When
Ellie Witt (Lupton, 2003–2008) arrived at Sedbergh School as part of the first cohorts of girls, she could hardly have imagined that she would one day style Hollywood stars, work with international brands and travel the world with six suitcases in tow, building a freelance fashion career along the way. Yet she believes the foundations of her life – confidence, close friendships and a willingness to embrace opportunity – were laid during those early years at School.
“It just felt normal”: Being in the first cohort of girls
Ellie was among the first girls to join Sedbergh following its move to co-education in 2001. Looking back, she remembers a close-knit group who integrated quickly.
“I never really felt like it was a boys’ school and we were just girls in it. It felt pretty equal in that respect, like a normal mixed school. We just were a bit outnumbered!”
If anything, being in the minority strengthened the bonds between the girls. “You’re all the same age, going through exactly the same things, going to exactly the same classes and sports matches, and you just make sisters. They’re like family.”
Those friendships have endured well beyond their schooldays. Today, Ellie and her Sedbergh friends are one another’s bridesmaids and godparents, supporting each other through life’s twists and turns.
“You may be different when you get older and travel your different paths, but there’s a deep bond there. They know you from when you were a child, and it’s really special.”
The confidence to do anything
For Ellie, Sedbergh was a nurturing environment that valued people as individuals, giving them the freedom to be themselves.
“You were free to be who you wanted to be. There wasn’t really any conformity. You were just who you were, and that was it. No judgement, which was pretty rare, I think.”
That freedom helped Ellie develop a confidence she would carry into her working life. “I feel pretty comfortable meeting new people and being myself. It doesn’t faze me going into a situation where I don’t know anyone. If I turn up to work and I’m on set with people I’ve never met before, it doesn’t bother me. I would definitely attribute that to my school experience.”
Ellie left School without a clear idea of what she wanted to do for a living, but with the confidence to believe she could do anything.
“I had the confidence that anything was possible. I really think that came from school. We never felt restricted or inhibited by anything, and I think that’s a real gift.”
That belief would prove valuable as she navigated an unconventional route into fashion, learning on the job and gradually building a career in a notoriously competitive industry.
From Liverpool lecture halls to a fashion epiphany
After leaving Sedbergh, Ellie travelled for a summer before heading to the University of Liverpool, where she studied a combined honours degree in philosophy, psychology and media studies, choosing subjects that interested her rather than following a fixed career plan.
Initially, she thought journalism was the answer, but internships at fashion magazines led to long days on features desks, writing about subjects that didn’t quite ignite her imagination.
Then, during a temporary position with
The Telegraph’s magazine team, Ellie found herself helping with photo shoots and attending Fashion Week. One shoot changed everything.
“I went to a shoot one day with one of the editors and was her assistant on set. We were doing a photo shoot for their next issue with, I think it was Luke Evans, an actor, and I just fell in love with it.”
“I’ve never had any other moments like that in my life before, where I just thought: this is it. I love this, and this is what I want to do.”
Drawn to styling, Ellie landed a three-month internship at
HUNGER Magazine, opening the door to a new world. Founded by British photographer Rankin in 2011, the quarterly fashion, culture and arts magazine is known for its bold visual style and celebration of emerging talent. For Ellie, it was an opportunity to learn in a creative environment at the heart of the fashion industry.
“That was really the pivotal moment in my whole career. Rankin took a real chance on me. I worked for the magazine on a freelance basis for 10 years, and I still contribute today. It was an amazing experience, and I learned so much. That was how I got into fashion and became a stylist.”
That short internship became a defining chapter in Ellie’s career. Looking back, she sees a connection with Sedbergh: the confidence to explore, try something new and see where it leads.
“I took every opportunity I could, and that internship, I never really thought anything would come of it. But I was there for three months, and after that, that was my way into the industry, and it changed my life. So you just never know what opportunity is going to do that, and I think that’s why I’ve always just said yes to every opportunity, because you just never know.”
The substance of styling
“Being a stylist is essentially dressing people,” Ellie explains. Her work spans advertising campaigns, brand shoots, celebrity portraits, red carpets, parties and award ceremonies.
But the work begins long before anyone steps in front of a camera. Stylists liaise with clients, creative teams and press representatives, develop mood boards, research ideas and agree on the look they want to create. They organise fittings, check sizes and manage last-minute changes before a shoot even begins.
For Ellie, one of the most rewarding aspects of the job is that it is as much about people as clothes. What someone wears can be deeply personal, and even those who appear confident may feel vulnerable when it comes to their image. Building trust is essential.
“People are very conscious about their clothing… It’s a real privilege to be able to dress people and to have them trust you to put them in something they may not have chosen themselves… you get to instil them with confidence.”
“You start to understand how people work and what their vibe is, and judging their energy.”
For Ellie, understanding people is central to the job. She has learnt not to make assumptions. Even someone who appears entirely comfortable in themselves can feel exposed when another person is making decisions about their appearance.
“It’s a very personal job. I go to people’s homes, meet their families, meet their teams who they work with. And, equally, with advertising clients, you work so closely with them for a long time. You establish relationships.”
