Tracy Nicole Clothing wins Belk Southern Designer Showcase

The Decatur-born designer will have pieces sold by the department store beginning next spring.

By Unknown Author Wednesday June 1, 2016 10:33 AM EDT

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From admiring her grandmother’s fierce personal style and obsessively watching televised fashion shows growing up to creating her own prom dress, Tracy Nicole Prather has always had an eye on design. But it wasn’t until the Decatur native was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years back that she found the courage to strike out on her own and launch Tracy Nicole Clothing in late 2013.

“Feeling your most beautiful during life’s most challenging moments may seem simplistic to some,” Prather says, “but as a survivor, I can attest to the fact that each day, as I sat and designed pieces for myself that were easy yet beautiful, I realized I had found my way of taking a small part of my strength back, and this is the gift I want to share with every woman.”

Now, her dream is that much closer to reality — she recently won the Belk Southern Designer Showcase 2016 (beating out hundreds of other designers), which means her pieces will be available for purchase in select Belk stores and online in spring 2017. The judges announced she’d won amid a shower of confetti. “At that moment I thought, just three years ago I was in a hospital bed with breast cancer and shutting down my design studio fighting for my life, and here I stand before the Belk Corporation with my clothing line,” Prather says. “As one of only two clothing lines chosen that day, it felt like the ultimate win!”

Not surprisingly, Prather has no plans to rest on her laurels — she’s currently working on lines of menswear and childrenswear, the latter having been inspired by her two daughters, Kennedy and Kristian. “The philosophy of the company is to embrace positive self-images for women of all body types,” Prather says. “It’s important for me to show the importance of women uplifting and supporting each other as well as accepting each other for our differences. Each piece is named after an inspiring woman who has impacted the community in some way, and every color has a meaning — it’s not just about what’s on you, it’s about what’s in you.”