About Elsa Fitzgerald
Elsa Fitzgerald is a couture atelier and resource center dedicated to preserving fine dressmaking through research, education, and community.
Founded by Indonesian-American designer Stacy Stube in 2013, Elsa Fitzgerald began as a luxury fashion house in Bali, Indonesia. In 2026, it evolved to include the Dressmaking Heritage Society, a digital platform focused on couture practice and dressmaking heritage.
Stube studied Fashion Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the London College of Fashion and completed the New Creative Ventures program at London Business School. Her experience includes work with Alexander McQueen, Burberry, Hugo Boss, Diane von Furstenberg, and Temperley London.
Through the Elsa Fitzgerald – Fashion Farm Atelier, she shares her personal journey of becoming a royal dressmaker alongside her ongoing study of couture craftsmanship. Elsa Fitzgerald is a case study venture within Stacy Stube’s doctoral research in Fashion Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation, where she is testing impact-driven models of venture creation.
What We Do
Elsa Fitzgerald connects and organizes existing knowledge in dressmaking, making it easier to find, access, and share. It builds a living system that links makers, research, techniques, and educational resources across contexts and geographies. At its core, the work focuses on keeping fine dressmaking alive through access, exchange, and continued practice.
Dressmaking Heritage Society
The Dressmaking Heritage Society is a digital platform at the heart of Elsa Fitzgerald’s work. It brings together a growing network of resources, including research, educational materials, techniques, and knowledge from global dressmaking communities.
It is designed for designers, students, makers, and researchers seeking to study and engage with couture practice. By organizing dispersed knowledge into a connected system, it supports the continuation and evolution of dressmaking traditions across generations.
Historic Fashion Archives
Elsa Fitzgerald engages in cultural exhibitions that place contemporary couture in dialogue with historic garments.
The Elsa Fitzgerald Gabrielle dress and Opera Shawl were exhibited alongside garments belonging to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor at the Heirloom to Haute gala, held at the Lord Baltimore Hotel in the iconic Calvert Ballroom, celebrating local art and fashion history.
The Asian blouse that tells a tale of many cultures
The kebaya is a traditional garment worn across Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, and southern Thailand. In Stube’s own family history, it was sewn by her seamstress great-grandmother in the Indonesian islands.
Across each region, the kebaya has evolved into distinct forms shaped by local culture, with every stitch carrying layers of history and identity. In recognition of its shared cultural significance, the five countries jointly nominated the kebaya for UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List in March 2023.