Tracee Ellis Ross will host the 2019 Fashion Awards

Award-winning American actor Tracee Ellis Ross will host this year’s Fashion Awards, one of the biggest nights in the fashion industry calendar, known to many as “The Oscars of Fashion.”

The awards, put on by the British Fashion Council, recognize “exceptional individuals whose imagination and creativity has broken new ground in fashion.” The winners will be revealed during a ceremony at London’s Royal Albert Hall on December 2. Among the nominees, unveiled earlier this month, are South Sudanese-Australian model Adut Akech, and English designer Daniel Lee of Bottega Venetta.  Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, stole the show last year when she made an unexpected appearance to honor her wedding dress designer, Clare Waight Keller.

In 2017, Ross became the first black woman to win a Golden Globe in 35 years, for her work in the second season of the comedy TV show “Black-ish,” an honor she dedicated to “women of color and colorful people.” But she is not only a history-making actor, Ross is also CEO of her hair care line Pattern, and an influential voice in both fashion and politics.

The daughter of one of the biggest R&B stars, Diana Ross, she had early access to one of the most extraordinary wardrobes in the world, which triggered her love for expressing herself through fashion.  “The glamour I learned from my mother is easy, no-pressure glamour,” Ross said in an interview with In Style magazine last year. “And there’s a lot of joy in that.”

Ross has always had a love for visual culture. Before pursuing acting, she dabbled in the fashion industry. At age 11 she posed for Andy Warhol in a shoot with her mother and sisters. Seven years later she walked for Thierry Mugler, in the 90s heyday of supermodels and highglamour. After graduating from Brown University she worked in the fashion departments of Mirabella and New York magazines.

When Ross hosted the American Music Awards in 2018 — the second time she’d presented the awards — she made a statement by wearing 12 different looks — all by black designers.

All eyes will be on Ross in December when she takes the stage in London.

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