{Vendor Spotlight} Anna Elyse Bridesmaids

We were so thrilled to add Anna Elyse Bridesmaids to our collection this past October at NY market. Recently, designer Annie Sokoloff shared her amazing journey with us and we just had to share it with you!   "I hope that my story will inspire everyone to follow their dreams because it is never too late"  Annie Sokoloff, Owner & Designer of Annie Girl & Anna Elyse   Founded in 2006, Annie Girl Couture Creations & Anna Elyse Bridesmaids is the story of a 34 year old quest which began in the heart of a teenage girl from Pennsylvania. Annie's interest in fashion design began at an early age when she learned to sew at her grandmother's knee. She soon graduated to learning how to sew on a vintage Singer sewing machine. Initial projects were sewn for her Barbie doll and later, after a summer Singer sewing course, for her high school wardrobe.   In 1969, Annie entered college as a Fashion Design major at a liberal arts college two hours from her home. The college cancelled the major during her sophomore year and unable to afford to attend a college far from home, her dream of receiving a degree in Fashion Design was put on hold. Annie decided to finish school locally,  with a degree in Government and Politics.   Shortly after college graduation, Annie married and moved to New Jersey. She took a job at the American Stock Exchange in Manhattan and later worked in the Options division of the Exchange, training traders. She left the Amex in 1977 for her new career as a "mom" when her son, Peter, was born in October of that year.   The next years were spent being a homemaker, corporate wife and mother. When her son entered nursery school, Annie entered the workplace again, this time as a travel agent and spent 13 years in the travel business.   In 1993, Annie found herself with a new challenge - being a single mom. In 1994 Annie purchased an employment agency that specialized in placing travel agents. In the fall of 1996, while visiting her son during parents' weekend at NYU where he was studying Film and TV production, she looked around and realized that, while she had raised him to follow his dreams and passions, she had not followed her own advice. She immediately sold the employment agency.   In the meantime, Annie had met and married the man of her dreams (they met on a wrong phone number ... another story). She decided to help him build up his investment banking business with the agreement that when it was successful, she could pursue her own passion. Within a few years the business had achieved notable success and Annie enrolled in the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles in the Spring of 2001. She graduated with an Advanced Degree in March 2003, thus attaining that goal to become a fashion designer she had set 34 years earlier.   When the company was founded in 2006, it began in an extra bedroom in Annie's home with Annie sitting in front of her sewing machine, making each dress by hand. Seven years later Annie Girl & Anna Elyse has recently announced the opening of their storefront Flagship Salon and Design Studio in Old Town Pasadena, CA, which marks the third physical expansion of their headquarters (not counting when we took over the living room and dining room).   Annie Girl & Anna Elyse dresses are all Proudly Made in Southern California.

To view the collection, schedule an appointment with Bliss Bridesmaids here. For more on Anna Elyse, visit their website at www.annaelyse.com