Today, we’d like to introduce you to Ellie Fleming.
Hi Ellie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In middle school, I was a full tomboy. And when I say tomboy, I mean I wore snapbacks & basketball shorts, played three sports competitively, and refused to wear my hair down tomboy. I wasn’t slightly interested in anything feminine or imagined-based in the slightest.
That was until I hit high school and all of its hardships & trials. That is where I found that clothing and styling can be a way to literally fabricate your own narrative, a way to tell your story. I’ve always been a storyteller. When I was a little girl, I used to write poems and short stories that my family still loves to make fun of me for. While I was struggling in high school, I found this new way to story-tell through clothing and fell in love. My outfits became like an armor of self-expression. So I would steal my sister’s clothes, borrow friends’ clothes, and thrift to create “Ellie.”
This love of fashion followed me to college where I found a job at a local boutique just helping on the sales floor. It was terrible pay, but I was just so excited to be there, surrounded by beautiful things! I was studying Public Relations and Social Media Management in school and loved everything about it, so I started presenting ideas to the owner of this boutique. She loved what she was hearing, and after three months of working on the sales floor, I was asked if I wanted to be the Creative Director of her company. I was 0% qualified and slightly terrified, but I immediately said yes. That job was like baptism by fire, and I couldn’t have been happier.
I stayed at that job until I graduated college and then went on to style & run the social media at Bohme. I learned so much from my time at Bohme, but I met my ceiling there in about a year, so I decided to start doing freelance styling. Freelance is rough; any creative freelancer would tell you that with haunted eyes. It was rough, but I wouldn’t have learned anything if I had stayed in the comfort zone of the “Utah fashion” corporate world, where the majority of the fashion is distorted and parred down to fit Utah budgets and mindsets.
Shortly after leaving Bohme, I interviewed at my dream fashion company. I went through six rounds of interviews, was flown out to their HQ, toured their facilities, and interviewed with their Senior Director of Styling & Creative Director.
I was so excited! It was a dream come true!!
… and I didn’t get it.
It was disappointing, but as I went through the interview process, I felt my thirst for knowledge grows to a fever pitch. I wanted to be better. I wanted to KNOW more. Oddly enough, I felt direction and validation like I hadn’t felt before. This company, despite not hiring me, had shown me that I was worth considering and worth betting on.
A month after receiving the news that I didn’t get the job, I enrolled in the Vogue Condé Nast Summer Intensive Course. I had a remarkable and unforgettable experience where I was given tools to navigate the fashion industry, gained more knowledge than I could have hoped for in such a short time, and created connections that will serve me far into the future.
Since then, I’ve been working hard to continue storytelling via styling, learning more about the fashion scene here in Utah, and building my network & portfolio. I currently work doing fashion PR for a local Utah company and freelance style every chance I get. The road is still uncertain and I’m still learning, but I am so excited to see what stories I get to tell next.
Let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
I’ve had some personal setbacks, as the world of freelance is full of rejection and redirection, but I try not to let those deter me. I’ve found what I’m passionate about in styling and hope to continue to learn and grow in this industry.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I specialize in E-commerce and Editorial wardrobe styling for fashion and product companies. I’m most proud of the styling portfolio I’ve been able to build through my corporate and freelance work.
I feel like I’m an interesting type of creative. Many stylists are artists, but I categorize myself as a storyteller. I see the clothes or products and ask my clients what story would best sell for them. What is a narrative that will make customers want to buy? What story are we telling with wardrobe? What are some relevant trends we can incorporate to help keep the story relevant?
I love to know the demographics, overall brand goals, and aspirational styles of my clients before I even begin to start styling. I need to know the parameters of the story and what we’re trying to say with the campaign, or else the styling won’t make any sense.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Professional success, to me, is being in a place where I can create beautiful, purposeful stories surrounded by people I admire and respect.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ellieschiessfleming.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellielynnf/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellieschiessfleming/
Image Credits
Jacob Bonifacio @yacob.photo and Togi @togi.photo
