Fred Segal Turned Denims Into Hot Manner in the Early 1960s

Mr. Segal opened one more retail store nearby on Melrose Avenue and designed it a beacon of avant-garde vogue. In the late 1970s, he came out with a line of satin denims, shirts, jackets and caps.

He opened a bigger retail store in Santa Monica in the 1980s at the web page of a previous skating rink and crammed it with dozens of independently owned boutiques.

A shop, he stated, ought to be a “daytime evening club,” swirling with new music and gorgeous people.

Following a stroke 7 yrs back, Mr. Segal needed a wheelchair but appreciated shuttling concerning houses in California and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. He died Feb. 25 at the age of 87.

Frederick Mandel Segal was born Aug. 16, 1933, in Chicago and grew up in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles. His dad and mom split up when he was pretty young, and he was elevated by his mother and two more mature sisters. Close to age 6 he began earning revenue by shining footwear.

Just before starting up his style vocation, he researched at the University of California, Los Angeles, but did not graduate and served as a cook dinner in the U.S. Army. “He lied to the powers that be and explained he had cooking encounter because he did not feel in war and didn’t want to be sent off to get rid of individuals,” claimed Annie Segal, a person of his daughters.

In the mid-1970s, he turned a previous motel and condominium sophisticated into a buying centre referred to as the Place Mart, showcasing a picnic location and playground, in Malibu, Calif. Close to the exact time, his shops featured jeans pieced collectively from waistbands sliced off light previous jeans, which includes the belt loops. Those people jeans bought for $120 apiece.

Rick Caruso,

a developer of higher-stop shopping centers in the Los Angeles spot, stated Mr. Segal broke the mildew of dull strip malls anchored by a drugstore and a grocery store. In its place, Mr. Segal made energetic mixes of dining establishments and boutiques that provided “an electricity and uniqueness,” Mr. Caruso claimed. “That’s what I preferred to do.”

The Fred Segal manufacturer is now owned by International Icons LLC of Los Angeles, headed by

Jeff Lotman.

There are Fred Segal suppliers in Los Angeles, Malibu, Taipei and Bern, Switzerland. Mr. Lotman mentioned Fred Segal shops will open soon in Las Vegas and Seoul.

Mr. Segal is survived by his spouse, Tina Segal, together with 5 young children, 10 grandchildren and two fantastic grandchildren. 5 earlier marriages finished in divorce.

In his parallel profession as a peace activist, he campaigned for greater relations involving Israelis and Arabs. In 1987, he was among the hundreds of Americans and Russians who walked from Leningrad to Moscow to boost peace. He designed what he identified as a peace park in Malibu and organized a birthday occasion there for the Dalai Lama in 1989. The spiritual chief reciprocated by planting a Bodhi tree in Mr. Segal’s park.

Create to James R. Hagerty at [email protected]