Lena Himmelstein

Lena Himmelstein

Lena Himmelstein Bryant Malsin (March 1877 - September 26, 1951) was an American clothing designer and retailer who founded the plus-size clothing chain Lane Bryant. Despite difficult circumstances, she saw a need and came up with a solution that revolutionized the women's fashion industry.

Early life and career

Lena Himmelstein was an orphan raised by her grandparents in Lithuania. In 1895, she immigrated to New York to join her sister Anna, where she found work in a sweat shop at $1 a week. Another sister joined them in 1899. Also in 1899, Lena married David Bryant, another Russian immigrant. [Twelfth Census of the United States New York State, Bronx Borough, pg 39, line 37, household 375. Address: East 173rd St. This reference also lists her birth month and year, and immigration year.] She and her sisters moved to The Bronx with her husband, who was a jeweler. He died suddenly soon after their son Raphael was born. Lena and her sisters then lived on West 112th St. in Manhattan. She supported herself and her son by making and selling negligees and tea gowns from delicate laces and fine silks.

In 1904, Bryant moved to Fifth Avenue between 119th and 120th Streets. She rented a shopfront on the first floor of a building for $12.50 a month, with living quarters in the rear. She hung garments from the gas fixtures, and set up shop. Her sister's new husband lent her $300 to open a bank account as working capital for the purchase of fabrics. A bank officer misspelled her name on the application as "Lane", so that became the name of the store.

Bryant earned a reputation for the clothing she made for pregnant women. Bryant created a comfortable and concealing tea gown by attaching an accordion pleated skirt to a bodice using an elastic band. She had created the first known commercially sold maternity dress. Soon she expanded to a new shop at 19 W. 38th Street where she employed a dozen girls.

Marriage and family

In 1909, at 32, she married Albert Malsin. A Lithuanian-American mechanical engineer with a degree from the Anhalt Polytechnic in Köthen, Germany, Malsin had worked for a firm that built amusement parks worldwide. Three more children, Theodore, Helen and Arthur, were born to the couple.

Personal life

Lane Bryant Malsin took an active role in Jewish communal charities. She supported the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the New York Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, and a number of other causes. She died in 1951, leaving the business to her sons.

References

External links

* [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Bryant.html Biography] at jewishvirtuallibrary.org


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  • HIMMELSTEIN, LENA — (Lane Bryant Malsin; 1881–1951), U.S. chain store founder. Born in Lithuania, Himmelstein was taken to the United States at the age of 16. After the death of her first husband, David Bryant, she opened a small dressmaking shop in uptown New York… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Himmelstein, Lena — (Lane Bryant Malsin) (1881–1951)    US dress merchant. The daughter of an immigrant family from Lithuania, Lena pioneered the design and sale of special dresses first for pregnant women and then for outsize women generally. Starting with a small… …   Who’s Who in Jewish History after the period of the Old Testament

  • Himmelstein, Lena (Malsin, Lane Bryant) — (1881 1951)    American dress merchant. She was the daughter of an immmigrant family from Lithuania. She pioneered the design and sale of dresses first for pregnant women and then for outsize women. She developed the Lane Bryant chain throughout… …   Dictionary of Jewish Biography

  • Lane Bryant — Lena Himmelstein Bryant Malsin (1879 1951) era un diseñadora de ropa estadounidense que fundó la mayor cadena de ropa llamda Lane Bryant. En 1895, una inmigrante de dieciséis años llamada Lena Himmelstein llegó a Nueva York, ella procedía de… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Lane Bryant — is a retail women s clothing store focusing on fashion for plus sized women. It began in the early 1900s with the innovative maternity designs created by Lena Himmelstein Bryant Malsin.BeginningWidowed at an early age, Lena Bryant supported… …   Wikipedia

  • MALSIN, LANE BRYANT — (1879–1951), U.S. fashion innovator and entrepreneur. A gifted seamstress, Lena Himmelstein immigrated alone to New York from Lithuania at 16. Not quite 20, she married Russian immigrant jeweler David Bryant, who died a few months after their son …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

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