jaime pressly

Designer Tracy Fredkin (right) launched Tucker Paisley in Los Angeles in 2006, and since then, the line has been skyrocketing.

Beginning with six signature bags covered in her very own paisley print, she has garnered celebrity fans like Jaime Pressly, Hayden Panettiere and Katherine Heigl and expanded her range to include accessories like scarves, and now, clothing.

We met up with Tracy at a BagTrends event at Blue Bag in NYC.

Luxist: So, your paisley print started it all?

Tracy Fredkin: Yeah, that's what started it all. We came up with what we thought was a modern, fresh take on a paisley, and created it, copyrighted it and trademarked it. It was the inspiration for our signature line, which was all paisley. Our six signature bags were all prints, and then we moved styles that were really popular forward and started doing leather more, and using different textures and different colors, using the paisley as an accent. Now, you'll see it in a pocket, on a zipper, as the lining for a bag; that's sort of the direction we started going. In our Beach collection and some of our new accessories, we brought the paisley back to be the focus of those items.

L: How did you create the paisley pattern? Did you draw it?

TF: We went to tons of fabric stores and looked at old patterns, new patterns, different things that we liked in all the different colors, and then just started playing on a computer; making it bigger, making it smaller, whether we wanted it to be repeating, all different things.

L: Was it always intended for handbags?

TF: It was always going to be for handbags, yes. We wanted to do the handbag line. We had the shapes of certain bags in mind. That was the plan.

L: I love the different textures you're using, and there are metallics, patent leather, all sorts of things.

TF: Yeah, we're trying to bring in all different things. We have some soft lambskins, we have different metallics, we have heavier cow leathers, we brought in some raw silk in some of our things. We try to keep changing it up and have groupings of things for different people.

L: Cool. I heard you have clothing coming out for summer.

TF: Yes, we're doing a Beach line with some accessories and some dresses, light silk dresses in different silhouettes. It's all [the Tucker Paisley] look. Classic, chic -- what we're going for is very easy, timeless stuff that you can wear to different things, that are versatile.

We love her fresh paisley print and easy-chic style, as well as the free shipping on her website (though you can probably find Tucker Paisley at a store near you. Check out the gallery for photos of more bags, including the ones celebrities have been spotted carrying -- or, for shopping shortcut:

• Katherine Heigl wore the Molly Tote ($108)
• Jaime Pressly has the Thomas Hobo ($225)
• Hayden Panettiere has been seen all over the place with this gorgeous Emma Clutch (normally $215, on sale for $105) -- check the gallery to see the paisley inside

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Donald Trump is asking a truly stunning amount of rent for one of his unsold Park Avenue penthouses: $200,000 per month for a three-bedroom condominium, shown above, that is listed at $45 million. The listing is here.
--We first heard rumors of this back in December but now it seems that it is official that the listing for Oscar-winning producer Marty Richards' apartment went to contract. It's selling for somewhere just below its $22.7 million asking price. The buyer is said to be fashion-show mogul Elyse Kroll. Her 23-room townhouse is on the market for $29.75 million. The listing is here.
--Hopedene, a fabulous mansion on Newport, Rhode Island's famous Cliff Walk has hit the market. It's our estate of the day later today.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Steven Croman who has been named to The Village Voice's 10 Worst Landlords List, has picked up a townhouse at 7 East 75th Street,paying $14.5 million to a family that had owned the house for decades. (The home's facade was used as home on the TV show The Nanny). Croman says he has no plans to make it into a single family home or to raise rent for existing tenants.
--Writer and Oprah scapegoat James Frey has picked up a $985,000 one-bedroom apartment which is next door to his three-bedroom apartment at 505 Greenwich Street.
--One of New York city's most coveted homes, Brooke Astor's 778 Park Avenue duplex may soon be on the market. Agents from five of the city's top brokerages met in the 778 Park duplex's library to audition for the listing which could be as much as $46 million.

From The Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Bear Sterns Chief Executive Alan D. Schwartz has taken his Purchase, New York house off the market and is renting it instead. The home was listed for $4.5 million. Bear Chairman and former CEO James Cayne closed last month on a $27.4 million purchase of two adjacent apartments at the Plaza in New York.
--Allman Brothers Band drummer Claude "Butch" Trucks has cut the asking price on his Palm Beach, Fla., house again this month to $3.995 million, down 17% from the original $4.8 million. The listing is here.
--In Manhattan, a few new high-profile condo buildings with unusual designs are selling at high prices for downtown neighborhoods. At 100 11th Ave., an irregular, glass-faceted tower designed by France's Jean Nouvel, 70% of the building's 72 original units have sold since sales began in April. Eight of the nine units at Shigeru Ban's "Metal Shutter Houses" development have sold at full asking price of up to $10.25 million. Herzog & de Meuron's 28-unit green-glass 40 Bond building still has one original unit for sale after two years on the market, in addition to several resale listings.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--via WSJ Private Properties, retired quarterback Drew Bledsoe is selling his home in Westlake, Texas. He already lives in Bend, Oregon. The listing is here.
--Sitcom actress Jaime Pressly has paid $2,250,000 for a new five-bedroom home in Sherman Oaks.
--British TV presenter and Simon Cowell girlfriend Terri Seymour, has paid $4.6 million for a home in the Bird Streets area of the Hollywood Hills. Pictures of the beautiful contemporary home are here.
--A modern home in the Hollywood Hills that once was owned by actress Milla Jovovich has been listed for $2,399,000. The virtual tour is here.
--Michael J. Fox has paid $6,300,000 for a new six-bedroom house in Quogue, N.Y.
--Charlotte Bobcats shooting guard Jason Richardson has listed his five-bedroom home in Oakland, CA for $3,100,000. The listing is here.
--O magazine editor-at-large and Oprah BFF Gayle King has closed on the purchase of a $7,100,000 condo in Manhattan.
--Rumor has it that Jessica Simpson may have purchased a large house in Nashville, Tennessee but so far she has denied this.
--Danny Masterson has sold his four-bedroom, Spanish-style house in the Beachwood Canyon area of Los Angeles for $1.2 million.
--via TMZ Tom Arnold has listed his five-bedroom, 4,211-square-foot house in Tarzana for $2,275,000. The virtual tour is here.

