Lady LUX

Celebrating their fifth year in the business and their newest collection for Fall/Holiday 2010, the Magnes Sisters are quickly developing a following in their hometown of New York City. Holding trunk shows at Henri Bendel on a monthly basis and with their pieces seen in stores such as Nordstrom and Anthropologie, the three Israeli sisters – Tamar, Dina and Yael – are slowly turning a hobby into a family business.

Speaking of family, it was one family member in particular that knew the future of the three siblings. While the sisters were in the crib, Tamar said, their grandmother forecasted that they would end up becoming creative children.

“She just knew that (Dina would) be in fashion or clothing, knew I’d be in graphic design and that (Yael) would be a jewelry designer,” Tamar said.

Turns out that grandma was right.

The trio all took time mastering their independent pursuits, and then in 2005, they decided to bring together their mutual appreciation for design and handmade products to form a handbag company, aptly named the “Magnes Sisters.”

Their newest collection features dark neutrals in the “Bright Side of The Moon” series, offset by a pop of red in the Lady bag and metallic touches in the Dirty Martini clutches. The color palette is classic, offering traditional options that can pair with fall/winter wear.

“We were inspired by the sky and the moon in this collection,” Tamar revealed.

Another new piece in the collection, a fringe bag in the “Fairy Tale” series, features small, hippy leather bags with fringe dangling over their fronts.

“A lot of the fringes are inspired by dress-up. We used to dress up as girls,” Tamar said. “Anything from the 1920s … We would go into our mom’s big dresser.”

They also call upon their psychic grandmother for inspiration, who had a love for art and often imitated Picasso in her dress.

“Our grandma was basically an artist. She used to collect art and draw letterheads and all kinds of things,” Tamar said. “A lot of our designs are inspired by her.”

Dina reminisced about her grandmother’s style: “She always wore a Picasso pendant. She was very much inspired by Picasso and tried to dress like him in striped shirts. She even worked in a Picasso gallery on 57th St. in New York City.”

Many of the Magnes Sisters’ bags call upon the past for inspiration and have a vintage feel due to their simplicity and attention to craftsmanship. The siblings upped the ante with a new design, Lady, which is one of the more glamorous bags in the collection, featuring a chain-link strap and sexy, pebbled leather.

“The Lady came from playing around with fabric and coming up with a new shape,” Dina said. “We really wanted a small, little bag that is different from the other stuff we do.”

Since each sister comes from different parts of the industry, they each play an integral and distinct part in the business. Tamar uses her graphic design to create mock-ups of the bags, Dina loves to sketch and come up with design ideas, and Yael is the crafty one, getting her hands on the bags and perfecting samples with her sewing machine.

“Yael is the hands-on designer. She really knows how to sew and work with her hands,” Tamar said.

Eventually, they said they dream of coming full circle and creating accessories, jewelry and maybe an outerwear collection, allowing them to fully realize their abilities as designers.

“We started out very small, so we were considered young designers and now we’re more … I don’t want to say established, but I think we’re still in the realm of up-and-coming,” Dina said. “There’s more interest and more brand recognition. There’s a long way to go.”

For more information about the Magnes Sisters and their Fall/Holiday 2010 collection, visit their website at MagnesSisters.com

Tagged in: lux exclusives, new york, new york, accessories, handbag, nordstrom, henri bendel,

Radar