushed herself to be better;
therefore, I was far more impressed with her "failures"—such
as they are—than with most other designers’ "successes".
This collection was a terrific effort on her part and we here at
Lucire can’t wait to see what she has in store for us for
spring 2005.
CONTINUED
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