Ellie is quick to dispel any suggestion that styling is all glamour.
“Most of our time is spent with suitcases – unpacking them, packing them, carrying them up and down flights of stairs, steaming non-stop, going to all the different stores to do returns, going to the post office with a car full of boxes.”
“It’s not an easy job, and physically it’s quite hard. You’re on your feet all day… lugging clothes and suitcases all over the place. But it’s worth it.”
“Seeing a front cover of a magazine that’s your image that you’ve styled… those moments are really special. I’ll walk past sometimes magazine shops, and there’ll be a front cover that I did, and it’ll be a real pinch-me moment.”
Ultimately, the reward lies in helping someone look and feel like the best version of themselves.
A career without borders
Over the years, Ellie’s work has taken her well beyond London. She has worked with brands including Nike, Adidas, Diet Coke, Four Seasons, Hilton, Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce, Cartier and De Beers, alongside haircare and skincare brands.
International shoots have taken her to Cape Town, Rio de Janeiro, Costa Rica, Hawaii and Mexico. Ellie relished the adventure.
“I was flying around the world to dress people, and I just couldn’t believe that this was my life. Travelling with six suitcases across the world on your own definitely makes you very comfortable with international travel.”
There have been extraordinary moments along the way. One highlight was working with actress and cultural icon Pamela Anderson on a lingerie campaign.
“I was very excited to meet her, and she didn’t disappoint. She was just as fabulous as you can imagine… that was a big moment for me.”
Today, Ellie lives in Los Angeles, where she works as a freelance stylist represented by an agency. The move, prompted partly by the sunshine and the fact that her partner was already living there, also brought a shift in her work towards red carpets and celebrity styling.
“In London I was primarily doing campaigns and editorials. In LA it feels very much focused on celebrity… award season is huge… it’s been an adjustment.”
Freelancing has given Ellie the freedom to choose her projects and travel. It has also meant accepting uncertainty and taking responsibility for her own future. She is proud to have built a career independently, without the security of a conventional salaried role.
“I’m really proud that I did that from the very beginning and was able to make a career in something that is notoriously difficult.”
The shift away from print and towards digital media and social platforms has changed the fashion industry. Yet Ellie also recognises that social media has opened up new routes into fashion.
“You can be a fashion influencer, you can be a stylist, you can be a model, you can be all three… and you can literally start from your bedroom.”
25 Years of Girls at Sedbergh: ‘It takes a lot to faze us’
For Ellie, succeeding in fashion takes resilience and a willingness to put yourself out there.
“In an industry like fashion, you have to have a thick skin… you have to fail and you have to have noes. I was pretty headstrong and just kept going.”
Her advice to anyone starting out is to be resourceful and create opportunities for yourself.
“Be inventive and think outside the box. You know, message people, be brave, send them emails, send them DMs on Instagram.”
Looking back, Ellie identifies her friendships and the confidence to pursue her ambitions as the biggest gifts of her school years.
“The biggest takeaways for me were my friendships and just the belief in myself that I could do anything. I never once questioned whether or not I was able to do that. I just was like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to do it.’ And I think that real self-belief and confidence came from being at Sedbergh.”
She also sees a shared spirit among Sedbergh women: a sense of humour, a lack of pretension and the resilience to keep going.
“We don’t really take ourselves too seriously. We aren’t precious. We kind of just roll with it and get on with it. It takes a lot to faze us.”Sicily is an island with a long, fascinating history. Inhabited and ruled by many ethnic groups. Too many to list them all here, but they include the Greeks, Phoenicians, Arabs, Byzantines and Normans, as well as periods of independence. Historically, it’s one of the oldest wine-producing regions of Italy, dating back to 4000 BC. Advances in viticulture are thought to have come with the Ancient Greeks, and the island’s climate has made it the perfect place for wine production.
Marsala is what made Sicily famous around the world; it is a fortified wine produced using mass-production techniques and exported since the 18th Century. Encouraged by English trader John Woodhouse, it proved popular in England, while other Englishmen such as Benjamin Ingham saw an opportunity and exported it to other countries around the world. Thomas Jefferson himself was recorded to have bought 100 gallons of the stuff.
These mass production methods extended to other grapes and wines from Sicily. In the early 1900s, the island lost its labour force through mass emigration to the United States and Argentina. Alongside this, prohibition in America and the advent of WW2 and its consequences meant the industry took an even bigger hit. As a result, the island moved to mass production, and it dominated the 60s, 70s and 80s, with large cooperatives taking most of the grapes grown on the island to produce cheap, rustic wine for Italy and the rest of Europe.
However, all was not lost. As someone once told me, the cream always rises to the top and quality over quantity started to become the order of the day. Family-run estates, like Tasca d’Almerita and Planeta, adopted foreign grapes like Cab Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot and Sauvignon Blanc to gain international acclaim. A rush of foreign (Northern Italy) money began to flood in to create new wineries. Many of these houses are still going strong today, with world renown.
