Elena Velez

She/Her

I’m an American fashion designer and artist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My work is known for its non traditional synthesis of metalsmith and high fashion. Dressing celebrities including Solange Knowles, Grimes, Charli XCX, Arca, Kim Petras, Tinashe, Rico Nasty and Caroline Polachek, my recent collaborations include custom looks for music artists such as Kali Uchis, Rosalia, and Ariana Grande. In 2018 I was named by i-D Magazine as one of five under the radar designers to discover at NYFW after first gaining viral notoriety on VFILES Season 10 Runway. I’m represented by Loft Creative Group and made my first official NYFW debut on the CFDA calendar in September 2021.

My work is inspired by the historic craftsmanship and manufacturing legacy of the American rustbelt and is the product of collaboration with local metalsmith artisans to revisit regional craftsmanship. Central motifs include deconstruction, ”aggressively delicate” femininity, and alternative construction methods, which include salvaged and site-specific materiality. Of Puerto Rican heritage but raised in Milwaukee, the industrial nature of my nontraditional upbringing as the only child to a single mother who is a ship's captain on the Great Lakes, influenced my artistic identity, which draws heavily on the relationship between femininity and force.