Elisabeth Weinstock, founder of the eponymous exotic skin accessories brand and luxury loungewear collection Andine, is a fashion designer, retail executive and unconventional philanthropist. While her busy life is grounded by a creative and determined spirit, her success is best reflected in her empathy and willingness to give back and help others.
Ac Magazine caught up with Weinstock to learn more about what drives her and how she manages the various components of her life — both from a business and creative angle.
Born and raised in Los Angeles and the youngest of five siblings, Weinstock is the daughter of a former Miss Miami — who she describes as beautiful, social and funny. It was her mother’s strong nature that inspired her own tenacity and resourcefulness to make a difference in the world. “Ever since I was a little girl, I would create my own designs by taking my clothes apart and recreating them. Once, I bedazzled several socks and tried selling them to boutiques in Beverly Hills. I later learned that my mom followed me and asked the shopkeepers to buy them and she would pay for them.” Weinstock has always had such a strong sense of imagination and entrepreneurship, starting from such a young age that naturally evolves with her and each of her endeavors.
Starting as a young teen, Weinstock struggled with drug addiction. She was a defiant kid who found punk rock music and fit right in with bright pink hair.” While she’s been sober for over three decades, her experience with drugs has shaped her into the person she is today. For over twenty five years, Weinstock has devoted much of her free time to working with former gang members and criminals, helping to provide advice, support, love, spiritual healing, and facilitate their reintegration into society after incarceration. She holds weekly CGA meetings (Criminals and Gang Members Anonymous), both on
Zoom and in person. Moreover, she visits a men’s maximum security prison where she holds meetings to discuss life, instill hope, and talk about ways to reintegrate into society once released. One of Weinstock’s greatest joys in life is being a mentor and sponsoring people trying to turn their lives around. She says, “everyone deserves a second chance.” She continues to actively volunteer with teens and young adults at risk, always taking their calls, no matter what she’s doing. “I am passionate about this cause, and in helping, we make the world a safer place. I have seen that love heals all and I believe it’s all of our jobs to leave this world a little bit better than the way we found it.” When she can, she hires those from her program — further extending her time and attention to those who need it.
Married (and sober) at 22 and a mom at 24, Weinstock began designing — with no formal training — after her husband repeatedly asked why she didn’t have any “cute white cotton underwear?” “After asking me so many times, I finally told him I would make some.” She found her way downtown to what was once called The Cotton Incorporated, bought fabric and took her street savvy nature to “figure it out. I literally laid on the floor and traced around my body and cut a chemise to be sewn,” says Weinstock. She found a seamstress who had a full time job, so they’d meet on her lunch breaks in a Carl’s Jr. bathroom in downtown LA to do fittings. She named her fledgling brand Coton Blanc and sold her first designs to Fred Segal and Lingerie by Lynn in Brentwood. They both sold out in the first weekend. Weinstock entered the fashion world creating the first installment of feminine luxury loungewear in the late 1990s. By the time she was 27 years old, she was shipping over $5 million annually. She used her moxy for her business and sold the collection to numerous department stores such as Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Saks, Barney’s and Harrod’s along with over 500 boutiques worldwide. When the company exponentially grew, Weinstock was approached by big specialty store chains to private label. Once that decision was made, “it became too big too fast and it was too much to handle. Ultimately and unfortunately, it cost me my brand.”
That didn't stop our resilient Weinstock, as she was a natural born designer with a deep love for interiors and architecture, inspired by her father, an architect and one of the original creators of tract homes in the 1940’s. Weinstock reinvented herself and turned her creative energy toward interior design. “I didn’t choose or set out to be a decorator, it sort of chose me. I was always redesigning my homes and friends would always ask me if I’d help them with theirs. Soon enough, it was a full time job.” One day, while working at a home in Palm Desert, she spotted an odd-shaped jewelry box — and it sparked an idea. “I imagined what it would look like in snakeskin.” That idea catapulted Weinstock into the world of luxury home goods and accessories made from various exotic materials.
As a woman who knows how to make an entrance, Weinstock introduced her namesake brand with a 4 foot tall jewelry chest, and sold it in under two weeks at the iconic Maxfield Los Angeles. By 2008, Maxfield had dedicated an entire wall to her creations, including one-of-a-kind items like regulation sized boxing gloves to sports team-logoed bats, balls and mitts. Her bespoke business grew into travel accessories, dopp kitts and luxurious boxes for cigars or condoms, and by 2012, she was selling in the world’s most luxurious stores. That same year, she opened her first freestanding Elisabeth Weinstock store in Los Angeles.
She became an instant success, creating custom pieces for celebrities and
collaborating with artists for capsule collections. Weinstock’s client list ranged from making natural snakeskin pants for Rihanna, boxing gloves for Lady Gaga, cross body bags for Sarah Jessica Parker to creating an array of custom items for Usher, which she states was “her favorite collaboration. He had a broken foot so we made him everything from snakeskin surgical boots and crutches, cane slippers and more. We chose all the skins together, it was like watching a kid in a candy store. He’s beyond creative.” She has fulfilled vast holiday orders from corporations to celebrities ordering quantities of goods by the hundreds. Weinstock has also collaborated on capsule collections with emerging artists like Devon DeJardin, and formerly incarcerated artists with records of tagging who turn their graffiti art into hand painted objects d’art. With over 15 years under her snakeskin belt, Elisabeth proves why her name is synonymous with quality goods.
Business was booming — until Covid brought things to a screeching halt. Weinstock contracted Covid early on and had severe symptoms. She described the time as “feeling very heavy.” During lockdown, she realized she wanted to get back to her first passion, women's loungewear. She reimagined her brand into the new era; cool girl Parisian chic with timeless style and sophistication. By the beginning of 2021, she had transformed the Elisabeth Weinstock store into the House of Andine, with an interior space inspired by the timeless European aesthetic with a modern flare.
Today, Andine is her primary focus, which is carried by major retailers Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Bergdorf Goodman with the collection soon launching in Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom. Weinstock designs every garment which is manufactured to perfection in her Los Angeles atelier. “If it's not absolutely perfect, it's not leaving this building.”
Weinstock’s philosophy:
- Ask lots of questions and surround yourself with people who have been successful.
- Her father once told her, “You have to be able to do everyone’s job to be a successful owner.”
- Understand the importance of delegating.
- Learn what to do and what not to do. Become an expert and find people to do the rest.
- Balance is the key to life. Mind, Body, Spirit
- Travel as much as possible, see the world, find the places you love, and draw inspiration from your adventures.
- Don’t give up, don’t take no for an answer if it’s something you believe in.
- Remember, you are here for a minute, you better make it good and leave the world better than the way you found it.
- Some of the best business deals you can do are the ones you don’t do.
- Love is all there is.
Find the article and read it here (pg. 24-29)