Since Elena Velez launched her eponymous label in 2018, she’s been shaking up the fashion industry with her design juxtaposition of femininity and force; her nontraditional approach to fashion weeks, as seen through her viral spring 2024 mud pit fashion show, and her outspokenness about the harsh realities for young designers trying to succeed in today’s fashion industry.

The Puerto Rican designer from Wisconsin has garnered multiple accolades such as the CFDA’s emerging designer of the year award in 2022; a Vogue’s Fashion Fund win in 2022; Elle Magazine’s women of impact recognition in 2023, and is a recipient of the Fashion Trust US sustainability award.

But while these “bright and shiny front of house wins,” have been strong public achievements, Velez said they pale in comparison to the more “quiet and existential” moments she’s had as a creative setting goals and bringing to life the material vision of what was in her mind. 

She also feels accomplished in being able to “diversify the things that are important to me like having kids; learning how to take initiative but also how to release and let go of things that I can’t control or change — including public perception, and including letting my husband

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