Designer Spotlight: Jessie Steele |

Jessie Steele consists of the mother-daughter team Helena and Claire Steele, with Helena’s beloved Grandmother Jessie as the namesake. They created Jessie Steele for women like themselves—rich in tradition and fearlessly feminine.

It all began with an apron. For years, Helena had collected vintage 20th century aprons, enchanted by a style and charm nearly forgotten by the modern world. Most cherished were patterns handed down from her mother Joan and her grandmother Jessie, from which she often made gifts for friends.

In 2001, Helena saw the world trending back to family, community, and the comforts of home. One day she realized: It was the perfect time to re-introduce the apron as an accessory, a fashion, a positive statement.

She called Claire and pitched the idea. Claire was on a PR career track in LA, but felt something was missing. “I loved to cook and throw parties, but there was a stigma to putting on an apron for my generation,” she said. “I was intrigued.” With her enthusiastic collaboration, Jessie Steele was born, and in September 2002 was officially launched at its first trade show.

Naming the company in honor of the women who had come before them, they had anything but humble goals: Turn a century of tradition into a wearable story anyone can share, whether you’re putting pie in the window or Champagne on ice.

They took a complex process and added an exacting vision: Create retro yet thoroughly modern aprons that flatter women of all sizes. “Everyone deserves to look good,” said Helena. “I’d build one, and realize that you can’t take a vintage apron and simply replicate it – you have to change the way it fits.” Indeed, the Jessie Steele aprons have a cross-generational appeal that evokes designs from the past, yet unlike the vintage items they are figure-flattering for today’s woman. The final cuts fit sizes 0 to 18.

Jessie Steele focuses on Story, Play and Meaning.

Story: the aprons are named after 20th Century actresses evoking memories of a simpler idealized time.
Play: bringing “joy of life” into the home and enhancing America’s revived love affair with great food.
Meaning: the kitchen being the heart of the home and a core place for family bonding. With this philosophy in mind Jessie Steele offers timeless mother-daughter styles.

The creative collaboration that is Jessie Steele mines the vaults of our collective memory to illustrate what it’s like to choose the shape and look of your life. For them, the apron means business—whether you’re running your own or caring for family and friends. It’s a form of service, gladly given and gratefully received.

Jessie Steele has gone global and is sold in over 30 countries. Their aprons have appeared on TV, in feature films, and on the runway. But no matter how big they get, they are determined to keep it personal: Helena still sews prototypes and hand-draws patterns at the same dining room table where the story began.