September 2018 Issue: Tracee Ellis Ross Covers Elle Canada

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You were like a creative director on-set today, pushing for the looks and images you wanted to see. It was impressive. “I’m a very visual person. I worked as a fashion editor [at Mirabella], and I’m inspired by art and proportion. I’ve always had a strong point of view, and I’m really specific. I’ve truly been this pain in the ass since a very young age.” [Laughs]

How would you describe your style? “I genuinely lean toward what makes my heart sing. It changes every day. Sometimes I’m one person; sometimes I’m another. But I know—I know when a script is for me, when an outfit is for me. When I get dressed, sometimes I say ‘That’s it! Okay, that’s right!’ out loud.”

Is your love of fashion innate? I assume you were mining your mother’s closet from day one? “Obviously! But, yes, I came out like that. There are pictures of me from before I could talk, naked, wearing Mom’s high heels. When my mother was onstage, I used to hide in the quick-change booth, and after the curtains went down, I would collect the beads that had fallen off the gowns, separate them by colour and put them inside those little cases that film used to come in. I loved it all. In hindsight, I now know that I [grew up watching] a woman in her full power and glory, who utilized her agency. And that’s what clothing, style and fashion represented to me—a uniform for greatness. Your clothing can change your narrative and reframe circumstances, and it can be a visual marker for a larger conversation. That is why it has that meaning in my life.”

How do you have Diana Ross as a mom and not feel pressure to achieve or that you are in her shadow? “I felt like I grew up in her embrace, not her shadow. And that is a testament to her. [Her children] were always more important than fame. That monster of fame that we see take down so many people with bright lights—my mother protected her light. I don’t know how. But she is a better parent than she is ‘Diana Ross.’ She’d probably kill me, but [Ellis Ross pulls out her cellphone again] I don’t care. Here, 7:48 in the morning, I got this message. She had just seen a magazine that I was on the cover of. She wrote, ‘This to me is an answered prayer.’ I said, ‘Mom, what does that mean?’ She said, ‘I always pray for my children’s happiness and success, and there it is.’ And, by the way, the word ‘happiness’ was first. That’s the mommy I know. That [support] really set the stage for what I am looking for in my life and my career.”

Your personal life has been a hot topic lately. “In an interview the other day, someone said, ‘I love how outspoken you are about deciding not to have children and choosing your career instead.’ I said: ‘Hold on. One: Yes, I am outspoken. Two: I have not “chosen” whether I am having kids or not, because it’s none of your business. Three: If I do choose whether or not to have a child or whether or not to have a husband, it has nothing to do with my career. And four: The reason that I’m outspoken is because….’”

Of questions like this! “Yes! I want to shift the language. It drives me nuts. It contributes to this idea that young girls dream of a † wedding and not the lives that they want or how they want to use their talents and what they want from their world. Marriage might be a part of that. But it might not. If I had one life mission—which this isn’t because I have so many others!—it would be to dismantle that myth, that false belief.”

Good luck. You know if you ever get married, the headlines will be “Tracee finally finds love! She’s finally complete as a woman.” “It’s ridiculous!”

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Donovan

Donovan is the CEO and Editor-In-Chief of www.dmfashionbook.com. For all general inquiries please email don@dmfashionbook.com Donovan has a BA in Journalism & Media Studies from the prestigious Rutgers University. He's currently studying entertainment and fashion law.