A letter from June · Co-founder of June & Louise Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina · Fall 2026
A letter from the founderAfter Twenty-Five Years of Big Days, the Elara Set Is the One Outfit I Would Pack for Every Invitation.
Seventeen two-piece sets are on our rack this fall. If one of them is going to answer every invitation between now and Thanksgiving, the Elara Set is the one I would hand you first. Here is why.
In 2001 Louise, my oldest friend, and I unlocked the door of a little boutique in Charleston and did not know if anyone would come. We had one promise between us: comfort should never look like giving up. It still runs the place. Nothing goes on the rack unless a woman can wear it all day and still look like she dressed on purpose.
I think of that promise every fall. Look at the calendar between now and Thanksgiving. A niece's wedding. The reunion. A dinner with your husband's colleagues. A meeting you want to walk into looking like you meant it. Church on Sunday, lunch after. And the night before the first of those, standing at the open closet, the sentence so many of us say out loud: I have nothing to wear that feels like me.
Dressing up after fifty has turned into a list of betrayals. The dress that clings the moment you sit at the reception. The top that rides up when you reach for the hymnal. The slacks that need pressing, so they never get worn. Half of what hangs there is lovely and has not left the hanger in two years, because it needs more from you than the evening is worth.
That is why, of the seventeen sets on the rack, the Elara is the one I would hand you first. Here is what I tell a woman who lifts it off the rack and asks whether it will work for her. Six things, and by the first she has usually stopped asking.
One set, and you are dressed
The first question is never about the top or the pants; it is whether the two of them will spare her the half hour in front of the mirror. They will. They were cut to go together, so there is nothing to hold up against anything while the car idles outside. You step into the set and you are dressed, the way a good dress dresses you, except you can sit, eat and breathe.
“I laid it out the night before my daughter's wedding and slept. First time in years I did not change three times that morning.”
★★★★★“I laid it out the night before my daughter's wedding and slept. First time in years I did not change three times that morning.”
Margaret L., Savannah, GA Verified buyer
A top that skims instead of clings
Look at the second photograph, the set on the sofa. Two layers, the outer one cut on an angle, so the drape falls in one long line instead of stopping in a straight hem at the hips. On the body it glides over the middle and keeps going, and it does not ride up when you lift both arms to hug someone. The first photograph shows how far it falls.
“I have a middle now. I served punch for two hours at my granddaughter's shower in the Soft Pink and never once reached down to pull the hem straight.”
★★★★★“I have a middle now. I served punch for two hours at my granddaughter's shower in the Soft Pink and never once reached down to pull the hem straight.”
Diane W., Birmingham, AL Verified buyer
Pants that let the air in
The palazzo pants are cut wide, and the width does two things. Air moves through them, so a warm afternoon under a tent in October does not end with you fanning yourself with the program. And nothing pulls: you sit through the ceremony, walk the receiving line and dance the first slow one without a seam catching anywhere, still cool by the time the cake comes out.
“Eighty-five degrees at an outdoor wedding and I was the only one at our table not stuck to the chair.”
★★★★★“Eighty-five degrees at an outdoor wedding and I was the only one at our table not stuck to the chair.”
Judith A., Peoria, IL Verified buyer
Dressy for Saturday, easy on Tuesday
The same set does both ends of the week. For the wedding, the good earrings and a heel, and it holds its own next to anything in the room. For Tuesday, flats and a cardigan, and you are at the pharmacy looking put together without looking like you tried. And no, the pants are not pajamas; they fall in a clean line and read as dressed, in either company.
“Wore the Turquoise to a retirement dinner Friday and to the farmers market Saturday with sandals. My neighbor asked where I got it, and she does not ask.”
★★★★★“Wore the Turquoise to a retirement dinner Friday and to the farmers market Saturday with sandals. My neighbor asked where I got it, and she does not ask.”
Kathleen B., Naples, FL Verified buyer
Out of the suitcase, onto you
I test this one myself. The set goes in the suitcase on Thursday, comes out in a hotel room on Saturday, and goes straight on. No iron, no hanging it in the bathroom while the shower runs. It is wrinkle-resistant, a word I use for few things, and it keeps its shape and color through the wash, so the set you pack in November is the one you bought in September.
“Pulled it out of a carry-on in Denver after a full day of travel and it looked pressed. My husband asked when I had ironed.”
★★★★★“Pulled it out of a carry-on in Denver after a full day of travel and it looked pressed. My husband asked when I had ironed.”
Sharon E., Omaha, NE Verified buyer
Five colors, sized for women, not mannequins
Elara comes in Blue, Pink, Soft Pink, Red and Turquoise, in sizes Small through 3XL. Every size is the same set, the same angled top and the same wide leg, graded properly for the body it is going on. There is one price on the Elara, $69.95, and it does not move when the size does. I have never understood a store that charges a woman for taking up room.
“I take a 2X everywhere and ordered the Red without measuring. Three hours at a rehearsal dinner and I forgot about the waist. Had the pants hemmed an inch.”
★★★★★“I take a 2X everywhere and ordered the Red without measuring. Three hours at a rehearsal dinner and I forgot about the waist. Had the pants hemmed an inch.”
Peggy N., Roanoke, VA Verified buyer
Our set against the ones you have been buying
Last spring a woman in Ohio sent me photographs of three sets she had bought online for a wedding, and she wore none of them. She wore our Blue instead, and has washed it eleven times since, she tells me. Her three are the left column. Ours is the right.
- Thin fabric that shows every line
- Top rides up when you reach
- Pants that cling in the heat
- Creased before you reach the car
- Color fades by the third wash
- Sizing that quits before it reaches you
- Double-layer top that skims, not clings
- A hem that stays down when you reach
- Wide-leg pants the air moves through
- Wrinkle-resistant, out of the suitcase and on
- Color and drape hold through repeated washing
- Small through 3XL, $69.95 for every size
A good two-piece set is the invitation already answered. You reach for it, and the evening is handled.
Why the Elara Set is 60% off
This year June & Louise turns twenty-five, the same two best friends behind the same counter. We are marking it with the set I get more letters about than any other.
The tag says $175.00 because the top is two layers, not one, and we bring it in six sizes, not two. In the Anniversary Sale it is $69.95, with the other sixteen sets on the shelf marked down alongside it. One run, in small numbers, and no second one behind it.
Every color came in small numbers per size. When your size in your color is gone, that is the end of it at this price. When the Anniversary Sale ends, the $175.00 tag goes back on it.
Two sets, say the Blue and the Turquoise, come to $62.96 each. The checkout takes it off itself, no code, and it does not cancel any other discount you are using. At that number, only a twenty-fifth anniversary makes sense of it.
★★★★★“Three days from ordering to my front porch, folded with care, and on top a card June had written by hand. I kept the card. My daughter wants one too.”
Elaine C., Wilmington, NC Verified buyer
I wore the Blue to my goddaughter's christening in May and did not think about it once between the church door and the last of the cake, which is the only test I have. I would rather it went out to women with a wedding on the calendar than stayed here with me.
June · Co-founder, June & LouiseSomewhere between now and Thanksgiving an invitation is coming to your house. Have the answer hanging in the closet before it lands. So far 2,756+ women have written in, and they put it at 4.7 stars. Sizes are already going, and when yours is gone in your color, that is it for this run. Decide tonight; by the weekend some of those boxes will be empty.
— June
THE JUNE & LOUISE ELARA SET
- Double-layer top that skims, not clings
- Wide-leg palazzo pants, cool through a long afternoon
- Free UPS shipping & 30 day money back guarantee
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