The inspirational story of

By Caroline A. Peacock

Q News

 

A little girl with vibrant red hair and big blue eyes carefully picks up the tiny antique objects. Inspecting each one carefully and coming up with little stories for each one. Where has it been? Who owned it? Who made it? What has it seen? How did it get here? Who gave it up?

 

She picks up a big, elegant hat and plops it on her head.

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An older man smiles as he watches his granddaughter’s creative imagination take her on an adventure as she navigates through his antique store. He snaps a few photos of her playing with the old objects.

 

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The same red-headed girl at five-years-old girl picks up a needle for the first time. A potentially dangerous object, but she is not afraid of it. She is excited to work with it.

 

Her grandmother leans over her, showing her how to navigate the needle. She is excited she can finally show her granddaughter how to sew. She had been teaching other young people how to sew for years in her home economics class.

 

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Years later, a confident young woman with the same vibrant red hair beams with delight as she holds her acceptance letter to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. Her mother and father are so proud of her hard work. Her grandparents are excited to watch their intelligent young grandchild follow her dreams.

 

For a high school graduate Ella already has had so much success

in the design world.

 

Ella’s first official client was Mya McAlein,

her high school best friend. Ella designed her prom dress.

A one-of-a-kind Ella creation to bid her friend goodbye

before they part for college.

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The final product, a beautiful black shiny satin gown.

Complete with a scoop neckline that sinches at the waist, and a slit that

meets the knee at the bottom of the dress. Although Mya might be

biased to the dress because it was designed specifically for her,

but this is her favorite design that Ella has created.

 

Earlier in Ella’s high school career she participated in a fashion show.

She used her grandmother’s wedding dress hoop skirt to complete the look. The designs featured squares and rectangles in dark blues, oranges, greens, maroons, and yellows that created a unique fluent style.

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Susan Volkamer, Ella’s aunt, explained that not only did her designs stand out against all the others, but her voice as an artist came alive. “She spoke to the audience and just blew me away,” said Volkamer, “when that day came it changed everything and she’s been on that track ever since.”

 

Ella also created costumes for her high school’s Les Misérables play.

 

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Ella Titus always had a passion for creating. She began sewing at the age of five, created tons of outfits for her and her friends, including her best friend, Mya’s prom dress, and made all the costumes for her high school play. However, she never imagined she would be heading to one of the best fashion institutes in the country. But here she was standing in the heart of Los Angeles, California, excited to get her thoughts out in the world.

 

While in college Ella focused on her work with wedding dresses. She experimented with different brands, subjects, problems, and materials to create unique designs.

 

Ella decided to face a visual issue head on. She decided to cater to the blind. Ella created several wedding dresses with a hidden meaning stitched within. Her line spelled out little phrases such as “I do” or “I love you” in braille. She wanted to create a line that incorporated those who could not see the dress itself.

 

One of Ella’s favorite brands is Off-White. She decided to experiment with the iconic Off-White brand style and created a line of dresses inspired by the brand.

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In May of 2022 Ella graduated from FDIM with the vision of her own brand in her mind.

 

Her college friends, Lindey, Ally, and Addison worked beside her to model her designs. Her theme became artistry, romance, nostalgia, and whimsical. Her designs are all inspired by art.

 

Ella’s brand speaks “100% from her heart” because her Volume I collection uses Italian tapestries inspired by her grandfather’s antique store. “I used to love exploring those antique stores with my mom and him. And going to see him while he was working, I have so many fond memories I don’t even think I can pick just one,” said Ella.

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September 2022 Vellachor was born. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word Vellichor as the “strange wistfulness of used bookstores.” Ella’s brand Vellachor is inspired by the word Vellichor and the concept of reusing antique things, specifically books and turning them into a nostalgic piece of clothing. Ella’s grandfather’s antique store specialized in books which led to the creation of her brand’s name, Vellachor.

 

Since the launch of her brand, her Volume I collection has almost completely sold out, with lots of demand for restock. Ella’s brand has proven to be so successful that she is even moving into a bigger apartment with her boyfriend, Jesse Werstland.

 

She is currently working on the Volume II drop for Vellachor.

 

Ella’s focusing of more than just her own brand.

 

This past year, Ella collaborated with HUMANS to create designs that were modeled in LA Fashion Week and Miami Swim Week.

 

Ella has not only achieved success through her company, but she has also become a successful influencer. She has a strong following of people on social media that love watching her create, design, and produce clothing. She has inspired many and will continue to inspire those with her ambition to create and produce one-of-a-kind art pieces.

 

***

 

Although Ella is an incredibly successful designer, artist, and businesswoman her life is not always perfect.

 

2020 was a difficult year for everyone. By March of 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic was affecting everyone in its way.

 

Ella was forced to continue classes online. Her life was confided to her apartment. Occasionally her boyfriend would visit. Ella kept busy continuing to work on her future as an artist.

 

In September of 2020 Ella’s father suddenly passed away.

 

“He was one of my biggest supporters of moving out here and following my dreams. He was a business owner, so I think I get my entrepreneurial spirit from him, said Ella. “I think he would absolutely love my brand, he always said he would be my first investor. I like to think that he would be so proud.”

 

Losing a loved one is one of the hardest things a person can endure. Especially when the person is such a motivational and inspirational person in your life. For Ella, her father was one of her biggest supporters, losing him was extremely hard, but she realized she never lost his support.

 

Dakota Kilgariff, one of her friends from FDIM, understood what losing a loved one was like. She knew that as time goes on people often forget, and they forget to reach back out. “I think the hardest part is when everyone stops reaching out and asking how you’re doing, after maybe a week or two, or a couple of weeks. I reached out to her in the begging and told her I was always here for her. A couple of weeks later, I would periodically try and check up on her. And she would be really honest because I understood and I knew what she was going through,” said Dakota.

 

Family has always been a huge part of her life, but her connection with her family became stronger after her father passed.

 

“If I haven’t posted a Tik Tok or Instagram Reel in a while, I’ll get a text from my aunt, my grandmom, my mom, and whoever, and they will be like ‘hey where waiting for you, we are your fans at home’,” said Ella.

 

Ella knows that even though her father is not with her physically, he is with her spiritually. He is still her biggest supporter, watching her follow her dreams.

 

Ella’s family and friends emphasized the emotional impact it left on her.

 

Despite losing her father, Ella never gave up. Instead, she strived to be her best.

 

Today, Ella is 22 years old with her own successful brand. She is the future of the fashion industry. She is a determined artist with power and ambition ready to influence the world and change the fashion industry for the better.