Story

 

Founder and Creator of Elwyn New York, Anmy Leuthold, sitting at her desk feeling and looking at some of her scarves from her collection
ELWYN NEW YORK’S Founder and Designer, Anmy Leuthold was born, raised and educated in New York City and attributes her aesthetic sense to her life experience and in great part to her parents.  Her late father was a textile designer/art collector and her mother is a designer/print designer.
Dolph Leuthold (on the right) feeling and inspecting a fabric swatch with clients. he has a broad smile on his face circa 1960
“My dad (on the right) moved to this country with $50 dollars in his pocket and a dream.  He liked to tell me that at the time it cost a nickel to ride the subway and that he lived on hot dogs and Cream of Wheat until he landed his first job.  He worked for others, until he started his very own textile company in the Garment District, overlooking Bryant Park.  I vividly remember visiting his office as a child.  I was fascinated by it all.  The bountiful spools of textiles.  The scent of fibers that would cling to my clothes.  The library of art and fabric books 20ft high.  A rolling ladder to get to the tiptop.  Everything categorized and numbered with round colored stickers.  He was Swiss after all… I could spend hours touching and sifting through the pages of pasted swatches, mesmerized by color, design, and texture.  Delighted by the graph paper filled with tiny, shaded-in boxes, representing the weft and weave of the fabric.  There were no computers then.  He designed everything by hand.  I have some of his books still and every so often the round colored sticker will catch my eye... He would get excited about things like mixing fibers.  “You choose each fiber for its merits and have the best of both worlds— for example, the comfort of one, the washability of the other.  It’s like a good marriage.  If both partners are too much the same, there can be problems.  If they are different, that adds spice.”  I loved the way he would explain things to me like I was his equal…  I moved to Woodstock to make a change in my life.  To start something of my own.  I didn’t know what that was or what that meant…  but I had to do something and Woodstock would give me the gift of a little more time to figure it out.  I’ve rolled around a myriad of ideas.  Spent a year developing one even… but none really clicked until now.  I like to think my dad would be proud of the steps I’ve taken.  I like to think that he knows I carry much of him with me in this new venture of mine.”
Nhumy Leuthold, Anmy Leuthold's mother wearing vintage clothes, sitting and writing amongst bouquets of flowers

"My mom was born and raised in Vietnam, studied fashion in Paris as a young woman, met my father, fell in love and moved to NYC.  She is all things classy, chic and tasteful. She instilled in me a love and respect for beauty and a passion for styles from the past.  Her curious eye enables her to see, find, create prints and looks that are stunning, relatable and modern.  When I was a child she was forever dressing me and sewing my clothes.  I remember her working peacefully at her sewing machine that was always set on a glass table.  I would sit under it, clinging to one leg, while she peddled her foot with the other and then I would look up to observe the fabric glide meticulously across and above my head.  She would make me beautiful silk patchwork, brocade skirts and jackets from antique Crazy Quilts; add vintage Irish Lace to the collars of my button down shirts; convert Victorian eyelet petticoats into sleeves; and trim my jean skirts with French Toile and fashion them as a ruffle at the bottom. Upcycling wasn’t a word/trend back then.  Not only has her personal fashion sense affected me profoundly, but it was at her print studio where I received the training I needed to become the print designer I am today. This time last year, I wanted to thank my mom for all she has given me with a small token of my love and gratitude.  She is a self professed “scarf person” and I decided I would design and create one for her with her name on it for Mother's Day.  I researched how to have it made and in the process, realized and declared to myself, “I can actually DO this.”  This particular print design is in my collection now and the scarf goes by the name, Garden Lace.  A labor of love, indeed"

 

"My parents are the fabric of my life and their influence is so much a part of who I am today as a person.  My love for old books and vintage textiles, fabrics and style come from their parental guidance and gentle osmosis.  It is with those sound building blocks that I have formed a fashion forward approach to design with a historic sensibility. I understand the influence behind a trend, the story of a silhouette, the subtlety of coloring and the technicality of a weave.  After more than a decade of designing prints for other fashion houses, I wish to express my talents and vision in my own voice and thus I created, ELWYN NEW YORK, my first line of luxury scarves."