Plenty by Tracy Reese

REESE CREATES FASHIONS SHE WOULD WEAR HERSELF

The mantra of the fashion world is "know your customer." Tracy Reese goes one step further: She is her customer.

"I really love what I'm doing now,"she says. "I gravitate toward what I would wear or buy myself."

Reese's designs are marked by vintage-inspired, intricately ornamented pieces in bold colors that combine for an elegant, modern look with a nod to the past.

Success didn't happen overnight, though. It took Reese, 40, nearly two decades to nurture a successful label of her own.

She now boasts the benefit of experience along with critical acclaim, worldwide distribution and $17 million in annual sales. She recently showed her fall 2005 collection during New York Fashion Week, her third go-around at the Bryant Park tents that also host the likes of Carolina Herrera, Michael Kors and Narciso Rodriguez.

For fall, Reese's look had an art deco edge. The designer, known for her stylish coats, used metallics and brocades.

A Detroit native, Reese graduated from Parsons School of Design in New York and worked for the small contemporary design firm of Arlequin in Paris. There, she worked and traveled with mentor Martine Sitbon.

"She really taught me how to use wonderful old references in my work," Reese says.

With financial backing from her father, she launched the original Tracy Reese label in 1987 and struggled to keep it open for a year and a half.

"It's really an experience issue, I think,"she says. "It's hard to be taken seriously when you're that young and your self-confidence isn't the strongest."

Afterward, Reese went on to Perry Ellis, where she became design director of the company's Portfolio line. Next, she undertook free-lance work before her five-year stint with Magashoni, where she designed a branded line, Tracy Reese for Magashoni. read more...