From the Real Estalker:
--The $81.5 million Sidney Kimmel home in Palm Beach may have already gone to contract for a number over $75 million.
--Actor Enrique Murciano has listed his home in Los Angeles for $1.795 million. The listing is here.
--via NY Daily News, Mary J. Blige has paid $12.3 million for a home in Saddle River, NJ that was originally listed at $17 million.

From the LA Times: Hot Property:
--Another look at the home that DJ Paul Oakenfold has put on the market for $10 million. It was our estate of the day in February.
--Hotelier Jason Pomeranc has purchased a former Hollywood Hills home of actress Sandra Dee and singer Bobby Darin for about $3 million.
--Frank Sinatra's Palm Desert hideaway,Villa Maggio, has hit the market for $4.995 million. The compound sleeps up to 22 people and there is a helicopter pad, movie theater and outdoor dance floor. The listing is here.
--Actress Dedee Pfeiffer, sister of Michelle Pfeiffer, has listed her home in Mandeville Canyon for $1.195 million. It looks like the three-bedroom home with hot and cold Japanese-style dipping pools has already gone to contract. The listing is here.
--Actor Gregory Harrison has listed his southern Oregon home at $5.9 million. We covered this home as an estate of the day back in January but were unaware of its celebrity provenance

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--The condo Jay-Z has been renting at the Time Warner Center is set to be sold for $27 million. Jay-Z has been renting the four-bedroom penthouse for around $40,000 a month since 2005. Jay-Z is renovating a penthouse on Hudson Street in TriBeCa.
--Real-estate broker Kirk Henckels and his socialite wife Fernanda Kellogg have sold their three-bedroom apartment at 88 Central Park West above apartments owned by Sting and Robert De Niro for $4.6 million.
--Catesby Kilmer, the Hamptons socialite who went to jail for embezzlement and had to sell her Southampton home for around $1.7 million, a bit below the $2.25 million asking price.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
Week of 12/31/06
--L.A. Lakers forward Lamar Odom becomes the latest Los Angeles sports figure to move to Manhattan Beach. He has purchased a house for $2.7 million.
--A home which once belong to Benny Goodman is now the home of film score composer John Frizzell. He and his wife, Stacey, bought the former Goodman home for close to $4.7 million.
--Actress Jaime Pressly has put her Tarzana residence on the market at close to $1.4 million.
--Author Jack J. Miller, who wrote the novel "Millionaire City," has picked up a a weekend home in Lake Arrowhead for $1.2 million.
Week of 1/7/06
--Cher has put a Palm Springs home on the market for $2.495 million. It's our estate of the day later today.
--Actor Chad Allen has sold his Sunset Strip-area home for $750,000.
--A Los Feliz home once owned by actor Cary Grant has been sold for $3.2 million.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
Former San Diego Padres star Tony Gwynn and his wife, Alicia have put their Indiana home on the market for $725,000. The listing is here.
--Larry Bird and his wife Dinah have put their Naples, Florida home, shown above, on the market for $4.8 million. Check out the listing for the very impressivie four-bedroom waterfront home with a home theater and a bar with a salt-water aquarium here.
--Tyco International's former chief executive L. Dennis Kozlowski, who is in jail, has cut $3 million off the price of his Nantucket, Mass., estate. It is now listed at $19.95 million, he bought the home in 1997 for $5 million.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Ryan Gentles, the manager of the Strokes, has bought a penthouse at the American Felt building, also the home to the band's drummer, Fabrizio Morretti for $1.8 million.
--Real-estate broker Michael Shvo has purchased a new apartment at 15 Broad Street, otherwise known as "Downtown by Philippe Starck."
--Film producer Verna Harrah, the widow of Bill Harrah, has sold her 64th-floor apartment at the Time Warner Center for around $25 million. She bought a penthouse at 110 Central Park South which was listed for $13,350,000.
--Film Forum has paid $6.3 million in late November for a five-story townhouse at 3 King Street. The purchase of the building was made possible by two donors one of which is keeping the top two floors for her personal use. Other floors will be marketed as one-bedroom luxury residences and the townhouse's two bottom floors will be used as office space for Film Forum administration.