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 The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

and

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London, England, and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings a ...

. Velez was a semi-finalist for the 2024

LVMH prize The LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers, commonly known as the LVMH Prize, is an award for fashion designers administered yearly by fashion conglomerate LVMH. Founded by Delphine Arnault in 2014, the prize celebrates designers between the ages o ...

and the CFDA's 2022 Emerging Designer of the Year. Described by ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

'' as "explosive and aggressive", Velez's work has been inspired by the aesthetics of the American

Rust Belt The Rust Belt, formerly the Steel Belt or Factory Belt, is an area of the United States that underwent substantial Deindustrialization, industrial decline in the late 20th century. The region is centered in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (Uni ...

. Themes in her work include deconstruction, "apocalyptic anti-heroines" , and alternative construction methods, which include salvaged materials. Velez coins her visual identity as "aggressively delicate" and anti-fragile.

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 The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

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 Parsons Paris is a degree-granting school of art and design in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the European branch campus of Parsons School of Design and part of The New School, a comprehensive university in New York City. Academ ...

from 2013 to 2015 and graduated from

Parsons School of Design The Parsons School of Design is a private art and design college under The New School located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhattan art ...

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 Central Saint Martins is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art university in London, England. The college offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of short ...

in London. Her BFA thesis collection was shown at ''VFILES Season 10 Runway'', and

London Fashion Week London Fashion Week (LFW) is a clothing trade show that takes place in London, England, twice a year, in June and September. Showcasing over 250 designers to a global audience of influential media and retailers, it is one of the 'Big Four' fash ...

, as a guest of the Swedish Fashion Council.

Career

In 2019 Velez's work was exhibited as a ''Teen Vogue 2019 Generation Next'' designer curated by Editor in Chief of ''Vogue''

Anna Wintour Dame Anna Wintour ( ; born 3 November 1949) is a British-American media executive, who has been serving as editor-in-chief of '' Vogue'' since 1988. Wintour has also served as global chief content officer of Condé Nast since 2020, where she o ...

. Her work has received coverage in '' Business of Fashion'', ''

Women's Wear Daily ''Women's Wear Daily'' (also known as ''WWD'') is a fashion-industry trade journal often referred to as the "Bible of fashion". Horyn, Cathy"Breaking Fashion News With a Provocative Edge" ''The New York Times''. (August 20, 1999). It provides i ...

'', WGSN, and other publications. In February, 2021, Elena Velez Industries Inc. was founded with investment support from venture capital firms Gener8tor, and CSA Partners. Velez has dressed celebrities including

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...

Solange Knowles Solange Piaget Knowles (; born June 24, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She expressed an interest in music from an early age and had temporary stints as a backup dancer for Destiny's Child, which featured her older sister ...

Ethel Cain Hayden Silas Anhedönia (born March 24, 1998), known professionally as Ethel Cain, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and model. Anhedönia is noted for her lyrics focused on nostalgic and Southern Gothic themes, while her music ...

Julia Fox Julia Fox (born February 2, 1990) is an Italian and American actress, model, and media personality. Her debut performance was in the 2019 film ''Uncut Gems'', for which she was nominated for the Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Ac ...

Charli XCX Charlotte Emma Aitchison (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as Charli XCX, is a British singer and songwriter. She began posting songs on Myspace in 2008 before entering the London rave scene. Signing a recording contract with Asylum Re ...

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, Anna Delvey,

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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 The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc. (CFDA), founded in 1962 by publicist Eleanor Lambert, and headquartered in Manhattan, is a not-for-profit trade association comprising a membership of over 450 American fashion and accessor ...

. Velez attended the 2023

Met Gala The Met Gala, formally called the Costume Institute Benefit, is the annual haute couture fundraising festival held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in Manhattan. The Met Gala was and still is popularly rega ...

as a guest of

Balenciaga Balenciaga SA ( , , ) is a Spanish Basque luxury fashion house currently headquartered in Paris. It designs, manufactures and markets ready-to-wear footwear, handbags, and accessories, and licenses its name and branding to the American cosmeti ...

