The answer to a question activewear never really asked
Can it be beautiful AND move with you?
“Beauty is performance. Not because beauty is decoration. Because beauty changes the way we move.”
Join the CollectiveWhy Jaselle?
Most activewear brands treat femininity and performance as opposites. You either buy the boxy technical set that performs but disappears into the gym floor, or the pretty set that photographs well and falls apart in a single wash.
Jaselle is different. We design the way an architect designs, and move the way a dancer moves. Structure and beauty aren’t sequenced, one doesn’t come before the other. Every piece is designed with both in mind at the same time, because they were never actually in competition. They just haven’t been designed together before.
We source premium fabrics from Portugal and build every silhouette to hold its shape through a workout, a walk, and everything after. Feminine on the surface. Engineered underneath.
Our Core Beliefs
01
Aesthetic
We celebrate all forms of femininity at Jaselle. However she wants to show up, soft or bold, minimal or full of frills, that's who we design for.
02
Function
For the woman who refuses to choose between looking beautiful and moving freely. Structure exists to support her, never to hold her back.
03
Intention
Our intention isn't only in the seams. It's in giving every woman a way to express her femininity, unapologetically, in every room and every movement she walks into.
Meet the Founder
Hi, I’m Isabella.
I’m an architect and designer from Chicago, trained at Parsons School of Design, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Illinois Tech. I’d always been drawn to ballet as a little girl, the lines, the form, the classical sensibility, but growing up I had limited access to it and started later than most. Once I did, I immersed myself in it completely, and became a typical bunhead with the quintessential pink tights and pulled back hair.
The idea for Jaselle didn’t start in the ballet studio or in my sketchbook. It materialized in the space between the dance world and everyday life. I started cross training for strength while wearing my dance attire, since I didn’t have time to change in between sessions. Women kept stopping me to ask about my outfit, over and over, the whole look, not just one piece of it. I’d walk into the gym like that, surrounded by everyone else in standard activewear, and stand out. I realized there was a real desire quietly waiting to be met: women who wanted to feel ultra-feminine while staying active, but ballet clothing wasn’t built for that. Ballet skirts are made to be worn with translucent pink tights, not with built-in modesty to carry across multiple athletic endeavors, and leotards are cut and fastened for the studio, not for getting in and out of quickly on an everyday basis.
Bringing this early idea to life has pushed me to explore the manufacturing and business side of fashion in a way I never had before. I’d designed things before, but I’d never actually built a line with a manufacturer. Everything about sourcing fabric, working with patternmakers, and building a real supply chain was new to me.
So I flew to Portugal. Ten days in Porto, three in Lisbon, learning the manufacturing side from scratch while sourcing the fabric mills and patternmakers who could build what I was imagining.
I’m genuinely excited to be exploring this dream, building something that celebrates the beautiful femininity athletic wear has tried to hide for so long. It’s the place where the architect, the dancer, and the designer in me finally get to work together.
I hope it leaves a lasting mark, for the women who wear it, and for anyone who’s ever waited for the right time to start something of their own.
Design Philosophy
Architecture teaches that beautiful spaces are created through balance, rhythm, and intentionality. We approach clothing the same way. Lines guide movement. Seams sculpt without restricting. Structure creates elegance. Nothing is accidental.
Our inspiration comes from architecture, fashion, and movement: disciplines that share a common language of proportion, balance, and form.
The Heart of It
More Than A Brand.
A Way Of Moving.
Jaselle exists to give women a way to express their femininity in movement, unapologetically, in whatever form that takes.
Softness and strength were never opposites. Showing up fully as yourself, frills and all, is its own kind of confidence.
I also want Jaselle to be proof for other women who dream of building something of their own. I’m doing this largely on my own right now, though that’s just one part of the story, and I’m documenting the process in real time: the sourcing trips, the manufacturing learning curve, the parts I’m still figuring out, because most people only ever see the finished brand and never the part where you didn’t know what you were doing yet.
This brand is for the woman who refuses to shrink her femininity to fit into activewear that was never built with her in mind. And if you’ve ever had an idea you were scared to start, I hope watching this makes it feel a little more possible.
Welcome to the Jaselle Collective.
— Isabella
Follow Along
Join the Jaselle Collective
Get early access to launch