Designer Q&A: Tracy Reese

One of our favorite designers ev-er here at I Heart Heels is none other than the classically chic Tracy Reese. Her designs are always so spot-on, we always anticipate her collection season after season. With the upcoming NY Fashion Week at Lincoln Center in September, Tracy is SUPER-busy (she dresses the First Lady for crying out loud!) working on her new Spring/Summer 2011 collection. But, we were lucky enough (and she was nice enough!) to squeeze in her answers to our top burning questions!

IHH: Which celebrities have you dressed most recently?

TR: I am so flattered because the First Lady herself has worn our dresses a bunch recently! Mrs. Obama wore the Shirred Frock in Indigo Placement Floral twice, and the Draped Frock in Black Shadow Dots just the other day when she returned home to the White House after a family vacation. She always looks so beautiful and I love that her own style shines through in whatever she wears. She wears clothing beautifully and I am very appreciative of the opportunity to dress her. I also think it means a lot to women across the country to see the First Lady in attainable designs, and I love being a part of that! I’d love to see Mrs. Obama continue to wear my designs.

IHH: Is there anything new launching within your brand this year - or new announcements?

TR: For Fall 2010, I will continue to expand my plenty by Tracy Reese brand by introducing a footwear collection. Affordable and chic!

IHH: Will you show at Lincoln Center in September - we're dying to know!!

TR: Yes! While it is hard to say goodbye to Bryant Park, I’m really looking forward to the future at Lincoln Center and showing my collection in a distinguished setting immersed in culture, history and beauty.

[Photo Courtesy Tracy Reese]

What's Hot: camilla and marc Fall 2010 Collection

I've been sitting here alllll night thinking about black tights. Strange, right? Well, like I said. I'll be one of 31 bloggers next week and throughout the month of August to style my own LBD (The Little Black Dress Experiment Tours America), and when I think of fall, black tights (paired with heels, of course) are the epitome. I love, love how the fall collection for the Australian brand, camilla and marc, can pair so easily with black tights. Such pretty dresses, jackets and knits all in one collection. And so "tight-worthy." I love the contrast of grey, white or nude with the dark. So chic, yet somewhat daring.

P.S. Celebrities who heart the line? Kristen Stewart, Ginnifer Goodwin, Fergie, Lauren Conrad and Whitney Port.

[Photos Courtesy camilla and marc/People's Revolution]

Whiny Wednesday: First Foods

Ok, where do I begin? Baby C. is getting SO BIG! And he fits in well with the fam already - he loves food! As soon as we got back from vacay last month, we started him on solids (well, besides the rice cereal he had been eating). We started him on sweet potatoes and carrots since I had read those are great first foods for babies and they almost always like them - well he did! And it was so, so precious seeing him as an orange mess. (I'm smiling thinking about it.) Since then, he's eaten tons of veggies and liked them all, and over the last month, he's been eating fruit. Today? It was his last big fruit introduction (for awhile) and he looooved his peaches!

So to tell you about our choice in food. Honestly, I wished this whole time I was "cook goddess of the century" and could whip up baby food like those other moms on the block. But, alas, it's just not my thing, and you know what? I tried giving baby C. fresh food a couple of times and he just won't eat it - for real! He's a processed foods baby already, and I just have to laugh. With that being said, we started him on Earth's Best Organics because I thought jars would be better and, heck, they sell it at Whole Foods. Little did I know after reading and researching baby food, that even those jars are lined with BPA (the "bad" plastic!). Hmmmm....so straight to Plum Organics I went. They sell these BPA-free products at Babies 'R' Us (some Targets, but not ours, of course!), and I've been stocking up on everything. The combos are amazing because that way baby C. can get his fruits and veggies all at once (spinach, peas and pears, anyone?).

They're over a dollar a pouch, but very well worth it - he loves it and it's important to me that he eat organic. There are even the coolest feeding gadgets we use on the go made by Boon (another company with products we really heart!). The Plum Dispensing Spoon ($3.99, below) is made to attach right onto the food pouch. D. and I were completely dumbfounded. What will they think of next, right?

P. S. On my wish list from Plum Organics? Single-strained veggies (like the fruits) that aren't in a combo. It's always best to serve something new for several days before moving on, so it's hard to do this without straying from this product line. The packaging also says good for 24 hours (eek!), and so I end up throwing away baby food since baby C. only eats a few teaspoons a day.

