A pioneer of the shop-in-shop concept and its ivy-covered shop on Melrose, it has become a place where celebrities and fashionistas mingle and mingle.
Fred Segal, the retail giant who helped shape the fashion and cultural landscape in Los Angeles by introducing new designers and providing threads for A-list clients such as The Beatles, Diana Ross, The Jackson 5 and Angelina Jolie, has passed away . He was 87.
Segal died Thursday of complications from a stroke at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, a publicist announced.
He had a stroke on February 5, 2014, something he announced himself on a holiday card sent to friends and family at the end of the year with the message that ‘life as we knew it will never be the same not ‘But the enigmatic Segal showed his personality and will to live by including a photo of himself with a hat, smoking a cigarette and sticking a middle finger with the slogan’ Stroke this’.
At the time, daughter Annie Segal told The Hollywood Reporter that ‘doctors had warned us that there was little chance of survival, so we were prepared for the worst. It is a miracle that he not only lives, but also lives well under the circumstances. ‘
Segal opened his first store of the same name, a denim emporium, in 1961 on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. According to the brand’s website, it was a modest space of 350 square meters, with 85 percent of the stock: ‘its named denim trousers along with shirts and trousers in cambrays, velvet and flannels’.
He later moved the operation to the place where the most famous spot was on Melrose Avenue and Crescent Heights Boulevard, and it attracted crowds and caused traffic congestion when buyers descended to buy denim that far exceeded the typical prices for that time. (Segal sold jeans for $ 19.95 when other stores offered styles for $ 3.)
Segal proved he had a flair for emerging designers, but he also shaped a retail experience that would transform the industry. He was a pioneer in the then new store-in-store concept and experience store that introduced emerging labels that are synonymous with SoCal style (think Juicy Couture, Hard Candy Cosmetics and Earl Jeans).
According to the company, early customers were The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Ross and The Jackson 5, and Farrah Fawcett was photographed on a skateboard in Segal’s jeans for an advertising campaign.
Segal, who created an atmosphere where artists, musicians and trend-obsessed fashionistas could mingle under one roof, attributed part of his success to maintaining a degree of honesty towards his customers.
“I learned at a very young age that the field of no competition is in integrity,” he said. So if people are completely honest with themselves and then are honest with everyone around them, there is no competition in it.
For example, when I was selling to my customers in my store and they wanted to buy one or the other, if they put on an outfit and asked me for advice, I would say in part, ‘Take it off, don’t even buy it. no, that would be ridiculous, you do not even look good in it. “It’s really deep honesty. You do not find it in the business world, you know? ‘
The iconic location of the retailer in West Hollywood has become a focal point over the years and is prominent in the 1995 classic teen comedy. Clueless.
“Lucy! Where’s my Fred Segal white collarless shirt?” Alicia Silverstone’s Cher says in the film directed by Amy Heckerling. A few years later, Reese Witherspoon’s Elle Woods Legal blonde (2001), “And last week I saw Cameron Diaz at Fred Segal’s, and I talked to her about buying this really awful angora sweater.”
Aside from jokes, it was not uncommon to study Diaz or other A-list stars like Jennifer Aniston through the shops at Fred Segal or eat in the bustling on-site restaurant that has been a lunch and dinner for the industry for years.
Segal expanded his brand to several outposts as his cool empire grew in California with addresses in Santa Monica, and he filled the places with family members. His son, Michael, would eventually become CEO and his daughters Annie and Sharon once maintained their own in-store stores.
In 2012, New York-based media company Sandow acquired global licensing rights under the Fred Segal name. The company is now owned by Global Icons, which acquired the brand in 2019.
According to the company’s website, there are now places on Sunset Boulevard; in Malibu; by LAX; in Bern, Germany; and in Taipei, and reports this week said additional locations are being planned for Las Vegas. It was still not immune to the recent slide in retail because the Santa Monica location has closed and the Melrose outpost is no longer the hotspot it used to be.
Segal “was an innovator, a forerunner, a rule-breaker, a mentor to so many people, such a lover of life and a humanitarian,” his family said in a statement. “Everyone who knew him felt his powerful energy. He worked all his life to have self-love and teach us all to love one another. To the end, he inspired us to never give up. He will be loved and celebrated forever. ‘
Survivors include his wife, Tina; five children, 10 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, two stepchildren and a step-grandson.
Donations in his name can be made to the Segal Family-United World Foundation at Wilshire Blvd 10960. Suite 1100 Los Angeles, CA 90024.