Someone sent me this on Instagram last night – Tracee Ellis Ross Instastoried a quote from a piece that Variety did on her a few days ago about her red carpet fashion and she happened to receive the Style Ambassador award from the Accessories Council at the ACE Awards last night in New York.
Variety asks Tracee to talk about her looks from the Emmy Awards in 2015, 2016, and 2017. But before that she explains why what she wears is important and what message she is communicating through her clothing choices:
When “Black-ish” star Tracee Ellis Ross became the first black woman nominated for a lead comedy actress Emmy in three decades, her style choices carried extra significance. “I was keenly aware that my dress would act as a tangible, visual marker for the larger story — my dress would frame me in history,” says Ross, who cites her “epically herself” mother, Diana Ross, as a fashion influence. “But I get my inspiration everywhere — from trees to art to magazines to history. I am inspired by men, women, music. I am a lover of boldness, courage, freedom and joy, and it all informs how I adorn myself.”
The piece concludes with this statement:
“What I’m wearing will be a frame for my voice, my work and my being-ness. Clothing on the red carpet is no longer a topic of trite conversation; it’s an expression of unity and power.”
So let me come back to this again, because some people still don’t f-cking get it…
Can we send this on to Blake Lively?
The Blake Livelys of the world are used to being called “style ambassadors”, they’re used to being noticed for their style, they are used to be the standard bearers of style. For other women, namely women of colour, it took a long time to get invited to this party. That’s why they’re not f-cking tired of being asked to talk about their style. And when they talk about their style, they’re capable of framing it in a way where they get to decide whether or not it’s derivative and limiting. Just like Tracee did here.
I love what she wore last night at the ACE Awards. I really enjoy this sheer panel that’s deliberately tacked as a separate piece to this plain black dress underneath because it could have gone so wrong, it could have looked really cheap and instead, on her, because of her, the way the patches are put together and the colours are popping, everything comes together in luxury.
