Andine Would Like To Bring Out Your Inner Bombshell
Andine, a decadent loungewear brand founded and designed by fashion industry veteran Elisabeth Weinstock, makes mindful apparel and encourages its clients to dream big for their next adventure.
Written by Rachel Elspeth Gross
Andine is the name of a brand, as well as a character created by the company’s founder and designer, Elisabeth Weinstock. But Andine is also as close to being a real person as the imaginary could hope to get, because her creator observes and analyzes, then begins her work, making certain to finish every detail of her loungewear completely.
Andine is a bombshell, whatever connotations that word has for you specifically. The boutique and atelier can be found at 8159 West 3rd Street in Los Angeles. It is a historic 1930s property, once a book binding company. The shop area is laid out like an overgrown pied-à-terre. Its owner, Andine of course, is purposefully loose about the edges, slightly out of focus, but undeniably beautiful and obviously full of life. “You don't even know how old she is,” Weinstock told me. “Is she a mom? Not sure, you can't really tell, and it is all a little bit unclear by design.”
The idea that your version of Andine, this dazzling, francophile cool-girl-slash-every-woman you specifically imagine, this is a concept flushed out across the brand’s offerings. Andine does not want to be in the shot, she wants to hold the camera and put you in focus. The clothing is not loud, there are no wild prints or logos. What Weinstock designs is loungewear, not lingerie, “sleep to street” is the phrase she uses. Lingerie, afterall, implies foundation garments, the sort of underclothes that are built to give structure and which physically shape the body. Andine isn’t really interested in all that there. In fact, she is already slipping out a side door, running off somewhere, focused on details because that is where Weinstock wants to spend her time.
“I'm not a very colorful-in-my-wardrobe girl, I never have been,” the designer told me. “I love simplicity. We have a navy which I'll incorporate a little bit into each season, some sort of blue and and sometimes a softer pink. Apart from that, it's pretty much black, white, gray, because I think there's a sophistication to that. I leave the special additions to the details. The buttons, the trim, the lace edging. It is a mindful brand.”
Andine is a new incarnation of another brand Weinstock founded in the 1990s, called Coton Blanc. She was only twenty when her company, the name means “white cotton” in French, became an overnight success. Keeping up with the exponential growth was incredibly difficult, and soon Weinstock was filling orders for luxury stores like Fred Segal, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and (RIP) Barneys New York. There was a bad partner, and Weinstock decided to close the company in 2000. Next she created a line of leather goods and luxury home goods under her own name, drawing the attention of more than a few big-name celebrities.
But no matter what happened, the idea of “made in LA with Paris in mind,” never really left Weinstock, and the passion for making beautiful, deceptively simple apparel sounds like it has never left her. The Covid-19 years, difficult beyond all reason for all of us, left Weinstock wanting to make a change. “When I decided to do this relaunch,” Weinstock explained, “let's call it this brand's second iteration, I didn't want to call it Coton Blanc. I don't believe in going backwards that way, and so I called it Andine, and then I made up a story about her.”
“I think that my eye works so quickly,” she mused after I asked about her sources of inspiration. “I have this thing where I will walk into a room and remodel it over and over again. I don't know why. I've always been into design of some sort, ever since I was a little girl.” Travel is inspiring, she has many favorite cities scattered around the globe. But even in Paris, you won’t ever find Weinstock at a tourist attraction, the places where locals eat and shop are always so much better. I have the impression that everywhere she goes, Elisabeth Weinstock makes new friends. “It's just my thirst and hunger for culture, and seeing how different people like to live.”
For a little context, here is some of the backstory: Weinstock first saw Paris as a child, she was 11 or 12 when her family vacationed in the City of Light. Even then, she told me, “it felt like it was familiar to me. It also felt very much like a fairy tale, or like I was caught in some other time. That was a long time ago that honestly, even back then felt familiar to me. and I just fell in love.” You have to understand, she is the type of person who can find inspiration in the smallest things. The color a building is painted, but on the shady side where the tone is just a little different. The way a table leg can be meticulously joined to the top creating the illusion of being a single piece of wood.
