It's hard to say Goodbye...

Valued Customers of Ess Elle Style Studio –

It is with a heavy heart that I write you this letter announcing that Ess Elle will not be reopening in March, as had been my intention. Following a wonderful twenty-six months of developing relationships with good customers and making terrific friends, our store is unable to survive this historically tough economic time. I was hoping for a surge of consumer confidence after President Obama’s inauguration but unfortunately it has not happened yet and we find it too risky to reopen at this time.

We’ve been fighting a difficult economy since the day we opened, about the same time the housing industry began to tank, but the last six months have been particularly horrible. Unfortunately, this economic downturn has claimed another victim on the East Side. Like too many others in our area and around the country, Ess Elle cannot continue and be profitable.
As a specialty retailer, we waged a constant battle for market share with mass retailers, discounters and the Internet. However, it’s been made abundantly clear through numerous emails and positive word of mouth that Ess Elle carved out a niche in Milwaukee with a loyal customer base and a personal brand of service. We encourage you to continue to shop local. It is critically important, now more then ever before.

It has been a real honor to serve the great Milwaukee community and I sincerely hope to resurface down the line, as a clothier focused on quality pieces at affordable prices. Milwaukee may have lost a store voted “Best Women’s Clothing Boutique” by the A-List for the two years we were operational (thanks to all of you), but I hope to see you all again someday … I will miss you all more than you can imagine.

With love and best wishes,

SarahSkinner Owner – Ess Elle Style Studio

Cleaning Out Our Closet and Reopening in March!

Dear Ess Elle Customers,

As you may already know, Ess Elle Style Studio is going through some restructuring. After thirty years of fashion and retail experience, our dear friend and co-owner Lisa Trautner has decided to retire. We wish her well and will miss her greatly. Lisa's abundance of experience includes managing some of Milwaukee's finest boutiques including MaJolie, M.E. Lou, and Aala Reed. Lisa’s background includes receiving her bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Cardinal Stritch, and subsequently moving to Chicago to explore the big city. Fortunately, she stumbled upon a job as a photo stylist, where her passion for art met her love for fashion and styling. Many years later, I was lucky enough to work with Lisa at Milwaukee’s Aala Reed and down the line, after reuniting; our vision for Ess Elle became reality.

As sad as we are with Lisa's retiring, the show must go on! We are going to take a little break in order to restructure and will “clean out our closet”. Our doors will be closed from January 12th until March but: Fear not ladies … We will be back! Along with everything I’ve learned from Lisa, combined with my own experiences, I will work diligently every day to ensure that Ess Elle continues to be Milwaukee’s premier women’s clothing boutique.

I have over eleven years of experience in fashion and retail, including being a co-owner of Ess Elle for two years. My initial experiences in retail and business sales were formative as they helped me early on to understand how to best work with all types of personalities, meet individual customer needs, and develop strong creative problem-solving skills. Much of this experience was spent "in the trenches," developing practical skills on the floor at retailers including Giorgio Armani, Three Graces, and Aala Reed.

After obtaining a Marketing degree from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, I immediately began a career as an Assistant Buyer for Carson Pirie Scott, now Bon Ton. After gaining a strong understanding of the numbers game I went on to become the Midwest Account Executive for Michael Brandon (a men’s clothing and sportswear company). I was lucky enough to work with the Midwest’s best specialty stores and form wonderful relationships that I still maintain today. I know the hard work it takes to have a successful women’s clothing boutique in Milwaukee, and we will continue bringing in the best lines, including Free People, BCBGeneration, Tulle, BB Dakota, James Jeans, Silver Jeans, and many more at the most budget friendly prices.

As many of you will attest, Ess Elle is Milwaukee’s finest women’s clothing boutique. In fact, Ess Elle has been recognized by local ABC channel 12’s The A-List as Milwaukee’s number one women’s clothing boutique in 2007 & 2008, and was recently voted first runner-up by the Shepard Express … thanks to all of you!

Thank you once again for being so loyal and understanding. We look forward to providing you with the best in the hottest fashions and superior customer service this March. In the meantime, please email me any ideas or suggestions you have to help make Ess Elle Style Studio even better. Tell us what you like, what you don’t like, and any ideas you may have to enhance your shopping experience.

We'll be out of sight, but hopefully not out of mind! See you in March!

Fashionably Yours,

Sarah Skinner

Off the Runway & in Ess Elle

The Classic Tux Dress- very "Charlotte" a la Sex & the City....

Bohemian Chic

Off the runway & in Ess Elle.

*Don't see an outfit from your favorite editorial?  Email us the page, right out of the magazine, to contact@esselleonline.com and we may use your favorite outfit for one of our blogs!*

 I love perusing through fashion magazines, daydreaming about wearing the beautiful fashions I see page after page.  Daydreaming, because let’s face it; there aren’t many of us who are currently rolling in enough dough to outfit ourselves in Gucci, Prada, or Chanel. 

After all the fashion magazines published their coverage of the S/S 09 shows and I nearly threw myself off of my roof in a deep depression, I decided enough is enough.  Perhaps I can’t afford exactly what I see in the magazines, but there’s no reason I can’t fake it.

We here at Ess Elle realize that “faking it” isn’t always as easy as it sounds.  Fear not ladies!  That’s what we are here for.  Just for you, the Ess Elle blog will periodically feature a terrific outfit, straight out of a magazine, and we will show you how to affordably fake it here at Ess Elle