Tracee Ellis Ross is excellent at many things. She is excellent at picking moms, as evidenced by the fact that her mom is legendary Motown artist Diana Ross. She is excellent at acting, as evidenced by her iconic role in Girlfriends and her Golden Globe-winning role in Black-ish. She is excellent at dancing, as evidenced by her guest appearance in Drake’s “Nice for What” music video. She is excellent at getting dressed, as evidenced by the hashtag she created on Instagram (#GirlWhoLovestoShop) to track her various personal style endeavors.
Given this abundance of time-consuming talents, it would stand to reason that the one thing Tracee Ellis Ross is probably bad at is vacation. After all, given how busy she is being excellent, she couldn’t possibly have time to take a jealousy-inducing, awe-inspiring, Instagram-worthy, positively excellent vacation, right?
WRONG. I’ve been stalking Tracee’s visit to an unidentified tropical location for the past week via social media, and in the process I have learned that Tracee doesn’t just “go on vacation,” she actually vacations in the verb sense, and “excellent” would be an understated way of describing it. Allow me to illustrate via Instagram:
She announced the commencement of her vacation with the above post. Her outfit and corresponding pose speak at least 1,000 words (all of them delightful), which is conceivably why she chose to distill her caption to just one: “VACAY.” To be clear, this is day 1 of her vacation and she already looks more relaxed than I do after spending an entire weekend wearing sweatpants and drinking wine. DAY 1.
Here, Tracee nails the “I woke up like this no-makeup vacation selfie,” an elusive art form perfected by mostly angels and only a very small smattering of humans. Even her collarbone looks relaxed.
Tracee also casually dropped a vacation music video, except it’s not actually a music video it’s just a perfectly sepia-toned, beautifully styled, elegantly choreographed clip of her dancing in the water that happens to look like the kind of blissfully rendered footage you might discover in the attic of a movie star from the 1950s.
Red lipstick is not typically associated with low-key beachside makeup, but leave it to Tracee to make it look like a vacation staple I’ve been missing all my life.
This Instagram was, as they say in the journalism biz, A REVELATION, because it informed me that Tracee uses a 10-second timer to shoot her non-selfie vacation photos, which is equal parts brilliant and relatable. It also kind of made me want to invest in a pair of white skinny jeans even though I thought I hated skinny jeans and, oh em gee Tracee, what are you and your vacation doing to me!!!!
I have a number of questions I would like to ask about this particular vacation gram, from one Ms. Ross to another:
1. How did you decide to do a “kick” pose, and would you care if I copied it for all my outfit posts from here until eternity?
2. What lotion did you use to make your legs glow like the top of an ocean wave right when the sun hits at golden hour?
3. Are those the new Alison Lou LOUCITE hoops and if so may I please borrow them?
4. What’s your secret for taking a “below the chin” shot that makes you look like a perfect swan instead of a Play-Doh accident (hi)?
Tracee’s most recent vacation dispatch (as I write this) is the above slideshow in which she showcases a deep berry-colored lipstick from makeup maestro Pat McGrath’s collection. Lest you be left wondering what the lipstick looks like from every angle, she provides a shot from above, from below and from the side. In conclusion: Tracee Ellis Ross is excellent at vacation, lipstick application and multitasking.
Please feel free to consider all of the above your personal Excellent Vacation Template. I’m taking five days off in June, and I’m already practicing my kick pose.