. For the occasion, she created a crackle medium screen print ink-gown for the artist

Sasha Gordon Sasha Gordon (born 1998) is an American figurative painter who lives and works in New York City. She is known for hypperrealistic self-portraits set within surreal narratives and uncanny scenes. Complicating the genre of self-portraiture and eng ...

as a nod to Gordon's painting career. As of 2024, Velez is a creative fellow of the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism. Velez has been connected to the US far-right, as well as figures and scenes adjacent to

Peter Thiel Peter Andreas Thiel (; born 11 October 1967) is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist. A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, he was the first outside investor in Facebook. According ...

, and

Steve Sailer Steven Sailer is an American far-right writer and blogger. He is a columnist for '' Taki's Magazine'' and VDARE, a website associated with white supremacy. Earlier writing by Sailer appeared in some mainstream outlets, and his writings have b ...

. According to the Washington Post, Velez has "aligned herself with the unsavory flavor of a tendentious downtown New York crowd, whose podcasters, media personalities and fashion- and art-adjacent figures rose to prominence under the aegis of 'Dimes Square'". The scene is known for it's "reactionary politics and associations with Peter Thiel." https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/fashion/2024/02/12/fashions-problematic-fave-is-elena-velez/ She was photographed at Donald Trump's inauguration celebrations in early 2025. In February 2024 Velez hosted controversial EVSALON001 , which drew on

Margaret Mitchell Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (November 8, 1900 – August 16, 1949) was an American novelist and journalist. Mitchell wrote only one novel that was published during her lifetime, the American Civil War-era novel ''Gone With the Wind (novel), Gone ...

's ''

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.''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

criticized the salon as "problematic" and "dangerously cheesy".

Sohrab Ahmari Sohrab Ahmari (; born February 1, 1985) is an Iranian Americans, Iranian-born American columnist, editor, and author of nonfiction books. He is a founding editor of the online magazine ''Compact (American magazine), Compact''. He is a contributin ...

referred to the presentation as a "weird racial" variation of the "Alt-right". In 2025 Velez collaborated with controversial streaming platform

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and designed the costumes for The National Ballet of Canada.

Awards

* Recipient, Joe & Clara Tsai Foundation; ''2025 Revitalize Brooklyn'' Grant, New York, 2025 * Semi Finalist,

LVMH Prize The LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers, commonly known as the LVMH Prize, is an award for fashion designers administered yearly by fashion conglomerate LVMH. Founded by Delphine Arnault in 2014, the prize celebrates designers between the ages o ...

, Paris, 2024 * ''The Dazed 100 List'' curated by

Ib Kamara IB Kamara, pronounced I.B. (born 1990) is a Sierra Leone-born, London-based creative who is a Stylist, Journalist, Musician, Model and Creative Director. In January 2021, he was named Editor-in-Chief of ''Dazed'' magazine and in 2024 was announced ...

, 2023 * Semi Finalist, ''Emerging Designer/ Brand of the Year''; Latin American Fashion Awards, 2023 * ''50 Women In Power'' list by WWD, New York, 2023 * ''

Elle Magazine ''Elle'' (stylized in all caps) is a worldwide magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, and society and lifestyle. The title ''Elle'' means ''She'' in French. ''Elle'' is considered "one of the world's largest ...

'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

Fashion Fund Award'', New York, 2022 * Recipient, ''

IMG img or IMG is an abbreviation for image. img or IMG may also refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics *IMG (file format), file that stores a complete and uncompressed copy of the contents of a storage device * IMG, a prefix for camera ima ...

Fashion Alliance Grant'', New York, 2022 * Winner,''

Teen Vogue ''Teen Vogue'' is an American progressive online publication, formerly in print, launched in January 2003, as a sister publication to '' Vogue'', targeted at teenage girls and young women. Like ''Vogue'', it included stories about fashion and ...

Generation Next'', New York, 2019 * Winner,''VFILES Season 10 Runway'', New York, 2018 * Finalist, ''Swedish Fashion Council CTF Award,'' London 2018

Museum acquisitions

: ''Dirty Looks,'' London 2025 *

: ''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

* YR006 - ''Leech'', Feb 9. 2025 * YR005 - ''La Pucelle'', Sep 10. 2024 * 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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Velez, Elena 1994 births Living people Artists from Milwaukee American fashion designers Parsons School of Design alumni Alumni of Central Saint Martins Puerto Rican designers LVMH people LVMH brands