Rachel Roy Talks About Her New Moderately Priced Line

Arriving in New York City with not much more than her smarts, good looks, and ambition to crack the fashion world, Rachel Roy has made an impressive name for herself both as a legitmate designer and as the wife of hip-hop entrepreneur Damon Dash—from whom she is getting what is turning out to be a high-profile divorce. Though she’s understandably shy about discussing Dash other than to wish him good luck, the self-described “girl from the other side of Monterey” (California, that is) is eager to talk about her plans to expand her business and burnish her name on her own.
“I feel like I was sleepwalking through life,” Roy says of her rags-to-riches life with Dash. “My Oprah moment was seeing that my daughters will be me.” Which is to say, she suddenly realized that her two girls, ages one and nine, would grow up enjoying the kind of material possessions that Roy could only fantasize about in childhood. “I worry that my daughters are too taken care of. A person’s life is of their own making, and I take full responsibility for mine.”
With the launch of her new moderately priced Rachel Rachel Roy collection, backed by Jones NY, Roy is about to deliver a sartorial dream come true for young women like the one she used to be, who want to “get ahead” in style. Her line of separates, priced from $40 to $300, features playfully hip classics, such as graffiti trenches, oversize knits, animal prints, and jersey-draped rompers. “I always have one foot in the street,” Roy says, “so I know not everyone wants to dress like the women they see in music videos. I like self-respecting girls who want a taste level. I wanted to give them clothes they could feel on-trend with but also wear to a job interview.”
While fashion critics tend to lavish attention on the latest craze—Mustard and ketchup splatter-paint sweatshirts! Ruffle diaper shorts in stripes!—that’s not how Roy rolls. And her instincts have paid off, judging from the success of her more expensively priced Rachel Roy collection—a favorite of stars from Lucy Liu and Jennifer Garner to Kate Hudson and Estelle. But her new Macy’s collection is something else. It breaks fresh ground in a bridge market that has been sorely lacking in chic, if not supercheap. “I was thinking of a risk-taker who doesn’t want to show too much skin,” Roy says. “But she’s the girl in the crowd from whom others get their style.” (Elle)