style blog – Ensemble of Elan

Farewell, Friends

We’ve had a lot of fun over the last year and a half, but all good things must come to an end. Thank you to everyone who has been apart of this incredible journey with us ❤

Xoxo,

S & H

Video Taken & Edited by: Daniel Nansel

Music in Video by: Yuni Wa

Photos Taken By: Daniel Nansel

Photos Edited By: Hannah Lewter

How to Reach Your (Maxi)mum Style Potential

The maxi dress is a tricky one to conquer. Sure, you can just throw one on with a pair of heels and be done with it, but if you style it the same way every time you wear it, you are going to grow tired of that dress (and we can’t have that!).

The key to unlocking the full potential of your favorite maxi dress is learning how to style it in multiple ways so that it doesn’t feel like you are wearing the exact same outfit over and over again. How, you ask?

Cinch It With a Belt
A loose-fitting maxi dress is a staple you can always feel confident in, no matter if you are feeling fit as a fiddle or a little bloated.
For those times when you want to show off your rockin’ bod, cinch your dress with a trendy belt to accentuate your waistline.

Add a Cozy Sweater

Layering on a sweater is one of our signature tips for making a dress feel like new, and this holds true for maxi dresses too!

Changing how the top of your dress looks makes that piece feel like a chic, brand-new maxi skirt.

Make It Office-Friendly
Not sure how to style your maxi for your 9-5? It’s simple: add other pieces that you already wear to the office.
This can be a plaid blazer, a button-down layered underneath, or your favorite pumps.

Top It Off With Great Accessories

People say, “I love a good dress because it’s already an entire outfit!”, but we believe an outfit is never truly complete without the perfect accessories.

If your maxi is a neutral color (or even if it’s not), liven it up with a velvet or faux fur crossbody bag plus a pair of statement ankle boots.

Hannah’s Wearing:

Sabrina’s Wearing:

Photos by: Durrell Green

Winter Outfit Ideas That Are Anything But Dreary

Are you in a winter fashion rut? (Don’t fret, it happens to the best of us.)

By the time mid-January rolls around and you’ve exhausted the number of sweater and jeans combinations you can throw together, what on earth are you supposed to wear and feel amazing in?

We’ve got you.

Throw in a Pop of Color

Many people tend to gravitate towards neutrals in the wintertime, but you don’t have to wait until spring to start rocking your favorite hues!

Pull that brightly colored sweater out of your closet and wear it with pride.

Lavender is Pantone’s color of the year, so you might want to get a head start by wearing this shade before you start seeing it everywhere.

Wear Something Metallic

Yeah, yeah, we know you’re wondering how we can consider an almost entirely gray outfit to be “fun”, but let us prove it to you.

The key here is adding something metallic, like these sneakers.

The eye-catching metallic combined with the on-trend plaid trousers and an edgy beanie makes this look unconventionally exciting.

Rock Your Spring-iest Embroidery

Embroidery has been going strong for a while now, and it isn’t poised to slow down anytime soon.

So, look forward to spring by wearing your favorite embroidered pieces now!

A pair of embroidered booties or an embroidered leather jacket adds a fresh touch to any outfit (and will remind you that spring isn’t far away!)

XOXO,

S & H

Sabrina’s Wearing:

Hannah’s Wearing:

T’Neria Ransom’s Wearing

Moving Up

2017 brought about many great moments, but it was also one of the most challenging years of my life. From starting Ensemble of Elan to putting on our first fashion show and opening our online store–it flew by in a whirlwind of hard work and dedication.

Now going into 2018, I am simply elated for the new opportunities that are in front of me.

I’m going into the last half of my junior year, and I’m taking classes that challenge me as a creator and a student. I’m taking my first watercolor class, braving Spanish ll, and diving deeper into my marketing minor.

I’m also starting an internship with local fashion designer, Linda Rowe Thomas. I can’t wait to be in an environment surrounded with beautiful fabrics, innovative design, and raw inspiration. In this internship I’ll get a first-hand look at what it means to be a designer and to assist in editorial shoots.

On top of all of this, I have finally gathered the courage to pursue modeling professionally, and I put in an application to be a model at Sculp agency. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed modeling for our own photoshoots, and I think I am ready to take it to the next level.

When I was a kid and used to think about what I wanted to do when I got older, I remember knowing that I wanted to be in the creative industry- and that still hasn’t changed.

There’s something amazing about your childhood dream beginning to come into fruition. I can’t wait to see what 2018 has in store.

-H

When people ask me what I do, I usually tell them “many things.” I work as a personal stylist and shopper for Google’s innovative new app, Tailor; I (obviously) operate this fashion blog and our online store; and I am about to embark on two new adventures: interning at a fashion house and pursuing modeling professionally.

When I want something, I will do whatever takes to get it.

For a long time, I yearned to work in the fashion industry, but being from Arkansas, I didn’t know quite how to do it. So, in 2017, I took some leaps of faith and planted the seeds that have blossomed into the opportunities I have before me now.

I want to learn the ins and outs of the fashion industry from every angle: designing, marketing, modeling, merchandising–all of it.

So, this year I am doing all of it. With my master’s degree under my belt at last, I can fully focus on growing in both my craft and my character (yup, I did just borrow that line from my cover letter).

We are almost to the one-year mark of the blog that started it all, and I would not have traded this past year for the world. We’re moving up, and I’m so grateful to all of you reading this because it would never have been possible without you.

-S

Sabrina’s Wearing:

Hannah’s Wearing:

| Goodwill Turtleneck Sweater (similar) | Goodwill Knit Pencil Skirt (similar) | Old Navy Burgundy Pea Coat | Goodwill Multicolor Faux Fur Clutch

At Long Last, An Ensemble For You!

We started Ensemble of Elan almost a year ago, and our intention was never for it to be just a blog.

We always wanted to do something more and provide our fans with a tangible way to join in on this experience with us.

Over the course of 2017, we learned that starting a business takes a lot of trial and error. We began by offering a wardrobe creation service where we helped clients clean out their closets, alter their current clothing items, and find new ones from our original collection. That did not last long, so we then thought about starting a clothing rental service where fellow fashion bloggers could rent clothes for their photoshoots.

Long story short, neither of those ideas turned out to be feasible because they cost too much money & effort, and we could not make it profitable and keep it affordable.

So, we decided to go back to an idea that was simple and relatively inexpensive: an online clothing shop.

We launched our debut collection last Friday, and we will be releasing new items on a weekly basis. Almost all of the clothes we are wearing in this shoot are from the collection (Save for the metallic coat. We did not have a warm enough coat in our collection for the below freezing temps, so sue me -S).

We hope you love these pieces as much as we do, and please let us know if there is anything else you would like to see in the shop!

Xoxo, S & H