Lena Himmelstein Bryant Malsin (1879? - September 26, 1951) was an American clothing designer and retailer who founded the plus-size clothing chain Lane Bryant.
 

Early Life & Career
Lena Himmelstein was an orphan raised by her grandparents in Lithuania who immigrated to the U.S. when she was 16, where she found work in a sweat shop at $1 a week. In 1899 she married Brooklyn jeweler David Bryant, helping him with his business and bearing him a child. Bryant died soon after the birth and, penniless, she moved in with her sister on West 112th St. in Manhattan, where she supported herself selling negligees and tea gowns made from delicate laces and fine silks.
 

In 1904 Bryant moved to Fifth Avenue between 119th and 120th Streets, renting the first floor of a building for $12.50, living in the rear and using the front room as a shop, hanging garments from the gas fixtures. 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, and Lena's first name became "Lane".
 

Bryant earned a reputation for the clothing she made for heavier or pregnant women. Bryant created a comfortable and concealing tea gown by attaching an accordion pleated skirt to a bodice using an elastic band. Soon she opened a new shop at 19 W. 38th Street where she employed a dozen girls and began to serve a "wider" clientele.

 

Marriage & Family
In 1909, at 27, 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.