Tracy Reese’s approach to her label Hope For Flowers can be summed up in two words: prints and responsibility. Having moved to Detroit during the pandemic, she’s approaching conscious design from two angles: her clothes are made with organic cotton and recycled wool, and she wants to foster local garment manufacturing. The latter, of course, takes more time than the former.
“I want to be about more than just more clothes,” she says. “It’s about how I can do this more responsibly and share that.” She’s developing an apprenticeship that teaches luxury sewing techniques, with the goal of producing her line in Michigan (as of now, some made-in-Detroit clothes are available on her website).
As for fall 2022, it’s all about color and pattern mixing. “I put solids in the collection and people are like, ‘yeah yeah, yeah,’” Reese says, gesturing to the customer’s ambivalence towards plain colors. “Prints are a passion for me.” She and her team develop these bold textiles by looking at old wallpaper or vintage fabrics. This season there are a few large-scale florals, as well as a stark black and white graphic textile. But while these are dramatic, the silhouettes are imminently wearable. “Part of sustainability is making clothes that people want to wear,” Reese says. For her, that’s fit-and-flare dresses reinforced with petticoats, smocked maxis, with tiny little cutouts. The dresses are the big takeaway from the collection, but there are also some blouses and an organic cotton orange puffer made with recycled fill. The customer may know Reese’s backstory and goals, or they may not. But regardless, they’ll have a dress appropriate to wear to weddings, parties, vacations, and more.
