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photograph courtesy of ellabelle
DRESSED FOR THE NINES
L
isa Stelzig Holste was more suited to taming tresses than designing golf dresses. But a business hook-up with Heidi Heckenlaible, her long-time client at Posh the Salon in Bonnie Brae, has led her to the launch of ellabelle, a women’s golf and tennis clothing line that will officially debut on Aug. 9 at Colorado Golf Club, just prior to the Solheim Cup on Aug. 13-18. The first “limited edition” series of women’s sports clothing will also be available online at ellabelle.com and at The Mad Russian Golf and Country Club in Milliken, which is owned by Heckenlaible’s family. When the budding entrepreneurs expand into a full clothing line, they plan to sell it in more private and public golf clubs. “I started playing golf and I couldn’t find clothes that fit me,” says Holste, who’s a size zero, but has had ellabelle
co lo r a d o a v i d g o l f e r. c o m
pieces made in a range of sizes from zero (extra small), one (small), two (medium), three (large) and four (extra large). “I kept saying that I wish there were pretty and feminine clothes to wear on the golf course. I was thinking, ‘Let’s make some hot beautiful clothes that are more feminine.’” The business partners took their concept to a designer in Los Angeles who crafted golf clothes in interesting patterns with performance fabric that’s both stretchy and wicks away perspiration. The line includes sleeveless tops, skirts, shorts, pants, jackets and dresses. The skorts for example, are a short ruffled skirt in vibrant hues of turquoise, fuchsia, coral, white and black, without the typical built-in shorts so the wearer can purchase the shorts separately and in a choice of matching or contrasting colors. “The shorts are built with two
HOT PLAYERS: Jessica McClain (turquoise Perfect Sleeveless top and Flirt Skirt) and Carolina Woodrich (fuchsia Perfect Shirt with Bright Coral Favorite Capri) embody the ellabelle sensibility.
pockets,” Holste says. “We measured cell phones to make sure they fit. The shorts don’t roll up without squeezing you.” Heckenlaible, a graduate of the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business, says the business relationship blossomed in Holste’s salon chair. It’s taken more than two years to bring the clothing line from sketches to production. “Lisa and I had become friends after I became a client of hers,” Heckenlaible says. “One day when I was in she asked me what I thought about starting a golf clothing line. My background is in real estate management, and I manage a golf course. Lisa had her own reasons for golf clothes fitting her. I had trouble getting golf clothes fitting me. We had meetings and realized that was a niche that wasn’t being filled by other golf clothing lines. We want to fill the niche larger clothAugust 2013 | Colorado AvidGolfer
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