Monica Zwirner and Lucy Wallace Eustice

M Z WALLACE was founded in January 2000 by Monica Zwirner and Lucy Wallace Eustice in New York City. Having each spent many years in the fashion industry, both women were looking to establish their own businesses. Lucy had been the Senior Accessory Editor of Harpers Bazaar, and Accessory Director of Elle. Monica traveled the world, styling advertising campaigns and editorial for leading brands and international magazines. After a fortuitous meeting at the Union Square Farmer’s Market, Monica and Lucy reconnected and realized they were both interested in bringing their experience and ideas on design to fruition with their own accessory company. They decided to join forces.

“Women are always searching for the perfect handbag,” says Lucy. “Our goal is to design a handbag that is stylish, functional, lightweight, timeless, and affordable. With M Z WALLACE we want to create an American classic.”

Monica and Lucy opened their own store -- designed by Annabelle Selldorf -- on a quiet cobbled street in Soho in May 2000. This strategic move allowed them to present the entire M Z WALLACE collection in an environment that reflected the bags themselves. An e-commerce website soon followed, giving their out-of-town customers access to their entire collection.

In spring 2002, M Z WALLACE signed a distribution deal with Mitsui lifestyles to assist with distribution throughout Asia. In 2003, M Z WALLACE opened their second store in the Ginza neighborhood of Tokyo.

The defining spirit of the M Z WALLACE brand is quality, style, integrity, and refined sophistication. Ten years after its inception, M Z WALLACE is well on its way to becoming an American classic.    [MORE]

Monica Zwirner, Founder and Co-Owner

Monica Zwirner was born and raised in Manhattan. After graduation from Colorado College, where she focused on Fine Arts, she returned to New York to work as a fashion stylist. She ultimately worked on such accounts as Gucci, Clinique and Lanc'e.

In 1989, Monica moved to Europe, where she continued her fashion styling career. She worked with a wide array of high-end accounts, including Volvo, Porsche, and Hennes and Mauritz (H&M).

Over the next six years, she pursued her career as a fashion stylist based in New York and worked on magazine editorials, as well as advertising campaigns.

In 1996 Monica moved into interior design, as head of interiors for the renowned New York architect Annabelle Selldorf of Selldorf Architects. In this environment Monica honed her eye for refined elegance. There she also learned to use the unexpected combination of materials "luxurious and utilitarian" to create a new look. This technique is now part of the M Z WALLACE philosophy.

Lucy Wallace Eustice, Founder and Co-Owner

Lucy Wallace Eustice was born and raised in Manhattan. She began her career in fashion as a teenager with the French clothing company agnes b. At 19, Lucy joined master shoe designer Manolo Blahnik in New York, where she worked with the press and as store manager. In 1989, she moved to the editorial side of fashion, to the start-up magazine Mirabella as an Assistant Fashion Editor. When she left four years later to join Harper's Bazaar she was Senior Associate Accessories Editor.

At Harper's Bazaar, under the tutelage of legendary editor, Liz Tilberis, Lucy was named Senior Accessories Editor, responsible for coverage of the accessory and shoe market. She was later appointed Accessories Director at Elle in 1994.

Lucy then turned to design, joining Schwartz and Benjamin in product development. She spent half the year in Italy, working on the Anne Klein footwear lines with designers Manolo Blahnik and Patrick Cox. She later moved to Patrick Cox Company as Vice President of North American operations.