“When I built the store out to be the Elisabeth Weinstock store,” the designer told me, “it was him/her/home. That's how I separated the ‘front of store’ area by rooms. Then, I turned it into Andine’s kind-of home.” That home includes a beautiful bar straight out of a Joyce novel. “We do have baccarat crystal glasses for service, there's also clothing that we sell in there and then in the living room.” There’s a bedroom too, and a boudoir. “It’s the experience of going into the 3 different rooms and getting the feel of being in a home,” Weinstock explained.
Inspiration sourced, each season’s line is made in Los Angeles, in the same 1930s building mentioned above, which also houses Weinstock’s offices. “We are a full atelier here. So, we cut and sew in our building. I cut a lot of the stuff myself, it's sort of a meditation for me. We have our own machines in the back and our own cutting room. It's exciting to be able to make something from nothing, and I'll get an idea, some inspiration, or I’ll see something vintage, just anything that I can get my hands on or that might come across my screens. If I love it I can envision it fabricated, or longer, shorter, tighter. Then I'll create it, and that to me is fun.”
A model in a print crop top and shorts is perched on a kitchen counter.
Andine's Delphine Ballerina Cotton Short and the Delphine Ballerina Cotton Short Delphine Ballerina Cotton Short.Courtesy of Andine / Elisabeth Weinstock
One of the many advantages to this setup is being able to meet the needs of any customer. A cropped top can be remade with the coverage of a regular shirt, or the reverse, Andine wants nothing more than for you to feel comfortable, if not a bit pampered, when you visit her home. The clothing is friendly to a wide range of body types.
“What screams Andine is cozy comfort, lace edged detailing” Winestock explained. “Our fabrications are really important to me. There's something for everyone or for most people, I should say, that's first. Our Baptiste is really special. The set, the cami, the little tank top sold on its own, or as a set with the Boxer short is incredible. We have a boy short that I personally wear nightly. I think that what screams Andine to me are the items that I love, and that I think are most special and unique to the brand.” All of this thinking, the planning, it is not in vain. Even Andine’s website feels different than the typical online shopping experience. It is all so much more personal than what we have become accustomed to.
“When people come in and shop,” Weinstock told me, “if somebody wants something longer, because maybe they're very tall, then we'll bring out one of the sewers, and she'll measure them. We can typically get things ready for people within the hour.” If a piece is ordered online, directly from Andine, they might be making it specifically for your order, depending on what is currently in stock. There are gentle words to this effect on the company website, explaining that orders might not be instant. I’m not really sure who would mind waiting two days for sumptuous pajamas to be made. To this writer, such a thing sounds positively decadent, but then again, we sometimes seem to live in a mad world.
Andine is a bombshell, whatever connotations that word has for you specifically. The boutique and atelier can be found at 8159 West 3rd Street in Los Angeles. It is a historic 1930s property, once a book binding company. The shop area is laid out like an overgrown pied-à-terre. Its owner, Andine of course, is purposefully loose about the edges, slightly out of focus, but undeniably beautiful and obviously full of life. “You don't even know how old she is,” Weinstock told me. “Is she a mom? Not sure, you can't really tell, and it is all a little bit unclear by design.”
The idea that your version of Andine, this dazzling, francophile cool-girl-slash-every-woman you specifically imagine, this is a concept flushed out across the brand’s offerings. Andine does not want to be in the shot, she wants to hold the camera and put you in focus. The clothing is not loud, there are no wild prints or logos. What Weinstock designs is loungewear, not lingerie, “sleep to street” is the phrase she uses. Lingerie, afterall, implies foundation garments, the sort of underclothes that are built to give structure and which physically shape the body. Andine isn’t really interested in all that there. In fact, she is already slipping out a side door, running off somewhere, focused on details because that is where Weinstock wants to spend her time.
“I'm not a very colorful-in-my-wardrobe girl, I never have been,” the designer told me. “I love simplicity. We have a navy which I'll incorporate a little bit into each season, some sort of blue and and sometimes a softer pink. Apart from that, it's pretty much black, white, gray, because I think there's a sophistication to that. I leave the special additions to the details. The buttons, the trim, the lace edging. It is a mindful brand.”
Andine is a new incarnation of another brand Weinstock founded in the 1990s, called Coton Blanc. She was only twenty when her company, the name means “white cotton” in French, became an overnight success. Keeping up with the exponential growth was incredibly difficult, and soon Weinstock was filling orders for luxury stores like Fred Segal, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and (RIP) Barneys New York. There was a bad partner, and Weinstock decided to close the company in 2000. Next she created a line of leather goods and luxury home goods under her own name, drawing the attention of more than a few big-name celebrities.
