Tracy McWilliams: Express Yourself
Happy prints and playful colors are signatures of Tracy McWilliams’ self-named clothing line. McWilliams’ floodgate of pattern and hue makes up for the 12 years she spent wearing a uniform of black or gray conservative business suits as an investment banker in San Francisco and Los Angeles. She recounted an instance when she wore a camisole underneath her suit jacket and was reprimanded by a superior male coworker for her inappropriate attire.
“I wanted to just be able to express myself without that stress,” said McWilliams of one reason why she choose to pursue a more creatively fulfilling career.
The inspiration to start a clothing line came to McWilliams while she was taking a break from banking to write the selfhelp book “Dress to Express.” The book, published in 2004 by New World Library, explores dressing tips to help women express their “inner beauty” through their “public image.” It has sold nearly 10,000 copies to date.
McWilliams’ Los Angeles–based clothing line, launched for Spring 2007, was designed with fashionable day-to-night careerwear in mind. Silk blouses, shirt dresses and baby-doll dresses in whimsical prints sum up the designer’s philosophy about dressing.
“I think prints stand out. You can be memorable with prints in different styles that you can’t do with solids,” McWilliams said. “They make you happy when you look at them.”
A developed sense of clothing construction and design has inspired her to revise “Dress to Express” with more of a focus on fashion than on self-esteem.
Wholesale price points range from $48 for silk camisole tops, $68 for a wool jacket with short puff sleeves and $58 for the matching wool skirt up to $160 for a wool coat.
For more information, contact the Mix Showroom in suite 1106 of The New Mart at (213) 623- 8422. —Rhea Cortado
