Lizzie Fortunato

Lizzie Fortunato

Twin sisters Lizzie and Kathryn Fortunato started making jewelry as a Duke University side hustle in the early 2000s, then founded Lizzie Fortunato in 2008 from a Lower East Side apartment on the strength of a ten-thousand-dollar bonus check Kathryn handed her sister with instructions to follow her dreams.

Jewelry

This is the category the whole business started from, back when Lizzie was stringing necklaces from a Lower East Side sofa and mailing samples to magazine editors hoping something would get shot. The statement scale and mixed materials here are consistent with that original handmade instinct, just produced at a company scale now.

More Jewelry

The sisters have talked about traveling for inspiration, translating a specific place or craft technique into a wearable object rather than working from a mood board, and this stretch of the edit reflects that instinct toward texture and story over minimalism. It is jewelry that wants to be a souvenir of somewhere, even when it was never actually made there.

Still more Jewelry

More of the label's maximalist, globally sourced sensibility, the kind of pieces that read as intentional rather than accidental precisely because Kathryn's operations background has kept the production side disciplined even as the designs got bolder. Limited runs are part of the pitch here, not an afterthought.

Even more Jewelry

By this point in the edit the range of materials, wood, raffia, shell, alongside metal, makes the brand's cross-category instinct obvious, the same instinct that eventually pushed the sisters into handbags. It rewards someone who wants a full look built from one point of view rather than separate jewelry and accessories purchases.

Bags

Bags entered the business in 2012, four years after the label started, and quickly became a real share of the company rather than a side project, reportedly growing to about a quarter of sales. The natural materials and worldly detailing here are a direct extension of the jewelry, which is presumably why the expansion worked.

Our honest take

The Fortunato sisters have kept the label self-funded off a single ten-thousand-dollar check for close to two decades, which buys a level of creative control most accessories brands never get to keep. The tradeoff is a house look that leans maximalist and travel-inspired every season, so it suits someone who wants a full point of view rather than one quiet piece.