Tracee Ellis Ross Wants Her J.C. Penney Clothes to Turn People 'Into Everything They Want to Feel'

The capsule consists of apparel, accessories and home goods, which are all accessibly priced (the most expensive item in the collection is $74) and sized (the ready-to-wear goes from small to 3X). "I’ll just say that women are beautiful in all shapes and sizes and colors, so it was very important to me not only that people could have access to beauty and style and great clothes, but that they would fit and look good on everyone," Ross explains. "Just because you do it in a large size doesn’t mean it’s going to work on all body types."

There are high-waisted wide-leg trousers, wrap coats, stretchy dresses—silhouettes that are versatile, rendered in the bold colors, peppy prints, and luxe textures Ross frequently wears herself. The moment it all clicked for her was when they shot the campaign on a diverse group of models, which Ross casted herself, and saw how the pieces looked on a range of bodies. "I got real teary," she remembers.

"[The collection] is so me and I have been itching to wear this stuff since I got my samples, but had to wait until October 9, until the announcement." Now that the news is out, Ross hasn't wasted any time in wearing the hell out of her own line: She's been spotted in the sequined "Glow" dress, the "Heaven" tux, the printed "Glorious" dress, and the red wrap coat with matching trousers. And hey, wouldn't you if you had clothing samples with your name on the tag hanging in your closets for two months? One person she was eager to show the pieces to was her stylist Karla Welch, who she's been working with since the most recent Met Gala. Ross was traveling to New York to do press, she says, and brought along "the key pieces that I know I wanted to wear, like the tux. We just hung them on the rack with everything else and decided if they actually held up—and they worked!"