Elena Velez

Elena Velez is an American fashion designer and creative from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, based in New York City. Her work is known for its synthesis of metalsmith and high fashion and has been featured in the V&A Museum.

Described by Vogue as "explosive and aggressive", Velez's work has been inspired by the historic craftsmanship and manufacturing legacy of the American Rust Belt and is the product of collaboration with local metalsmith artisans to revisit the regional craft. Central themes in her work include deconstruction, unconventional & complicated femininity, and alternative construction methods, which include "salvaged" and "site-specific materiality". Velez coins her visual identity as "aggressively delicate" and "anti-fragile".

Velez is on the Dazed 100 List, the winner of the 2022 CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund, the 2022 CFDA Emerging Designer of the Year, is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and a semi finalist for the 2024 LVMH Prize. Velez is a creative fellow of the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism.

Velez is occasionally associated with the "Dimes Square" reactionary aesthetic scene.

Early life and education
Of Puerto Rican heritage but raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Velez claims in recent interviews that the "industrial" nature of her "nontraditional upbringing" as the only child to a single mother who is a ship's captain on the Great Lakes influenced her current artistic identity, which she says draws heavily on "the relationship between femininity and force". With a beginning interest in design from early childhood, the first documentation of her developments appear in local TV news as a teenager in 2010.

Velez studied at Parsons Paris from 2013 to 2015 and graduated from Parsons School of Design in 2018 with a BFA in fashion design and minor in creative entrepreneurship. Additionally in 2020 she received a Graduate Diploma in fashion design from Central Saint Martins in London. Her BFA thesis collection was shown at VFILES Season 10 Runway, and London Fashion Week, as a guest of the Swedish Fashion Council.

Velez was first named by I-D Magazine in 2018 as "one of five under the radar designers to discover at New York Fashion Week" after first gaining viral success on VFILES Runway.

In 2019 Velez's work was exhibited as a Teen Vogue 2019 Generation Next designer curated by Editor in Chief of Vogue Anna Wintour and she was referred to by the Editor in Chief of The Cut, Lindsey Peoples, as “a designer representing the future of fashion”. Her work has received coverage in Business of Fashion, Women's Wear Daily, WGSN,   Numero Berlin,        and other publications.

In February, 2021, Elena Velez Industries Inc. was founded with investment support from venture capital firms Gener8tor, and CSA Partners. The company was subsequently profiled in Forbes for its work with Midwestern makers and mission to "democratize resources and recognition" for artists outside of traditional creative capitals.

Velez has dressed celebrities including Taylor Swift, Solange Knowles, Ethel Cain, Julia Fox, Charli XCX, Eartheater, Doja Cat, Grimes, Teyana Taylor, and others.

In 2022, Velez won American Emerging Designer of the Year at the CFDA Fashion Awards. In March 2023, she was inducted as a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

Velez attended the 2023 Met Gala as a guest of Balenciaga. For the occasion, she created a crackle medium screenprint ink-gown for the artist Sasha Gordon as a nod to Gordon's painting career.

Velez is an outspoken advocate for transparency around the struggles of being a young designer, detailing in a profile for the New York Times her difficulties around growing a brand without private wealth,.

Awards and showcases

 * Current Semi Finalist, LVMH Prize, Paris 2024
 * Recognizee, The Dazed 100 List curated by Ib Kamara, 2023
 * Nominee, Emerging Designer/ Brand of the Year; Latin American Fashion Awards, 2023
 * Recognizee, 50 Women In Power list by WWD, New York, 2023
 * Recipient, Elle Magazine's 2023 Women of Impact Award, WA D.C., 2023
 * Winner, Fashion Trust US Sustainability Award, New York 2023
 * Winner, Best Emerging Designer; CFDA Fashion Awards, New York 2022
 * Winner, CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund Award, New York 2022
 * Recipient, IMG Fashion Alliance Grant, New York 2022
 * Winner,Teen Vogue Generation Next, New York 2019
 * Winner,VFILES Season 10 Runway, New York 2018
 * Finalist, Swedish Fashion Council CTF Award, London 2018

Museum acquisitions

 * V&A Museum: Taylor Swift | Songbook Trail, London 2024
 * Pratt Manhattan Gallery: The New Village: Ten Years of New York Fashion, New York 2024
 * Abrons Art Center: Objects of Permanence, New York 2023
 * The Museum at FIT: ¡Moda Hoy! Latin American and Latinx Fashion Design Today, New York 2023

Collections

 * YR004 - The Longhouse, Sep. 2023
 * YR003 - How's My Driving?, Feb. 2023
 * YR002 - In Glass, Sep. 2022
 * YR001 - Maidenhood And Its Labors, Feb. 2022
 * YR000 - Rinascita, Sep. 2021
 * Homecoming, 2019
 * Vessel, 2019
 * _And Carry On, 2018

Salons

 * EVSALON001: Tomorrow is Another Day, Feb. 2024