[Photos Courtesy ecomom.com; Boon]

Mara Hoffman Swim Resort 2011

The Mara Hoffman Swim Resort 2011 Collection was h-o-t down in Miami a few weeks ago at Fashion Week Swim (did I mention I wish I could've been there sipping daiquiris around the pool attending show after show in my array of sundresses?). The theme was "Mystic Jungle," think tongue-in-cheek Amazonian tribeswoman. Fluid lines, geometric prints and a colorful kaleidoscope of dark and light crystals. Love the suit shown below! (um, can I have the body, too, please?)

In addition to Mara's popular prints, never fear there was also a selection of pretty solids and even a new embroidery detail. This season, Mara actually partnered with eco-chic label (and one of my closet necessities), Alternative Apparel, and I am absolutely dying over the poncho above. The Resort collection will hit stores at the end of October, and I will be first in line to grab my suit and poncho for my exotic winter getaway (plotting as I type...).

[Photo Credit: Randy Brooke]

31 Bloggers, 1 Dress

UPDATE: See how I style my LBD on Saturday, August 7!!!

I have EXCITING news, chicettes!! Remember when I interviewed Society Stylist's Valerie Elizabeth last year and remember her experiment with the little black dress? (Refresh: She wore one LBD for an entire month, styling it a different way each time.) Well, August is the big anniversary for Val's "experiment" and now it's touring America! 31 bloggers from all over the country have been handpicked to style this Ann Taylor LBD throughout the month of August. And I am soooooo way excited to be one of them - squeal! Each blogger will have their own day to be featured on Society Stylist, so stay tuned because I'll announce my day very soon. (I can't WAIT to see what you think of my outfit!) For now...peace, love and little black dresses. - xoxo

Click here to see the list of other bloggers!

[Photo Courtesy Ann Taylor]

Selita Ebanks in Sir Alistair Rai at Target Opening

Selita Ebanks is def one of my fav celebs - she's so chic and so sweet (check out my interview with her here - no supermodel attitude for her!)! So it was no surprise to me she is a huge fan of Target (hello, I live there), and showed up this week at the opening of the East Harlem store (IHH was invited, but alas we couldn't fly overnight to the city...sigh...). Selita wore this super-cute sequin (squeal!) caftan by Sir Alistair Rai ($600). If only I could pull off a caftan like that - looks fab with heels, no?

P.S. Other celeb fans of the line are Katherine McPhee and Kara DioGuardi (Idol fans out there?).

Brittny Gastineau To Design Another Jewelry Line

At I Heart Heels, we just love sweet celebrities! I had a chance to chat with sugar-sweet, glam-girl and now jewelry designer Brittny Gastineau (remember the E! show The Gastineau Girls - used to be addicted!) earlier this week, and she spilled on some pretty awesome news. Right now, she and her mom, Lisa, have been hard at work keeping up their jewelry line, Tres Glam, which credits celeb fans like Emmanuelle Chriqui of Entourage, Rihanna, BFF Kim Kardashian and none other than La Lohan (short for Lindsay).

The idea for the line came from Lisa's longtime store in The Hamptons/Long Island, Lisa's Pieces (cute, right?). So the girls followed their dream with Tres Glam, a collection of both beautiful costume jewelry and absolutely stunning fine jewelry that stretches up to thousands of dollars (we're talking $20k). The main symbol is the eye, or the "Anti-Envy," shown on the "Brittny" clutch below, which signifies protection. (Psst...Kourtney Kardashian's a big fan of the clutch! It retails for $250.)

But, if you're wanting to spend a little less, your options are about to get even bigger. That's because Brittny and Lisa are working on a brand-new more affordable jewelry line out later this year (do we hear HSN?). So exciting, and we can't wait to see it ourselves! Brittny describes her own style as "very eclectic" and claims Forever 21 is her favorite store because she can "mix and match" everything. "I love collecting costume jewelry, and I [really] love big, chandelier earrings."

Unfortunately, even though she tells me she loves shoes (especially platforms!), there hasn't been much time for shopping lately because she's been so focused on the jewelry business (On dating? She says," I can't even think about getting married right now!"), which will make for the subject of a great new "behind-the-scenes" reality show with her mom. If it's anything like The Gastineau Girls, we're already hooked!

P.S. You can purchase Tres Glam online or at London Jewelers in East Hampton, NY.

[Photos Courtesy AKRPR]