There is a small martini glass embroidered in black thread at the left chest of one of ELAN's newer sweaters, the kind of detail that is easy to miss until someone points it out, and then impossible to unsee. It is not what you would expect from a label whose history is so tied to resort ease and Miami polish, and that is really the point. A collection shaped by actual people, not by a single aesthetic rulebook, has room for a sweater that wants to make you smile right alongside one that mostly wants to disappear into your closet and earn its keep.
ELAN was founded in Miami in 1991 by Elan and Galit Savir, a husband and wife who still guide every collection today, now joined by their daughters, who have become part of the process as well. Three and a half decades in, that kind of continuity shows up less in any one signature look than in the range the brand is still willing to work across within a single season.
The Saffron Sweater and the Martini Sweater landed in ELAN's lineup on the very same day last fall, two pieces from the same knitwear drop built to do almost opposite jobs. Saffron is the quieter of the two: an off the shoulder, ribbed knit with a dolman sleeve and a fitted waistband, cut in black and meant to move easily from tucked into a pleated skirt for an evening out to layered over denim for something far more ordinary. It earns its place in a closet by fitting whatever the week actually looks like, not by waiting for a specific occasion.
Martini has no interest in disappearing. The crewneck's fine, soft knit and ribbed trim are classic enough on their own, but the embroidered cocktail glass at the chest turns a basic pullover into something with a sense of humor, the kind of sweater built for the one night of the season when a plain one will not quite do. Both pieces came out of the same design process on the same day, which says something about how ELAN still approaches getting dressed: not as one mood stretched across an entire collection, but as a wardrobe's worth of different moments, each one worth designing for on its own terms.
That range traces back to how the Savirs have always described their own process: "From Miami to the Mediterranean, every destination influences the colors, fabrics," a line that reads less like a tagline and more like an explanation for why the brand has never settled into one note. It is the same instinct that keeps the single storefront in Aventura, Florida, stocked with pieces that pull from resort ease one week and something closer to Martini's wink the next. You can read more about where that all started on ELAN's About page.
It is a version of the same design range the brand has shown elsewhere: in the long-selling styles that keep moving without ever needing a relaunch, and in the mix of instant hits and slow burns that make up any given bestseller list. Both the Saffron Sweater and the Martini Sweater are part of ELAN's women's sweaters collection now, and Martini has a natural second home in the brand's holiday edit as the season turns toward parties and dinners that call for a little more than a plain crewneck.