It was Etna, though, that ‘reinvented’ Sicilian wine again in the late 90s early 2000’s. The area never forgot Sicily’s long history of winemaking, and most importantly, its indigenous grapes. Italy has the largest variety of wine grapes in the world, almost double that of France, and Sicily, and even Etna, had plenty of their own varieties.
Nerello Mascalese is the dominant red grape, similar in look to Pinot Noir but with much thicker skins that produce more tannic wines. The flavour of the wines is distinctive: almond, cherry, tobacco, menthol, red fruits and sometimes a balsamic twang to them. They have a refreshing level of acidity, combined with the tannins let them age well. Nerello Cappuccio often buddies up with Mascalese, providing colour and tannins and a balance to Mascalese’s acidity but with additional notes of vanilla and ripe cherries too.
Carricante is the white equivalent in Etna; once believed to be a main grape of all Sicily, it has recently been marginalised more to Etna. It’s often described as one of Italy’s ‘greatest native white cultivars’ as the wines it produces can be amazingly complex with great longevity. A title shared with Italy’s other great whites like Fiano, Trebbiano Abruzzese and Verdicchio. It thrives at a much higher altitude, where the two reds cannot. The wines have notes of citrus, crunchy apple, ripe peach and orange blossom, with dry, saline and flinty notes on the palate, with further peach and sometimes petrol-like flavours. Catarrato is grown and blended alongside Carricante, helping make Etna Bianco and Etna Bianco Superiore, though the grape is common throughout Sicily.
Etna, itself, is referred to locally simply as
a muntagna – “
the mountain” – an affectionate term that also signals hierarchy. It’s a place where viticulture coexists with an active volcano. It’s a land formed by lava flows and one that continues to be shaped by them to this day. Nothing is permanent around Etna. This is probably why the natural wine movement has been so strong here. The attitude is to take nature at face value and simply see what happens, a lack of need for conformity and overproduction. Simply a love for what we are given, rather than being shaped and constructed.
You can’t get away from talking about Frank Cornelissen when it comes to the natural wine movement in Etna. He arrived from Belgium, back in the early 2000s, when vineyards here were being abandoned or grapes destined for blending in commercial wines. He had no training, rejected conventional viticulture and has even argued that biodynamic viticulture is too interventionist. Frank’s ‘Magma’ is his most famous, most iconic and therefore his most expensive wine, which only the enthusiasts, and rich ones at that, might be able to justify. His others are more accessible.
Frank paved the way for many other producers, though; their wines are maybe more accessible, and we’ve had a few on the menu for many years at the Black Bull.
Masseria del Pino’s ‘I Nove Fratelli’ Etna Rosso was the first Etna wine we put on the Black Bull’s menu. A blend of Nerello Mascalese with a little Nerello Cappuccio, richly flavoured with black cherry, chocolate, balsamic spices and with plenty of tannins. What struck me about it was its similarities to a young Barolo, but what an exciting alternative it made, with the volcanic terroir and acidity apparent. A wine that needs to be drunk with food. Federica and Cesare gave up conventional life for a simple one, working 1.7ha of 120-140yo vines. They are located 800m on the slopes of Etna, also farming 400 ancient olive trees, chestnut and oak trees, vegetables and many fruit trees throughout the vineyard like cherry, pear, plum and peach. A true picture of Etna life which is reflected in their wines. They also produce an Etna Rosato made with the same blend, a Vino Bianco and Nocino, an amaro made with walnuts that jostles amongst our extensive amaro list at the Black Bull.
Fabio Signorelli is another exciting producer that’s featured on our menu. Trained in Tuscany and Umbria, Fabio was captivated by the raw, untamed beauty but also the challenges that come with Etna as a region. Again, his farm is surrounded by fruit trees and olive groves, showing the polyculture this area brings, with farmers and producers working closely together. Fabio farms biodynamically, working with nature and, in Etna’s case it’s ever-changing microclimate. His wines are vibrant, yet elegant and certainly capture the wild, volcanic nature of Etna. His orange wine, Sustanza, is certainly one to look out for, but it’s his pure Nerello Mascalese and blends that he’s famous for.
If you want to try something a little tamer and more conventional than the Etna range, Tasca d’Almerita is a great place to start, and some would argue some of their most exciting wines. Named Tenuta Tascante (a play on Tasca & Etna), it’s an award-winning series of wines using mainly Carricante for the whites, and Nerello Mascalese for the reds. Tasca might not have the same small producer story, but their wines are good, slightly more refined but tamer too. I was lucky enough to visit their vineyards several years ago, and they have a fascinating, beautiful and historical set-up. They are also a certified B-Corp and a member of Sostain, an association of winemakers dedicated to the sustainable development of Sicily.
You might not find the cheapest Italian wine in Etna, but you might find some fascinatingly unique wines. The ever-changing landscape and the threat of an active volcano bring both excitement to wine production on its slopes, as well as challenges and restrictions. Its mutable microclimate needs producers that can adapt alongside it but also let their wines sing for themselves. This does mean that production can be limited, but that makes the wines even more special. All the wines mentioned are available online, through Roland Wines, Vine Trail or many other suppliers. There are also many more producers out there I would recommend you try.
The Black Bull 
