I recently showed my work in a gallery space for Downtown Phoenix's First Friday Art Walk, and someone asked me why I named my styling business AVE Styles. In that moment it dawned on me that I've never shared the origin of my business name. AVE is actually my initials - Alexandra Vailas Evjen. What's extra special is that before I was married my initials were AEV. It's pretty neat that I've been able to keep these same letters as part of my identity, and now they are arranged in an even better way.

A lot of people do think that AVE stands for Avenue. I purposely left out the periods in my initials to lead people to the thought of an avenue. When someone knows their style they have a specific fashion direction that they are headed with their choices. I really want my clients to know and embrace their style.

The word "Styles" was chosen over something like fashion because style is something that evolves over a lifetime. Fashion refers to the here and now.

So, there you go. =)