But no matter what happened, the idea of “made in LA with Paris in mind,” never really left Weinstock, and the passion for making beautiful, deceptively simple apparel sounds like it has never left her. The Covid-19 years, difficult beyond all reason for all of us, left Weinstock wanting to make a change. “When I decided to do this relaunch,” Weinstock explained, “let's call it this brand's second iteration, I didn't want to call it Coton Blanc. I don't believe in going backwards that way, and so I called it Andine, and then I made up a story about her.”
“I think that my eye works so quickly,” she mused after I asked about her sources of inspiration. “I have this thing where I will walk into a room and remodel it over and over again. I don't know why. I've always been into design of some sort, ever since I was a little girl.” Travel is inspiring, she has many favorite cities scattered around the globe. But even in Paris, you won’t ever find Weinstock at a tourist attraction, the places where locals eat and shop are always so much better. I have the impression that everywhere she goes, Elisabeth Weinstock makes new friends. “It's just my thirst and hunger for culture, and seeing how different people like to live.”
For a little context, here is some of the backstory: Weinstock first saw Paris as a child, she was 11 or 12 when her family vacationed in the City of Light. Even then, she told me, “it felt like it was familiar to me. It also felt very much like a fairy tale, or like I was caught in some other time. That was a long time ago that honestly, even back then felt familiar to me. and I just fell in love.” You have to understand, she is the type of person who can find inspiration in the smallest things. The color a building is painted, but on the shady side where the tone is just a little different. The way a table leg can be meticulously joined to the top creating the illusion of being a single piece of wood.
“When I built the store out to be the Elisabeth Weinstock store,” the designer told me, “it was him/her/home. That's how I separated the ‘front of store’ area by rooms. Then, I turned it into Andine’s kind-of home.” That home includes a beautiful bar straight out of a Joyce novel. “We do have baccarat crystal glasses for service, there's also clothing that we sell in there and then in the living room.” There’s a bedroom too, and a boudoir. “It’s the experience of going into the 3 different rooms and getting the feel of being in a home,” Weinstock explained.
Inspiration sourced, each season’s line is made in Los Angeles, in the same 1930s building mentioned above, which also houses Weinstock’s offices. “We are a full atelier here. So, we cut and sew in our building. I cut a lot of the stuff myself, it's sort of a meditation for me. We have our own machines in the back and our own cutting room. It's exciting to be able to make something from nothing, and I'll get an idea, some inspiration, or I’ll see something vintage, just anything that I can get my hands on or that might come across my screens. If I love it I can envision it fabricated, or longer, shorter, tighter. Then I'll create it, and that to me is fun.”
A model in a print crop top and shorts is perched on a kitchen counter.
Andine's Delphine Ballerina Cotton Short and the Delphine Ballerina Cotton Short Delphine Ballerina Cotton Short.Courtesy of Andine / Elisabeth Weinstock
One of the many advantages to this setup is being able to meet the needs of any customer. A cropped top can be remade with the coverage of a regular shirt, or the reverse, Andine wants nothing more than for you to feel comfortable, if not a bit pampered, when you visit her home. The clothing is friendly to a wide range of body types.
“What screams Andine is cozy comfort, lace edged detailing” Winestock explained. “Our fabrications are really important to me. There's something for everyone or for most people, I should say, that's first. Our Baptiste is really special. The set, the cami, the little tank top sold on its own, or as a set with the Boxer short is incredible. We have a boy short that I personally wear nightly. I think that what screams Andine to me are the items that I love, and that I think are most special and unique to the brand.” All of this thinking, the planning, it is not in vain. Even Andine’s website feels different than the typical online shopping experience. It is all so much more personal than what we have become accustomed to.
“When people come in and shop,” Weinstock told me, “if somebody wants something longer, because maybe they're very tall, then we'll bring out one of the sewers, and she'll measure them. We can typically get things ready for people within the hour.” If a piece is ordered online, directly from Andine, they might be making it specifically for your order, depending on what is currently in stock. There are gentle words to this effect on the company website, explaining that orders might not be instant. I’m not really sure who would mind waiting two days for sumptuous pajamas to be made. To this writer, such a thing sounds positively decadent, but then again, we sometimes seem to live in a mad world.
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